It's usually not our policy to print press releases verbatim, but since Jennifer McKee and the AP reporters have done such a poor job of reporting on the brucellosis crisis, and since the Roy Brown campaign has provided such a succinct plan for preventing the further spread of brucellosis, we thought we'd bend the rules just this once.

This isn't anything Roy Brown came up with, it's all stuff from the Interagency Bison Management Plan, which has been ignored by the Schweitzer administration.  What a novel idea: implement the plan designed to prevent brucellosis.  The initial (and incredibly ridiculous) reaction from Schweitzer to point the finger at the Montana Stockgrowers Association stands out starkly against Roy Brown's proposal below.  This is the type of leadership we deserve from our elected leaders:
 

Brown Calls For More Steps To Protect Montana Cattle

IBMP Measures and New Proactive Steps Needed To Protect Montana

Billings – Republican Gubernatorial Candidate Roy Brown yesterday announced the first steps in his plan to protect Montana cattle and work to eradicate brucellosis from its last remaining sanctuary in Yellowstone National Park, drawing a sharp distinction between his position and the actions taken by the Schweitzer administration.

“We know that Montana cattle didn’t break in to Yellowstone National Park and get infected. Montana needs to be proactive to protect ourselves and our ranchers who now face millions of dollars in cost increases just to continue doing business as usual,” said Brown. “It’s time we got serious about brucellosis, and unfortunately, all we’ve seen from Governor Schweitzer is finger-pointing and more rhetoric with no results.”

Brown outlined six initial steps he would implement on day one of his administration, all of which fall under the Interagency Bison Management Plan which has been largely ignored by the Schweitzer administration. Those steps include:

1. Capturing and testing bison leaving YNP to determine disease status
2. Allow no more than 100 negative test bison out of YNP
3. Prevent untested pregnant bison from roaming and calving outside of YNP
4. Haze bison back into YNP following dates outlined in the IBMP
5. Increased efforts to vaccinate bison
6. Restrict bison from moving outside of Zone 2

In addition, Brown called for more proactive measures to address the threat of elk spreading brucellosis to Montana cattle, including better tracking and vaccination efforts focused on elk. “Governor Schweitzer has ignored this problem and now is pointing fingers instead of implementing solutions,” said Brown. “As Montana’s next Governor, I’ll bring together the brightest minds to enact common-sense steps that will protect Montana cattle and our ranching industry, instead of just ignoring the issue and hoping for the best."