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May 2008

State Roundups
Montana

For fear of brucellosis

This spring about 1,100 fewer bison roam Yellowstone National Park than did so last fall. Over the winter, state livestock managers and hunters drastically culled the herd in an attempt to prevent the spread of brucellosis, a contagious disease that can cause cattle to abort. A record number of bison were shot or captured for slaughter as they left the park in search of food, provoking an outcry among environmental groups.

Montana livestock owners view free-ranging bison as a threat to their livelihoods. Cattle that contract brucellosis must be destroyed, and if Montana loses its disease-free status, every cow shipped from the state would have to be tested—a financial burden for ranchers. Brucellosis has been eradicated nationwide except for pockets of infection among bison and elk in the Yellowstone area.

The slaughter has prompted ranchers and state and federal officials to renew efforts to devise a nonlethal solution to the problem of wandering bison. A $2.8 million, as-yet-unfunded management plan would remove cattle from an adjacent ranch, allowing bison to migrate in the winter to graze on public land. Federal agriculture officials favor vaccinating the Yellowstone bison against brucellosis, but such a vaccine hasn’t been approved.

Longing for the TSA

At most airports federal security screening is seen as a necessary evil. Not so at airports in Miles City, Sidney, Glasgow and four other rural communities in eastern Montana where passengers board aircraft without being screened. Airport directors and local officials want the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to start putting passengers through the wringer, even though doing so will require local investments in infrastructure and law enforcement.

Currently, passengers from these small airports fly into Billings. Those traveling beyond Billings are screened upon arrival at that airport—a time-consuming, irritating affair for business travelers. Local officials argue that screening at the originating airports would ease the security logjam, promoting commerce. The TSA has resisted providing screening at the small airports. They are unlikely terrorist targets, the agency said, and the cost of screening low volumes of passengers would be “exorbitant”—over $80 per person, compared with an average of $3.20 per head at all U.S. airports.

—Phil Davies