[RFN] Roam Free Report

[Stephany Seay]

Dear Friends,

We wanted to bring you up to speed with some things that have come to pass
recently.  Spring is finally here in western Montana, and, calving season
is fully underway!  Give thanks and welcome the new generation of wild
buffalo!

Sadly, there are relatively very few buffalo migrating into the Hebgen
Basin (West Yellowstone).  Usually by the end of March buffalo begin
heading towards their calving grounds in growing numbers. Now it's almost
mid-May and reports from Horse Butte residents (Horse Butte, as you may
know, are the favored calving grounds of the imperiled Central herd) tell
us that a few handfuls of small family groups have arrived.  Some calves
are appearing, which is lifting everyone's hearts after such a long, brutal
winter.  One of our advisory board members is currently visiting
Yellowstone with her family, and she reported seeing no buffalo in the
Hayden Valley, which is some of the stomping grounds for the Central herd.
She reported seeing a few groups from the West Yellowstone entrance to the
Grand loop, but no calves.  The park and lands just west of the park should
be teeming with buffalo right now!

The winter and the killing sprees took a heavy toll on these buffalo.  We
will not know for sure how badly they were impacted until Yellowstone
National Park conducts their summer population estimate.  We fear the news
will be grim.  We know that "management" actions alone removed 25% of the
population.  And winterkill will be significant this year.  A welcome feast
for grizzly bears, but the combined impact to these herds is not so
welcome.

There's been more media attention in the past couple of weeks.  Native News
Online ran a pretty good story, picking up our last press release
<https://roamfreenation.org/media/press-releases/yellowstone-releases-hundreds-of-captive-buffalo/>.
You can read that story here, Yellowstone Bison See Deadliest Season Since
2008
<https://nativenewsonline.net/environment/yellowstone-bison-see-deadliest-season-since-2008>
.

Roam Free Nation's cofounder, Jaedin Medicine Elk, submitted an *Open
Letter to Tribes Participating in the Yellowstone Buffalo "Hunt"*, which
was picked up by CounterPunch
<https://www.counterpunch.org/2023/05/05/an-open-letter-to-tribes-participating-in-the-yellowstone-buffalo-hunt/>,
the Missoula Current
<https://missoulacurrent.com/viewpoint-yellowstone-buffalo/>, and Native
News Online
<https://nativenewsonline.net/opinion/an-open-letter-to-tribes-participating-in-the-yellowstone-buffalo-hunt>.
It's a very powerful piece, speaking truth from the heart.

*TAKE ACTION!*  The comment period to support Endangered Species Act
listing for the Yellowstone herds is going to be ending soon!  June 4 is
the last day to comment!  This is the most important action you can take
for these buffalo!  Please visit our web site and take action now
<https://roamfreenation.org/take-action/>!

Thanks to our friends at the Alliance for the Wild Rockies
<https://allianceforthewildrockies.org/>, we have yet another billboard up
in western Montana!  That brings us to nine billboards across heavily
traveled highways in the region of Yellowstone National Park.

Also coming up soon is the spring Interagency Bison Management Plan meeting
<https://www.ibmp.info/meetings.php>.  If you can make it, great!  If not,
Roam Free Nation will be there and we will report back to you.  This
meeting is probably going to be an extremely emotionally charged one, given
the graveness of what took place this season.

As always, thank you so much for being with us for wild buffalo!  If you
can support our work by making a monetary donation
<https://roamfreenation.org/support-us/>, that would be truly helpful. But,
however you can support us, we are very grateful.

Wild is the Way ~ Roam Free!

~ Stephany
Cofounder, Roam Free Nation
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