Bison range transition 'smooth'

A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spokesman said there were no problems in the agency re-establishing complete management authority over the National Bison Range at Moiese, where Confederated Salish-Kootenai involvement was abruptly terminated Tuesday.

Tribal officials, meanwhile, were "shocked and stunned" at the decision to end the shared-management arrangement that had been in place for the past year.

That arrangement, which was established after years of negotiations, was terminated Monday through a letter from the Service's regional director.

The letter from Mitch King called for all tribal employees, contractors and volunteers to leave the bison range by 4 p.m. Tuesday, and for all Service property to be returned by then. The letter also terminated negotiations for a new "Annual Funding Agreement," in which the tribes had been seeking expanded management authority over the bison range and other federal refuges and waterfowl production areas in the region.

Matt Kales, a Fish and Wildlife Service public affairs specialist who was detailed to the bison range from Denver, said a "smooth" transition was under way.

"There has been no issue, and we don't anticipate any issues," he said.

About a dozen tribal employees had been working at the range under the shared-management arrangement, he said.

Because it's a quiet time at the range, when full staffing is not necessary, the service will be able to temporarily backfill the workload by detailing service employees to the range from other refuges in the region, Kales said.

Meanwhile, the departing bison range employees were praised for their job performances by the full tribal council Tuesday morning, said Rob McDonald, tribal public affairs specialist.

The terminated agreement had nothing to with their performances, McDonald said. Rather, "it was the politics surrounding this."

"We believe from the start that there has been an orchestrated effort to undermine this agreement," McDonald said. "We entered this agreement with the intention of working together, but it became apparent very early on that they viewed us as untrustworthy, incapable and unwanted."

The arrangement was terminated for a series of performance and work-environment reasons, according to King's letter.

King said the tribes had failed "to comply with Service bison-management standards, including herding bison into units with unsatisfactory fence conditions; herding bison while cows were giving birth during the calving season; [and] feeding insufficient quantities of hay to bison being held for transport."

The letter also cites a failure to maintain fences and a "serious loss of grazing management control."

King cited "a work environment characterized by harassing, offensive, intimidating and oppressive behavior on the part of employees of the CSKT, including obscenity, fighting words, and threats of violence and retaliation directed at employees of the service."

McDonald and tribal Chairman James Steele Jr. are refuting those allegations and more.

"We are systematically refuting just about everything they are saying," McDonald said.

"I'd like to characterize our reaction to this sudden and unexpected news as shocked and stunned," Steele said in a prepared statement. "This was a blind-sided blow, and we are deeply disappointed. We hope that the Department of Interior will revisit this ill-advised action."

According to Steele's statement, Fish and Wildlife Service employees failed to work with the tribal employees on day-to-day tasks.

"Some did not communicate their so-called clear objectives until they were releasing libelous reports on our employees' work. And some made the smallest task a struggle of wills by taking a defensive posture that we were the kind of people who can't be trusted with the smallest tasks and items."

Tribal legal advisers are evaluating their potential recourse.

"We're looking at administrative [appeal] options," McDonald said. "There is probably some action to be taken."