JEFF GEARINO Southwest Wyoming bureau | Posted: Thursday, April 15, 2004 12:00 am
GREEN RIVER - Next month cattle will be turned out on one of the last active grazing allotments on Grand Teton National Park, prompting some to worry that the move increases the risk of another brucellosis infection in the state.
But the concern comes not from the ranching community, which would most directly feel the sting of a third infected herd, but from a group committed to ending public lands ranching.
"The turnout date coincides with bison calving season, at which time brucellosis-infected placental matter will be readily accessible on the ground," Western Watershed Wyoming Office Director Jonathan Ratner said in a phone interview with the Star-Tribune and in his letter to the governor.
Grand Teton National Park officials said they intend to issue the Porter-Gill family a permit to graze in the park this summer. The risks of brucellosis transmission, though low, will be evaluated, officials said. They also noted there has never been a documented case of the disease being transmitted in the wild from bison to cattle.
Bison, elk and cattle have long intermingled in Grand Teton National Park, where grazing was acknowledged as a legitimate use of the land in the federal law that created the park.
Many wild bison and elk around Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks are infected with brucellosis. The disease can cause cattle to abort their first calves and, in rare cases, undulant fever in humans. It is the focus of a national eradication effort.
Wyoming lost its federal brucellosis-free status in February after the disease was discovered in cattle herds in Sublette and Washakie counties. Many in the agricultural community believe the cattle were infected after coming into contact with elk grazing nearby.
Historic grazing in Grand Teton
Grand Teton spokeswoman Joan Anzelmo said park officials received a letter from the Porter-Gill family last month notifying the park of their intent to utilize their grazing permit in 2004.
She said the family chose not to graze in the park last year. The grazing permits are written so that the Porter-Gill family can go three consecutive years of not grazing cattle on the allotment without losing their permits.
"We're still working out the details about which dates the cattle will come onto the allotment … the numbers and all the details of the permit," she said. "But our intent is to provide a permit for the 2004 season just as we have in all the previous seasons except last year."
A 1950 federal law that created Grand Teton National Park contained special provisions to protect existing grazing rights and stock driveways. The legislation specifically authorized the renewal of grazing privileges that existed prior to 1950.
It also said grazing privileges for ranchlands outside the park were to be allowed for a period of 25 years and thereafter during the lifetime of the person possessing the privilege and the lifetime of his or her heirs.
In 1950, there were 29 legislated permittees grazing about 4,200 animals on approximately 67,000 acres in the park, according to park environmental documents. By 1999, there were only six legislated permittees and about 1,900 head of livestock on 25,000 park acres.
The Porter-Gill family operates the Jackson Hole Hereford Ranch, which shares the same allotment in the park with the Mead/Hansen Ranches. The Jackson Hole Hereford Ranch is authorized to graze 420 cattle on approximately 2,000 acres within the park boundaries.
The Mead family announced in Sept. 2001 the ranch was abandoning its grazing leases, leaving the Porter-Gill families and their 400 head as the last park lessees.
Cattle enter the southern pastures normally around June 1. On about June 25, the cattle are trailed to the northern pastures, according to grazing plans.
Transmission concerns
Western Watershed's Wyoming director Ratner said his group has formally asked park officials to void the grazing permit, or take the necessary steps to prevent the Porter-Gill herd from becoming infected with brucellosis.
They have also written to Gov. Freudenthal asking him to look into the issue.
Cattle, and wildlife like bison and elk, often lick placentas and aborted fetuses of the species during calving season. Contact with infected placental material is the primary method of brucellosis transmission.
"If you were to design some sort of an experiment for transferring brucellosis from bison into cattle, this would be a pretty darn good setup," Ratner said. "We expect a lot of co-mingling and basically it's just a matter of time before transmission happens."
Included in Western Watersheds' mission is to work to end "incompatible uses of public lands," and much of their work focuses on ending public lands grazing. The group has taken a lead in establishing a protocol for permanently retiring federal grazing permits with private or public financing.
Park biologist believe the risk of brucellosis transmission is low to nonexistent and note that it has never happened in years of past, heavier, grazing in the park.
"There has never been any documented cases of brucellosis being transmitted in the wild between bison and cattle," Anzelmo said. "And the area where these cows are turned out is not a bison calving area."
Bison could use the allotment for calving, she said, but have not in the past.
However, Anzelmo said in light of the state's lost brucellosis-free status, the park will evaluate the risk of transmission between bison and cattle on the allotments.
"If cattle come into contact with organisms from bison during calving season … then brucellosis might relate where the cattle trail through and it is a theoretical possibility (that transmission could occur)," she said. "So we're going to look at the question … and evaluate whether there is any risks with the allotments."
Anzelmo noted there is fencing on the allotment, however, and grazers monitor the movement of cattle.
"There is a fairly big human presence when cows are first moved through the park," she said.