Buffalo Field Campaign
News Release
Gallatin National Forest
Destroyed Files Sought by Bison Advocates
AGENCY CONFIRMS IT
DESTROYED FILES
FROM $13,000,000 LAND
CONSERVATION AGREEMENT IN YELLOWSTONE
FOR Immediate Release, Thursday
June 23, 2005
Bozeman, MT: Gallatin National
Forest officials have confirmed that they removed and destroyed public
records sought by bison advocates in a $13,000,000 land conservation and
wildlife protection agreement near Yellowstone National Park.
Buffalo Field Campaign (BFC), a
nonprofit bison advocacy group based near West Yellowstone, Montana has
been researching government files since June 2004 to gather information on
land use within the Yellowstone bison herd's native and historic range.
"We want to know what records the
Gallatin National Forest destroyed, " says Dan Brister of the Buffalo
Field Campaign. "What we do know, from the records we have been able to
see, is that six years after this land agreement was finalized the Forest
Service has failed to come up with the Bison Management Plan called for in
the agreement."
Approval of a Bison Management Plan
would open up critical winter range for Yellowstone's native migratory
bison herd.
American taxpayers funded the
$13,000,000 land deal in 1999 to acquire and conserve habitat for one of
the largest migrations of native ungulates in North America: wild bison,
elk, pronghorn antelope, mule deer and bighorn sheep. Habitat is also
present for threatened species including grey wolves, grizzly bears, bald
eagles and Yellowstone cutthroat trout.
The land is situated in a wildlife
corridor along the Yellowstone River in the Gardiner Basin of the Gallatin
and Absaroka mountains just outside Yellowstone National Park.
The land deal includes the purchase of
land and a conservation easement. Devil's Slide conservation easement
encompasses 1,508 acres of habitat. 5,262 acres of land on the Royal Teton
Ranch were acquired from the Church Universal and Triumphant.
Gallatin National Forest officials
blocked access to its Royal Teton Ranch files in late February of this
year and canceled a visit arranged to review public records with Ken
Britton, District Ranger for the Gardiner Ranger District.
The group was informed March 30 by Bob
Dennee, Lands Staff for the Gallatin National Forest, that he had removed
files from the Royal Teton Ranch project record at the agency's offices in
Bozeman and Gardiner. A June 1 letter from Gallatin National Forest
Supervisor Rebecca Heath confirmed that the agency had indeed destroyed
files sought by Buffalo Field Campaign.
The agency says it was simply
following procedures under the Federal Records Act to remove
non-essential, duplicate, or relapsed records. However the group had been
seeking and reviewing the records through the Freedom of Information Act
since June 2004.
"The public interest embodied in the
Freedom of Information Act is to 'shed light' on government activities,"
says Darrell Geist, a research consultant with Darrell Geist & Associates.
"That's hard to do when the Gallatin National Forest decides to shred its
files to stop a citizen inquiry into how our public lands are being
managed and how taxpayer money is spent."
-30-
This link is to letters, referrals,
appeals, and redacted records, arranged chronologically. The chronology below is derived from these records.
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION CHRONOLOGY
JUNE 2004 - Buffalo Field Campaign files a Freedom
of Information Act request for Gallatin National Forest (Bozeman office)
records on the $13,000,000 Royal Teton Ranch land deal.
JULY 2004 - Gallatin National Forest refers records
requested by Buffalo Field Campaign to the Northern Region headquarters
for further review, and to attorneys for Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and
Church Universal and Triumphant for their review and response.
AUGUST 2004 - Regional Forester Abigail Kimbell
(Northern Region-US Forest Service) withholds releasing records stating
that Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and Church Universal and Triumphant
desired that documents be withheld.
SEPTEMBER 2004 - Buffalo Field Campaign files a
Freedom of Information Act request for Gallatin National Forest (Gardiner
office) records on cattle grazing allotments on the Gardiner Ranger
District and the Royal Teton Ranch land deal.
OCTOBER 2004 - In response to Buffalo Field
Campaign's June Freedom of Information Act request, Regional Forester
Abigail Kimbell withholds "land appraisal and land exchange documents"
under the agency's deliberative process privilege.
OCTOBER 2004 - Buffalo Field Campaign appeals the
Regional Forester's decision to withhold records on the Royal Teton Ranch
land deal to the US Forest Service's Washington DC office.
NOVEMBER 2004 - In response to Buffalo Field
Campaign's September Freedom of Information Act request, Gallatin National
Forest Supervisor Rebecca Heath withholds records "generated by private
parties" for "further review and response" by Northern Region headquarters
and private parties involved to identify any "concerns over their
release".
DECEMBER 2004 - Washington office of the US Forest
Service grants Buffalo Field Campaign's appeal and releases documents
withheld under the agency's deliberative process privilege.
FEBRUARY 2005 - Buffalo Field Campaign is denied
access to the Royal Teton Ranch files on a visit to the Gallatin National
Forest's Bozeman office. A visit arranged to inspect files at the Gardiner
Ranger District office is canceled by Bob Dennee, Lands Staff and Steve
Christiansen, FOIA Officer in consultation with the Regional and
Washington offices of the US Forest Service.
FEBRUARY 2005 - Washington office of the US Forest
Service grants Buffalo Field Campaign's appeal and releases documents
withheld under the agency's deliberative process privilege. The agency
redacts information from a 1981 memo to the Gallatin National Forest
Supervisor.
MARCH 2005 - Regional Forester Abigail Kimbell
redacts information deemed "confidential" the release of which "would
compromise current negotiations." The agency also withholds an unspecified
number of records under their deliberative process and attorney-client
privilege, and redacts information from to protect "privacy interests".
MARCH 2005 - Buffalo Field Campaign is informed by
the Gallatin National Forest that its officials removed and '"recycled"
files from its Bozeman and Gardiner offices on the Royal Teton Ranch land
deal. The group's representative is allowed to review what remained of the
project files in the Gallatin National Forest's Bozeman and Gardiner
offices.
APRIL 2005 - Buffalo Field Campaign files a Freedom
of Information Act request for records remaining in Gallatin National
Forest files on the Royal Teton Ranch land deal.
APRIL 2005 - Buffalo Field Campaign appeals the
Regional Forester's decision to delete information and withhold records on
the Royal Teton Ranch land deal.
MAY 2005 - Gallatin National Forest Supervisor
Rebecca Heath refers records requested by Buffalo Field Campaign to the
Northern Region for further "review and response".
JUNE 2005 - Gallatin National Forest Supervisor
Rebecca Heath states the records the agency removed from the Royal Teton
Ranch files "have been recycled and are no longer available."
JUNE 2005 - The Washington office of the Forest
Service notifies Buffalo Field Campaign that its appeal of the agency's
decision to delete information and withhold records on the Royal Teton
Ranch land deal was referred to lawyers for the Church Universal and
Triumphant and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, and a former CUT
official "to identify portions of the records that could cause substantial
competitive harm if released