Free to Roam
Montana’s recent decision to expand wild bison habitat outside Yellowstone is a major victory. But the iconic creatures aren’t out of the woods yet.
If you’ve ever seen wild bison in Yellowstone National Park, you know how truly awe-inspiring that experience can be. If you haven’t, let me explain.
The majority of bison in the United States are confined to fenced-in areas and raised for their meat. But the nearly 5,000 bison that currently inhabit Yellowstone are truly wild — a direct link to the tens of millions that once roamed across North America.
And they are survivors: More than a century ago, we pushed bison to the brink of extinction. The couple dozen animals that were able to endure in Yellowstone’s remote interior are responsible for the existence of today’s wild population. Add the bison’s great significance for Native Americans, and it becomes a majestic national icon.
To see these creatures, the largest land mammal on the continent, wandering free on the wild and rugged Yellowstone landscape, is to experience an important piece of our past — and, one hopes, our future.
Late last month, the state of Montana began paving the way for that future by, for the first time, providing those wild bison with significant year-round habitat outside Yellowstone National Park. I can’t underscore enough how monumental this decision is.
As it currently stands, when the wild, migratory bison wander past Yellowstone’s unfenced boundaries in search of food in winter, state officials in the spring either force them back into the park with pickup trucks or horses (or, historically, even low-flying helicopters) — a brutal and traumatic practice called hazing — or simply round some bison up and send them off to slaughter.
This draconian policy stems from fears of the spread of brucellosis, a nonnative disease first introduced to the United States about 100 years ago by cows. An intensive effort in the 20th century helped eradicate brucellosis in the nation’s livestock, but the disease still hangs on in some wildlife in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, and bison have been scapegoated as a result. (For the record, although the threat of transmission exists, it is small, and, in fact, there isn’t one documented case of brucellosis transmission from a Yellowstone bison.)
We’ve come a long way in the 15 years since Montana (and its federal and tribal partners that collectively manage Yellowstone’s bison population) adopted its reactionary hazing and slaughter management plan, and I give huge credit to Governor Steve Bullock for recognizing that.
The decision to let Yellowstone’s wild bison roam year-round outside the park didn’t come about overnight. And perhaps most impressively, it didn’t come solely from wildlife advocates. Montana citizens from all walks of life, and with a wide range of personal and professional interests, showed concern for the issue and suggested some new ways forward for the Interagency Bison Management Plan (IBMP) — which includes as partners the National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service, the Montana Department of Livestock, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, and multiple Native American tribes, among others. Frustrated landowners didn’t want helicopters swarming their property every spring. Concerned citizens deemed the hazing and slaughter a waste of taxpayer dollars. Worried business owners knew that wildlife attracts tourists to Montana.
But as with any policy, the recent decision isn’t perfect; it’s not a silver bullet that solves every problem for bison. In fact, just a couple of weeks ago, the IBMP partners announced their plan to cull an outrageous 600 to 900 of Yellowstone’s wild bison this winter. The reason? An outdated and unscientific population goal of 3,000 animals.
So even with this big habitat expansion, threats to wild bison remain. While we celebrate a monumental victory for the iconic creatures — and also for Montana and the rest of the country — we are also reminded that there’s still more work to do. It may take a while to get there but, in the end, the solution is actually quite simple: Let wild bison be just that: wild.
Written with Nicole Greenfield
