Rally for Wild Buffalo and Wolves Montana Capitol Feb. 10, 2015

RALLY FOR WILD BUFFALO AND WOLVES AT MONTANA'S CAPITOL Buffalo Field Campaign Joins in Solidarity with Tribal Communities By Stephany Seay, Buffalo Field Campaign Jimmy St. Goddard, Blackfeet Confederacy Nikos Pastos, Salish, Kootenai, and Pend d'Oreille Censored News

HELENA, MONTANA -- Buffalo Field Campaign will support tribal communities at the State Capitol in Helena, Montana on Tuesday, February 10. We will be joined by people from across Montana as we bring together voices on behalf of wild buffalo and wolves. A schedule of the day's events is located below. "It's time to love the buffalo, respect the wolf, honor their sacred relationship with First Nations, and change the oppressive tactics that now govern their fate," said Buffalo Field Campaign co-founder Mike Mease. Buffalo Field Campaign is joining this event as part of our Week of Action, in an effort to help raise awareness and support for First Nations, wolves, and America's last wild buffalo, the Yellowstone herds, which are currently under attack by Montana livestock interests and signatories to the Interagency Bison Management Plan. Carol Dubay, an elder member of the Confederated Salish, Kootenai, Pend d'Orielle Tribes, said, "The State of Montana must help restore and honor the balance of Nature's trust and immediately cease and desist in the senseless slaughter of bison and wolves. I hereby invoke tribal sovereign authority and demand that the State of Montana stop violating nature's sacred trust and instead honor the spirit of the Hellgate Treaty of 1855 and the U.S. Constitution." "Big Medicine, Sacred White Bison: born, lived, died on the land of the Flathead Nation, his sacred body now in the State Capitol (Helena, Montana) must be returned to his rightful place, our Tribal homelands as a symbol of Montana's willingness and intent to maintain respectful relations with all Indians." "Our people's Treaty Rights are not being honored by capture and slaughter and artificial limitation of bison range and habitat. No wholesale trucking and slaughter of bison can be substituted for Treaty hunting rights, which include a healthy range and habitat for the original pure strain of bison to survive," Dubay continued, adding: "Bison are not cattle. Limiting or fencing the bison or isolating herds in quarantine to appease the cattle industry is not good management policy. Range for bison should be expanded to include all usual and customary lands and territories that our peoples inhabited and used in a balanced and respectful way since time immemorial." Yellowstone buffalo are America's last wild, migratory herds and the most important bison population that exists. They are the last to identify as a wildlife species and ecologically extinct throughout their native range. They've been added to the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List for being "threatened with near extinction," and even Montana designates the species "in greatest conservation need" with conditions "making [bison] vulnerable to global extinction." Buffalo Field Campaign and Western Watersheds Project filed a petition (Download the PDF) to list the Yellowstone bison under the Endangered Species Act in November 2014. Current bison and wolf management policies are found lacking by Jimmy St. Goddard of the Blackfeet Tribe. "Is this what the American Indian's American dream issupposed to be?" asks St. Goddard. "This American icon is sacred to Indian Nations' culture and is currently being devastated by political lies and manipulation. We ask for the support of all tribes and the American people to protect all buffalo and wolves in Montana. Indians don't kill animals for no reason at all and the killing and slaughtering of wolves by Montana and Federal agencies is totally wrong. It is time for Indians to call for a stop to this. It is time for America to stop slaughtering wild buffalo and wolves which are central to our religion, history, and culture." Schedule of Events: Lunch Tuesday, February 10, 11:30 a.m. Helena Indian Center 501 Euclid Ave Helena, Montana Get directions Rally for America's Buffalo and Wolves Tuesday, February 10, 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Montana State Capitol, Rotunda - North steps 1301 East 6th Avenue Helena, Montana Get directions Salmon Feed Tuesday, February 10, 5:00 p.m. Helena Indian Center 501 Euclid Ave Helena, Montana Get directions West Yellowstone and Gardiner, Montana-based Buffalo Field Campaign is a non-profit public interest organization founded in 1997 to protect the natural habitat of wild migratory buffalo and native wildlife, stop the slaughter of America's last wild buffalo and advocate for their lasting protection, and work with people of all nations to honor the sacredness of wild bison. www.buffalofieldcampaign.org

Destini Vaile: Fracking the Blackfeet

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Photo copyright Destini Vaile, Blackfeet
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

Destini Vaile, Blackfeet: "This well is visible from the road between East Glacier and Browning. I found Bison hair near the flimsy fence. The well pad where this open pit is located sits directly between two wetlands. The tribal government approved on-site open pits, like this one, and metal tanks for storage of fracking liquid, which is a mixture of millions of gallons of our fresh water and a slurry of toxic chemicals. These things do and have overflowed, right here on the reservation."
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Oil Spill into Cutbank River, Blackfeet Nation Montana

Photo copyright Destini Vaile

Congratulations to Destini Vaile, Blackfeet, who investigated and shared this with Censored News on Sunday. Now, the mainstream media is trying to play down the oil spill.

OIL PIPELINE BREAKS, SIGNIFICANT VOLUME OF OIL FLOODED INTO CUTBANK RIVER

Article and photo copyright Destini Vaile, Blackfeet, and Reed Perry
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com
July 16, 2011

BLACKFEET INDIAN NATION-- A break in an oil collection pipeline on the eastern prairie of the Blackfeet Indian Nation, approximately 5 miles from the town of Cutbank, has led to a flood of crude that has been flowing approximately one mile over land and into the Cutbank River. Blackfeet Nation officials received word of the spill on Tuesday, but it remains unclear when, or why the pipeline, which is managed by FX Drilling, actually began leaking oil.

Photo copyright Destini Vaile

Blackfeet officials confirmed that oil was spotted in the river at least two weeks ago by a kayaker who reported the incident to 911. According to a preliminary investigation by the Blackfoot Environmental Department, FX Drilling attempted to fix the pipeline after the 911 call, but left the break unmended for over a week, claiming they were unable to access the site. Also according to the investigation, FX failed to initiate cleanup on the site after fixing the pipeline. On Wednesday, nearly three weeks after the initial discovery of the spill, absorbent booms were finally placed by Indian Country Environmental Associates (ICEA) on the shore of the Cutbank where the oil merges with the river. ICEA is a company contracted by the tribe to handle cleanup of oil spills on the Blackfeet Nation.

FX Drilling Corporation has claimed that the leak released "two barrels" of oil, or 84 gallons. However, officials with the Blackfeet Environmental Department have estimated the spill to be "several thousand gallons." The volume of oil observed at the site was large enough to seep through a wheat field and down a coulee for approximately one mile where it entered the Cutbank River. It is the second significant release of oil into Montana rivers during the last month.

Photo copyright Destini Vaile

Several questions plague the incident, not the least is FX Drilling's handling of the spillage. Their failure to disclose the event to the press, community, or Tribal authorities has caused suspicion that their conduct was not merely negligent, but indicative of a coverup. According to Mary Clare Weatherwax, an official at the Blackfeet Environmental Department, "There was definitely a lack of communication that would have allowed a proper response." Weatherwax was also concerned that a wetland in the path of the spill had absorbed much of the oil as it traveled downhill.

The authors of this article are Destini Vaile, a writer and member of the Blackfeet Tribe, and Reed Perry, a Montana Ecologist. They became aware of the spill via rumor of a serious accident on the Blackfeet Nation. On Friday, the two traveled to the source of the leak on the edge of a wheat field and began measuring the dimensions of the contamination. They obtained soil and water samples from the shore of the river that are now awaiting analysis at the Blackfeet Community Water Lab.)

Comments
Dr. Robert Lame Bull McDonald, M.D., Blackfeet Warbonnet Society, said, "It is a good time to ask ourselves if extracting oil from the heart of our mother earth is in the best interest of the Pikuni Peigan Bloods and the Siksika and all of our relatives both two legged and four as well as the soyatopi underwater spirits.
"Its a good time to ask the tribal council to address the issue of the Blackfeet Nation getting taken advantage of by the oil companies. If we sell any oil at all, We should be getting way more than $2/barrel when today's crude oil price is listed at over $94/barrel.
"If they upset the underwater spirits and threaten the balance of our nations ecosystem, there is no price that we should accept from the oil barons. There is no price that can be paid that would allow me to accept the destruction of our sacred circle of life. The Medicine Wheel can not be destroyed on our sacred land by oil barons. We should escort them and all their workers off the rez immediately and bring in the Crazy Dogs to keep them away from our homelands."

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Copyright Censored News: This article may not be reposted or published without permission of the author and photographer. Please share the link.
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2011/07/oil-spill-into-cutback-river-blackfeet.html
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In the news:
Spill went unreported for a month: http://fuelfix.com/blog/20​11/07/19/new-mont-spill-we​nt-unreported-for-a-month

Great Falls Tribune story, with Destini's photos: http://www.greatfallstribu​ne.com/article/20110719/NE​WS01/107190301/Oil-pipelin​e-leaks-15-20-barrels-near​-Cut-Bank-Creek