GOAL, MISSION, AND OBJECTIVES

GREATER YELLOWSTONE INTERAGENCY
BRUCELLOSIS COMMITTEE (GYIBC)

It is the Goal of the Greater Yellowstone Interagency Brucellosis Committee (GYIBC) to protect and sustain the existing free-ranging elk and bison populations in the Greater Yellowstone Area (GYA) and protect the public interests and economic viability of the livestock industry in the States of Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana.

Toward this goal it is the Mission of the GYIBC to facilitate the development and implementation of brucellosis management plans for elk and bison, and their habitat, in the GYA.

This mission will be accomplished by subscribing to the following management Objectives, which will, in turn, guide the GYIBC:

• Recognize and maintain existing state and federal jurisdictional authority for elk, bison, and livestock in the GYA;

• Maintain numerically, biologically, and genetically viable elk and bison populations in appropriate areas within the GYA;

• Maintain the brucellosis Class Free status of Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho, thus protecting the ability of producers in the respective States to freely market livestock;

• Eliminate brucellosis-related risks to public health from wildlife;

• Eliminate the potential transmission of Brucella abortus among elk, bison, and livestock;

• Coordinate brucellosis-related management activities among the parties;

• Base brucellosis-related management recommendations and decisions on sound science and factual information while encouraging and integrating new advances and technology;

• Seek public involvement in the decision making process;

• Communicate to the public factual information about the need to prevent the transmission of brucellosis, the need for its eradication, and the rationale for related member agency management actions; and

• Plan for elimination of Brucella abortus from the GYA by the year 2010.