Bear Creek Council Annual Report Presented at Northern Plains Annual Meeting

A Bear Creek Council Affiliate 2006 Report, presented 11/11/6 at the NPRC Annual Meeting. Condensed from President’s full length report to take no more than 3 minutes to read. Good Morning. I’m Carolyn Duckworth, Vice President of Bear Creek Council. We invite you to visit www.bearcreekcouncil.org for details about our activities. Current Issues

Bison

We are working to steer the governor’s bison management ideas toward maintaining family cattle operations in the Gardiner Basin . Hank & Dorine Rate, their daughters & spouses are spearheading this effort.

Tom Torma helped us focus our campaign on 2 goals: 1) pass legislation establishing bison as wildlife; 2) change APHIS brucellosis-free classification to zones, thus protecting cattle operators far from the Yellowstone area.

We continue monitoring bison management activities and the bison hunt, attending agency meetings near and far, and are training to beeffective media spokespeople on this issue.

Park County Planning: Several members helped craft the Park County Growth Policy Plan; unfortunately, the plan has been withdrawn until a public vote in 2008.

Darroch-Eagle Timber Sale : is underway and we are monitoring the cut.

Mineral Hill Mine : We continue to monitor the reclamation and real estate activity—nothing moving yet.

Recycling : We are working to better coordinate recycling among businesses.

Clean Energy Task Force Richard Parks and Abby Nelson are active on this committee.

OTHER ACTIVITIES

Annual Jardine Ski Run raised a record $541 for BCC and everyone had a great time.

First Issues Field Trip: Rick McAdam organized this trip to bison capture and quarantine facilities, Mineral Hill Mine, and Darroch Creek timber sale; at each we discussed the issue with agency and other experts.

Michael Leach is now on the Fish, Wildlife and Parks Citizens Advisory Board.

We’ve reviewed upcoming projects with the Gallatin District Ranger; cosponsored a Candidate Forum; and urged Park County to quickly resolve a Gardiner sewage treatment problem.

2007 Priorities

Support state legislation favorable to our bison goals; continue to promote zone-based APHIS brucellosis classification; and pressure the governor to produce his bison plan this winter.

Continue monitoring bison management and the hunt; Darroch-Eagle timber cutting, Mineral Hill reclamation property proposals.

Consider a proposal to reduce the speed limit on Hwy 89 near Gardiner to 55 mph to reduce number and severity of wildlife/vehicle collisions.

Support NPRC efforts on CBM , Homegrown Prosperity, and other issues.