This Land Owes You Nothing

Post by Clemson undergraduate Lana Fabrizi

When analyzing the phrase “The Great Plains as a working conservation landscape,” I chose to focus on the “landscape” aspect this week. The extensive amount of driving has provided me with a lot of window-gazing opportunities and Montana is not what I thought it would be. I did not expect to have as many hills, rocks or trees; I only imagined flat grassland. From the naked eye, the landscape can look vast and virtually endless, but to many it is seen as limited. I learned this prospective from Druska Kinkie. Mrs. Kinkie explained that the amount of open land is dwindling due to urbanization of cities such as Bozeman. She is feeling the increased pressure of predation as a result of the reintroduction of gray wolves and the protection of grizzly bears. In her opinion, elk stand as one of the greatest threats to her herd because they serve as vectors for Brucellosis. Prior to the reintroduction of wolves, she was astounded to find elk on her property but today she sees it as a threat to her livelihood. Mrs. Kinkie names land use changes and climate change as the main two reasons that elk come down to the valley. In addition to urbanization, the gray wolves have found their home in the Greater Yellowstone Area, forcing elk to flee and come in contact with her cattle.

Another huge aspect that affects Mrs. Kinkie's cattle operation is that she is in a designated surveillance area. This area requires more regulation than other counties in Montana. This not only can be seen as a nuisance but is also a significant financial burden due to the proximity to Yellowstone National Park. Mrs. Kinkie and her husband have personal ties to the land as he was born and raised on it. I think it is difficult to keep emotions out of this topic because many people have deep ties to their landscape or property. I know I have a personal connection with New York but I can only imagine how deep the ties go if one relies on the land to make a living. The saddest point of her talk is when she said that she and her husband should have sold their land 10 years ago and moved elsewhere.

Senator Pat Flowers provided an opinion that was not as contradictory to Mrs. Kinkie’s as I had thought it would be. Senator Flowers is at an advantage when tackling the topic from his position due to his background in forestry and working with FWP. One of the biggest outcomes I got from our meeting with him is that there seems to be a general lack of education of the public about this issue. Although it is physically only happening in the Greater Yellowstone Area, I believe it is a national issue because it is occurring in a national park and the ranchers provide food for the rest of the country. The amenity ranchers are unaware of the severity of the risk elk pose in terms of cattle productivity and should be discouraged from allowing them to freely roam on their property.

It has become clear these first few days that the landscape is present and serves purposes to many different types of people. In addition, it holds a disease that threatens the reproductive success of bison, elk and cattle. This was my first time encountering a landscape like this and I can honestly say it is one of the prettiest places I have ever been. With the perspectives gained this week I can’t help but think of the quote from Breaking Clean, “this land owes you nothing.”