Environmental Assessment available for Public Comment The Use of Quarantine to Identify Brucellosis-free Yellowstone Bison for Relocation Elsewhere
The National Park Service has completed an Environmental Assessment (EA) that evaluates various alternatives for a quarantine program for Yellowstone bison. The purpose of a quarantine program would be to augment or establish new tribal and public populations of plains bison to assist in the conservation of the species as wildlife, support cultural and nutritional opportunities for Native Americans, and reduce the number of Yellowstone bison shipped to processing facilities.
The EA was prepared in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) to provide the decision-making framework to evaluate a range of alternatives for potential implementation of a quarantine program, including the location(s), of one or more quarantine facilities, guidelines for implementing quarantine, and the scale at which quarantine may be conducted.
A public "Open House-style" meeting will be held to explain, clarify, discuss, and solicit comments on the plan/EA. The meeting will be held:
February 8, 2016
Yellowstone Association Headquarters
308 Park Street Gardiner, Montana
6:00pm - 8:00pm
Written comments may be submitted at the meeting;online through the Planning, Environment and Public Comment (PEPC) system https://parkplanning.nps.gov/BisonQuarantine ; delivered to the park's Administration Building in Mammoth Hot Springs, WY;or mailed to the address below. Comments will not be accepted by fax, e-mail, or in any other way than those specified above. Comments must be received by midnight MST, Feb. 15, 2016.
Superintendent
Attn: Bison Quarantine EA
PO Box 168
Yellowstone National Park, WY 82190
Source: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
