Governor appoints one of two Board of Livestock seats

Governor appoints one of two Board of Livestock seats

Today, Governor Schweitzer appointed Brett DeBruycker, current president of the Montana Cattlemen’s Association, to the Board of Livestock. His appointment filled the seat left vacant by the resignation of George Hammond in September. Meg Smith also resigned in September, but her seat remains empty for now. New appointees must be approved by the state Senate and serve six-year terms.

The Board met at 1 p.m. today for its regular bi-monthly board meeting. Quentin Kujala of the Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks gave a presentation on the agency’s 2008 Elk Brucellosis Surveilance. He discussed research on elk movements in the Madison and Paradise Valley compared to data collected between 1976 and 1986. According to his data, elk are spending less time in the forest and more time in the valley bottoms on private land. He said that the agency firmly believes that elk are congregating in certain areas because of lack of hunter access to these areas. He explained that this has the effect of artificially bunching elk, making the transmission and persistence of brucellosis more likely. Kujala will make a similar presentation at the MSGA Convention and Trade Show on Dec. 12 during a joint Beef Production and Markeing-Land Use and Environment brucellosis discussion. Please join us to learn more and ask your pressing questions of FWP.