Tribes Welcome Yellowstone Bison Expansion Plan

Above, a herd of Yellowstone bison in a riverside meadow. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

There is a plan to expand the range of bison of Yellowstone National Park in Montana, but the state is threatening to sue. Tribes are welcoming the plan.

According to Indianz.com:

A highly anticipated update to how Yellowstone National Park manages bison is setting the stage to expand the animal’s range in Montana, tribes and conservationsts say.

After years of work, Yellowstone released its new bison management plan this summer. More than 27,000 people commented on the document, which calls for more bison compared to the previous plan from 24 years ago. It also incorporates management changes that have been put into effect over the past two decades, including a surge in bison hunting near park boundaries and a new program to transfer live, disease-free bison to tribal nations.

“We have come a very long way since the last bison management plan was signed in 2000,” Yellowstone Superintendent Cam Sholly said in a release. “This new plan solidifies much of the progress made over the past two decades and provides a foundation for future decision making.”

The plan, written as an environmental impact statement, has raised questions about what an increased herd size in the national park means for management outside the park. 

Yellowstone analyzed three alternatives in developing the new plan and chose to use existing hunting and transfer efforts to manage for a herd size of 3,500 to 6,000 bison. The population has averaged about 5,200 for the past decade.

Tom McDonald, vice chairman of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation, called the new plan a step toward restoring buffalo on the larger landscape. 

Expanding where Yellowstone bison can go would help make tribal and state hunting safer, McDonald told Montana Free Press. Most hunting occurs outside the park’s north entrance, in Beattie Gulch, where bison are shot as they leave the park in winter searching for food. 

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