Schweitzer visits National Bison Range, battles rumble in court
Hey savvy news reader! Thanks for choosing local.
You are now reading
3 of 3 free articles.
MOIESE — The National Bison Range was established in 1908 and is one of the oldest Wildlife Refuges in the nation. It started with a herd of 12 bison. Today it features an estimated 351, give or take a few, after some deaths during the winter months and four births last week.
“We are at about the same number as recorded at Roundup last year,” said Pat Jamieson, the Range’s outdoor recreation planner, but she expects that number to increase as more births are expected. Last year 72 calves were born.
The original 12 were taken from private bison herds throughout Kansas, Nebraska, Montana and Wyoming and have flourished after years of careful and scientific management by National Bison Range biologists and project leaders.
“That’s what saved the bison; it was the private bison herds,” Jamieson said of the early years of the Bison Range.
Two of those 12 bison were Yellowstone bison, which nowadays is an issue that sparks much debate from government officials to private landowners. One on hand, the free-roaming, wild Yellowstone bison are exalted, considered the world’s last remaining vessels of ancient bison genetics. On the other, they are considered a threat to the cattle industry because of their potential to spread Brucellosis, take away grazing space and cause property damage.
Last month, 63 bison from Yellowstone National Park were relocated to the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in Northeastern Montana. But area ranchers who feared brucellosis and damage to property sued to block moving the animals. On April 11, Blaine County District Court Judge John McKeon upheld a temporary restraining order against moving the bison. McKeon said he would make a permanent decision within 30 days.
On April 3, Gov. Brian Schweitzer visited the National Bison Range on what Dean Rundel, Refuge Zone Supervisor for refuges in Wyoming, Montana and Utah, called a “fact-finding visit.”
Schweitzer was joined by the Department of the Interior’s acting assistant secretary for Fish, Wildlife and Parks, Rachel Jacobson; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Deputy Director Gregory Siekaniec; Steve Doherty, senior advisor for the Northwest, to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar along with Rundel.
The governor supports the move of the bison to the Fort Peck Reservation and is open to the idea of incorporating Yellowstone bison at the National Bison Range — if it proves beneficial to the range’s mission and management plan.
“Our ultimate goal is to maximize genetic diversity,” Dean Rundel said. “(So bison) are more able to adapt … their fitness to succeed is enhanced.
According to an April 3, Missoulian article, in December, Schweitzer locked horns with the U.S. Department of Interior after they turned down his proposal to relocate bison captured outside the Yellowstone National Park to the Bison Range. In response, Schweitzer blocked the Interior Department from transporting fish or wildlife anywhere within the state or across state lines.
Though Rundel said the National Bison Range has no position on the current controversy rising out of the recent move of Yellowstone bison, he did acknowledge the Yellowstone and National Bison Range bison share genetic similarities, despite a small amount of cattle genes found in the Bison Range animals. He added that the Yellowstone bison do house unique genetic material not found at the National Bison Range.
In the same Missoulian article, Schweitzer said during his visit that only 1 percent of bison in North America — about 4,500 —are genetically pure. Most — 3,000 —are in or from the Yellowstone herd. “If, in the future, we are in the position to re-introduce wild bison to public lands, we’d better be sure they’re the native species,” Schweitzer told the Missoulian.
For now, there are no plans to move any Yellowstone bison to National Bison Range as the bison conflict clashes in courtrooms.
“People both in and out of state governments are working towards a variety of plans for the bison species,” Rundel said.
