PICS: Dan Rather Reports from The Hi Line

Aaron Flint posted on June 24, 2013 08:56 :: 1656 Views

Former CBS newsman Dan Rather and his AXS TV film crew have been making the rounds on Montana’s Hi Line, as he readies a report on the bison debate here in the state. 

Here’s a couple pictures sent out from Rather’s “Dan Rather Reports” Twitter page:

The Great Falls Tribune had this during Rather’s visit with the Fort Peck Tribal Council:

Veteran journalist Dan Rather met with the Fort Peck Tribal Council Thursday, assuring them all sides of his story about its controversial bison herd will be told during his in-depth package to air this fall.

Rather, the former “CBS News” anchorman and “60 Minutes” correspondent, is reporting on and producing a piece about the Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes’ bison herd that originated in Yellowstone National Park, then transplanted onto the reservation last year with the help of the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Department.

Chairman Floyd Azure and Councilman Stoney Anketell said what peeved them the most was the frequent use of the phrase “in the dark of night” used by critics of the bison transplant project to describe how the herd was moved onto the reservation by the state.

I also had the great opportunity to speak with Councilman Anketell, who called in to our statewide radio talk show the same day that Rather was visiting the Fort Peck Reservation.  Anketell was listening to the show via our affiliate KVCK radio out of Wolf Point.   

With regard to the “dark of night” criticism towards the state government from area landowners in Northcentral and Northeastern Montana, here’s a backgrounder from NorthernAg.Net:

Word broke last Monday, March 19, that Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks (FWP) and the Fort Peck Tribe (FPT) had signed a “Memorandum of Understanding” (read the full MOU) that would allow for the movement of Yellowstone National Park bison from a holding pasture near the Park to the Fort Peck Reservation.  While the documents were signed on Friday, March, 16, there was nothing done to publicly announce the movement.

That actual physical transfer of the bison was already cued up and ready to go on Monday.  The Associated Press reports they were told that the date of the shipment was kept quiet until the process was underway “to avoid a court injunction.”

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