After sharp industry criticism, feds drop NBEZ proposal; offer new “Designated Surveillance Area Plan”

After sharp industry criticism, feds drop NBEZ proposal; offer new “Designated Surveillance Area Plan”

From the Montana Stockgrower Update, July 24, 2009

The National Brucellosis Elimination Zone (NBEZ), a plan released earlier this year to regionalize the area around Yellowstone National Park for brucellosis, has been shelved by APHIS and an alternate proposal, the “Designated Surveillance Area Plan” (DSA) will be released soon.

MSGA, along with our counterparts in Idaho and Wyoming, met with APHIS in Washington D.C. in March to express concerns over the NBEZ proposal. Specifically, MSGA expressed concern that 1.) The plan was moving too fast with too little input from those ranchers who deal with this problem day in and day out; 2.) Creating such a zone would only serve to cordon off those ranchers without actually providing them any extra tools to combat the problem; 3.) The plan as it was written did not include any measurable goals for reducing or eliminating the disease in that area; and 4.) There was no sunset date as far as when ranchers in this area would no longer be in such a zone.

The industry groups from Montana, Wyoming and Idaho offered several suggestions to APHIS for how to best move forward in addressing the brucellosis problem from a regulatory standpoint. Our suggestions included 1.) Allow the states to conduct their own enhanced surveillance of the area, according to their own unique circumstances; 2.) Declare the entire country free of brucellosis (which under international standards, we already are, even with the few cases we have had in the past several years in the three states); and 3.) Focus APHIS’s limited resources on advancing brucellosis research so we can improve the tools we have to address brucellosis in the Yellowstone area.

The governors of Idaho and Wyoming vocally supported the efforts of the industry groups to encourage APHIS to reconsider their efforts. According to a recent press release from the Department of Livestock, after the NBEZ proposal “was met with skepticism by animal health officials and producers, a work group of state and federal officials went back to the drawing board and came up with a new plan – the Designated Surveillance Area Plan (DSA) – that gives states more autonomy in drawing boundaries for brucellosis surveillance areas.” The DOL press release says that the DSA will focus eradication efforts on the Greater Yellowstone Area while relaxing strict regulations now in place nationally.

The plan had not been released at press time, but the Department of Livestock has scheduled two informational meetings in Billings and Bozeman in August. The Billings meeting will be held August 4 at 5:30 p.m. at the Holiday Inn Grand, 5500 Midland Rd. The Bozeman meeting will be August 5, at 5:30 p.m. at the Comfort Inn 1370 N. 7th Ave. Check the Department’s website http://liv.mt.gov for more information.