[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 124 (Friday, July 28, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1542]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


    INTRODUCTION OF THE YELLOWSTONE BRUCELLOSIS-FREE MANAGEMENT ACT

                                 ______


                           HON. PAT WILLIAMS

                               of montana

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, July 27, 1995
  Mr. WILLIAMS. Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing the Yellowstone 
Brucellosis-Free Management Act to provide a comprehensive and 
practical strategy to address the problems of brucellosis in the 
Yellowstone.
  Yellowstone, our Nation's first national park, represents the true 
flowering of the idea of public lands set aside for the use and 
enjoyment and education of all the American people. It is unsurpassed 
in scenic beauty and natural features and remains today of America's 
outstanding wildlife sanctuaries, little altered by human settlement.
  Yellowstone provides refuge for rare and endangered species such as 
the threatened grizzly bear, the rare mountain lion and wolvering, bald 
eagles and trumpeter swans, the Yellowstone cutthroat trout and arctic 
grayling. The public lands surrounding Yellowstone offer complementary 
scenic vistas, recreational opportunities and outstanding wildlife 
habitat.
  This greater Yellowstone area represents the largest undeveloped land 
of wilderness quality in the lower 48 States, and it includes the 
largest free-ranging herds of elk and bison in the world.
  However, it is those herds, and particularly the bison, which have 
raised concerns about the risks of brucellosis which is carried by some 
animals in both herds. The dilemma is how do we protect the delicate 
wildlife interrelationships, the unique genetics of Yellowstone's 
wildlife and yet address the potential threat of brucellosis in the 
wildlife population and its possible transmission to livestock outside 
the park and resulting economic consequences to the livestock industry.
  My legislation protects livestock producers from that threat and the 
harm of unfair economic sanctions by establishing a comprehensive 
framework for the National Park Service to address and manage and 
control brucellosis in the Yellowstone area.
  For far too long, the bison-brucellosis controversy has swirled with 
hearsay, unsubstantiated claims and fear. This bill replaces fear with 
facts, rumor with research, supposition with science and, most 
important, it replaces talk with direct and specific action to remove 
the threat of brucellosis.
  In the short term, this bill sanctions the interim bison management 
plan signed by the U.S. Forest Service, the State of Montana and 
Yellowstone National Park. It concurs with the need for a long term 
environmental impact statement in the form of a bison management plan. 
It also establishes the Yellowstone Brucellosis-Free Management Area 
with special regulations to provide economic stability in terms of the 
brucellosis-free status for the States of Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho 
as long as the interim plans are in effect within the Yellowstone area.
  One of the most important features of the bill is the prohibition on 
unfair or arbitrary sanctions imposed by APHIS on other States or 
livestock producers of Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho because of the 
presence of brucellosis in wildlife within the Greater Yellowstone 
area.
  In the long term, the bill directs the Secretaries of the Interior 
and Agriculture to cooperate with the States of Montana, Idaho, and 
Wyoming in seeking the elimination of the diseases brucellosis from the 
Greater Yellowstone ecosystem. To accomplish this goal, the bill 
provides strong direction and authority for science-based management of 
the diseases.
  The bill provides recognition of the facts that American Indians have 
long-standing spiritual and cultural ties to the American bison and, as 
such, have shown an interest in participating in the disposition of 
surplus bison for subsistence or to restore herds on American Indian 
lands.
  Mister Speaker, this is a good bill for Montana's livestock 
producers. It protects their legitimate interests at the same time it 
provides for proper long-term management of Yellowstone's bison. This 
is a good bill for the bison. This is a good bill for the Yellowstone.


                          ____________________