So a couple months ago I was contacted by the producer of 60 Minutes, a news program on CBS that has been running for more years than I've been alive, I'm pretty sure...anyway, he told me about a special that he was putting together about living with grizzlies bears and the issues they bring to ranching. Of course I jumped at the chance to share the plight of ag producers in Montana, and instantly agreed to the interview! What an amazing opportunity to reach a nationwide audience and shed some light on the "real story" of living and working with grizzly bears, right???
Well, here's how it went...first they were going to interview me at the ranch, which would make sense. But that didn't work, so instead they interviewed me in Columbia Falls, which was fine because I had to go over there anyway. I met the crew, had a great chat with Bill Whitaker (I hope I at least taught him something), and then we were done! Later that week they came to the ranch and took some footage of Peter and I just hanging out so they had something to go with my interview, I guess. It was pretty awkward because it was TV and we literally groomed our horses for 20 minutes on the wrong end of the corral, but that's not important.
I think it was around the middle of September when Rome, the director, emailed me to let me know the episode would be airing Sunday, Oct. 11 on CBS. I was SO excited!!! But, then he texted me last Wednesday and asked if we could have a phone conversation real quick - uh, ok? Well, he told me my interview got cut because there just wasn't enough time in the 12 minute spot, but he assured me that my message still came through with what USFWS Grizzly Bear Recovery Coordinator Hilary Cooley said in her interview. Apparently MTFWP bear biologist Tim Manley also got cut from the show, which I thought strange since he was the one the crew spent the most time with, or so it seemed.
Anyway, I was super disappointed, of course, but Rome assured me several times that my message came through in the show even though my actual interview wasn't in there. Ok. Fast forward to Sunday - I find the clip on the 60 Minutes website and Peter and I sit down to watch.
Talk about a LOAD. OF. CRAP. Nothing in there from anyone in the ranching community. Nothing in there about the dangers of having to share your private property - your literal BACKYARD - with an apex predator. Nothing about the trouble and damage they cause, the thousands of dollars in losses they burden us with, nothing at all. Only feel good BS about how the bears have recovered, and how people have had encounters with grizzly bears but they still respect bears and want them to be around, or there were bears eating their crops but it's really okay...complete and total BULLSHIT.
After I watched it, I knew why my interview was cut. It was too harsh - didn't fit their idea of a feel good story about grizzly bears in far away Montana, and how everyone here is just so happy that they exist and we're lucky enough to live with them. GAG.
More than once during the show it was said that bears live in the mountains, bears live in the woods, people travel FAR into bear country to recreate. Not a WORD about grizzly bears moving out into people country. Nothing about bears intruding on ranching homesteads, or the dangers that we face EVERY day when we walk out the door to go to work. Those were the things I talked about in my interview. I talked about how my daughter can't even walk over to the horse barn by herself because there could be a grizzly in the 400 yards between the house and the barn. I talked about the losses that we suffer every year - not just dead livestock, but weight loss in our calves due to the stress of sharing a pasture with apex predators, the damage they cause to buildings, fences, etc., the stress they cause US just by being here...and the list goes on.
One-sided reporting is not helping us. One-sided reporting is only hurting agriculture - it makes us look even worse when we say we don't want grizzly bears in our backyards, and we push for a hunting season to control the population. And 60 Minutes has proven itself to only tell the feel good side. BUT, I will not be deterred. I will continue to share our stories, and I will continue to work to bring attention to the REAL story of having to deal with these grizzly bears on a daily basis 12 months out of the year.
PART TWO
So when I talked to Rome on the phone (when I got cancelled from the show) he asked me to provide feedback on how I thought it turned out... Here's what I sent him, along with a link to this blog post:
Hi Rome,
I've watched the clip of the grizzly bear story a couple times now, and I have to say I am sorely disappointed, and, quite honestly, pretty pissed off. Your story does nothing to capture life with grizzlies - it only highlights their recovery and shows a few select people that love bears regardless of the trouble they cause. REALLY not a true representation of Montanans that have to live and work on this landscape with grizzlies.
And here is his reply:
Thanks for sharing your honest feedback, Trina. I understand your disappointment, and I take it to heart. And as I said when we spoke, I really regret and take personal responsibility for not being able to find time in the segment for your interview.
There are as few things in your e-mail and blog post, however, that are simply incorrect, and need to be corrected. First, you said in your blog post that our story had, quote:
“Not a WORD about grizzly bears moving out into people country.”
In fact, our story included this:
MONTANA’S HUMAN POPULATION HAS GROWN BY 250 THOUSAND SINCE GRIZZLIES WERE PROTECTED IN 1975. MOST OF THOSE PEOPLE LIVE ON VALLEY FLOORS OR IN FOOTHILLS NOT FAR FROM BEAR COUNTRY.
SOT: (BRYCE ANDREWS)
BRYCE ANDREWS: When you can look at the telemetry from their collars, you realize that at night this valley belongs to bears. A bear has walked, I've seen the telemetry, through the spot where you and I are sitting right now. And we are within 100 feet of my house.
I could point to several other parts of the story that touched on the topic of bears in what you call “people country.” Your critique is simply incorrect.
Second, you say in your blog post, quote,
“nothing about the trouble and damage they cause, the thousands of dollars in losses they burden us with, nothing at all.”
In fact, our story dealt in specific detail with those very issues:
THE GREATEST TROUBLE COMES WHEN GRIZZLIES GO AFTER LIVESTOCK OR CROPS THAT RANCHERS AND FARMERS COUNT ON FOR THEIR LIVELIHOOD.
SOT: (HILARY COOLEY)
HILARY COOLEY: Bears can be really hard to live with. They kill livestock. There are producers who have 20, 30 cows a year killed by grizzly bears. And so, for those--
BILL WHITAKER: Sounds like a lot.
HILARY COOLEY: --folks-- it's a lot. It's a big impact.
SOT: (GREG SCHOCK)
GREG SCHOCK: The bears probably knocked down between 20 and 25% of my corn that I couldn't harvest every year.
GREG SCHOCK FARMS IN MONTANA’S MISSION VALLEY. HE SAYS GRIZZLIES LIVE IN THE WOODS ABOUT A MILE FROM HIS HOME.
SOT: (GREG SCHOCK)
GREG SCHOCK: We had 18 several years in a row in our cornfield and nobody believed that I had that many until they put cameras up and-- and actually had footage of them.
BILL WHITAKER: Eighteen in your cornfield?
GREG SCHOCK: In a hundred-acre cornfield, yeah.
WITH SO MANY GRIZZLIES AROUND – NOW NEARLY TWO THOUSAND - THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT WOULD LIKE TO REMOVE SOME POPULATIONS FROM THE ENDANGERED SPECIES LIST. SO FAR, COURT CHALLENGES FROM ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS AND NATIVE AMERICANS HAVE PREVENTED THAT.
Again, I could point to a good bit more detail in the story about problems that grizzly bears cause. Again, your critique is simply incorrect.
There is no point in engaging in a further back-and-forth. I respect and value your perspective and your frustration. I do take very seriously our responsibility to get it right, and we tried our best to do so with this story.
I wish you and your family the very best.
Rome Hartman