Ranchers Concerned About Bison Management Changes

by

portion of an article by Michael Wright in the Bozeman Daily Chronicle

GARDINER — Bison management is simple for Joe Gross, a North Dakota native who now lives in southern Montana.

“The bison have a place,” Gross said.

That place he’s talking about – Yellowstone National Park – is in sight from the Gardiner School, where the National Park Service and the state of Montana had their second open house on the Interagency Bison Management Plan, a multi-agency effort to control Yellowstone’s wild bison population.

Since 2001, the more than 4,000 Yellowstone bison have been managed under the Interagency Bison Management Plan, a cooperative effort between Yellowstone National Park and the state of Montana to conserve the animals and minimize the risk of brucellosis transmission between bison and livestock.

The partner agencies are rewriting that plan — which they say is outdated — over the next couple of years.

Range of Preliminary Draft Alternative Concepts

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Images from the Yellowstone Bison Plan Public Scoping Newsletter provided by the National Park Service
Other commments from the meeting:

  • One person called for additional public land in Montana opened up to roaming bison rather than keeping them in the park
  • One rancher wanted a clear policy of keeping bison away from cows so they don't tear down fences and scatter cows.  
  • Another rancher requested the bison plan include compensation for private property damage. 

 

CLICK HERE to read the original article

Source:  Bozeman Daily Chronicle

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