[MCN] Collaboration and Litigation (Part 3)

[John Meyer]

Education

Yesterday we noted that the Greater Yellowstone Coalition is supporting livestock grazing on public lands that is responsible for killing grizzly bears.

An employee of the domestic sheep grazing permit holders told the spouse of a Beaverhead Deerlodge biologist, a Greater Yellowstone Coalition employee, and I that they illegally kill grizzly bears on the way home from a hunting trip. 

The Greater Yellowstone Coalition is part of the Gravelly Landscape Collaborative. I asked the facilitator to add an item to the agenda that discusses GYC’s role as the conservation representative in the collaborative, given they support activities that kill grizzly bears. 

According to the facilitator, the conversation regarding GYC’s role as the conservation representative is best done between our organizations. GYC won’t sit down and talk. Some of us have already tried doing that. Back in May, a former President of Montana Wilderness Association asked Carolyn Byrd of GYC  and others to join a mediation with smaller NGOs to discuss differences in opinion and how we can all work together. Cottonwood agreed to sit down and talk. We never heard back from GYC. 

The facilitator for the Gravelly Landscape Collaborative said that “[c]urrently, there is grazing on public lands so the collaborative works within that current reality, our conversations work to find opportunities that support both wildlife and domestic grazing as best as possible.” 

Conversation Starter

- Does GYC pay for all of the costs of the facilitator? Does the Forest Service pay for part of the costs of the facilitator? Are there any legal or ethical issues if the federal government pays for part of the costs for the facilitation and the facilitator won’t raise issues from members of the collaborative?

- Is the Gravelly Landscape Collaborative a true collaborative effort if it won’t tackle issues for which there is not total agreement? 

- As a financial supporter of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition I have to ask: Is GYC letting itself be used to greenwash livestock grazing on over 50,000 acres of public land that is responsible for killing carnivores, precluding the reintroduction of bighorn sheep, and preventing members of the public from using the public land? 

If the answer is yes, how do I get my money back?




 



John Meyer
Executive Director & General Counsel 
Cottonwood Environmental Law Center
P.O. Box 412 Bozeman, MT 59771
John at Cottonwoodlaw.org
(406) 546-0149

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