Split range, make real refuge
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Editor,
As long as the Bison Range is within the boundaries of the Flathead Indian Reservation, the Tribes will try to control it, various people and groups will continue to oppose them, and the Federal government will have to deal with both sides.
About ten years ago, or more, someone suggested in a letter to the editor that we move the National Bison Range off the Flathead Reservation, split the herd, and give the present facilities to the Tribes.
Surely, somewhere in Montana, are a few square miles of Federal land that would make a suitable bison range. Then we maybe could have a real wildlife refuge. By no stretch of the imagination could the present Range be called a wildlife refuge. The bison are herded, fenced, and even have their own Medicare program. It’s a government-operated ranch.
Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) has strongly opposed any tribal involvement at the Bison Range and filed a lawsuit. In my opinion, based on some of their past comments, they are really concerned about their jobs, and rightly so. Splitting the herd should solve that problem. Then maybe the whole Bison Range problem will go away and the lawyers will have to find another source of income. The bison would benefit by having an additional place where the species can be preserved.
The Tribes claim that their heritage and experience qualifies them to manage Bison. OK, let them demonstrate it. Maybe PEER and the Tribes could compete to see who is more environmentally responsible.
I proposed this idea last February and sent it to several individuals and groups. The only response I got was from Senator Daines, and he likes the idea.
Dale P. Ferguson
Polson
