Editor:

Open letter to Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal and Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer:

With Montana's loss of brucellosis-free status and the likelihood that Wyoming will lose its free status for the second time in four years due to the recent discovery of brucellosis infections in cattle, it should be clear to all but the most scientifically, politically, and morally obtuse that brucellosis management in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) has failed. Utterly failed.

During the past 20 years, millions of taxpayer dollars have been spent on the inept and abusive "management" of bison and elk, thousands of bison and elk have been slaughtered or vaccinated under feedlot conditions with no effect whatsoever on reducing brucellosis in either species, and inestimable genetic damage has been done to bison.

The combined slaughter and winter kill of bison in Yellowstone National Park over the last winter alone have dropped bison numbers to as low as 1,300 animals, and possibly even lower. Just how many genetic bottlenecks can Yellowstone bison endure? We are already seeing signs of inbreeding in Yellowstone bison - crooked horns.

What to do about this grossly negligent "management" of GYE bison and elk?

We should abandon the so-called "Interagency Bison Management Plan," close Wyoming's elk feedgrounds, radically expand bison and elk habitat to allow ecological processes to keep the wild herds healthy, and require ranchers and the livestock industry to take full financial, political, and legal responsibility for solving the brucellosis and other disease problems they themselves have created, not only for themselves but also for wildlife.

In short, we must shift priority in the GYE from livestock production to wildlife conservation.

ROBERT HOSKINS, Crowheart