How, or where, are questions that probably won’t be answered for some time, depending on how the talks go. Munoz declined to answer another question this week about staffing at the refuge as talks move forward.

FWS has appeared reluctant to fill all openings at the Bison Range during the period that funding agreements with the tribes have come and gone, given that CSKT employees fill several of the jobs when agreements are in place.

Now that FWS is actively discussing the potential transfer of the range, what will happen if any of the handful of FWS employees left at the Bison Range leave or retire during the process?

“That is a personnel issue, and we aren’t going to comment on personnel issues,” Munoz told the Missoulian.

Williams gave Walsh kudos for speaking to the Bison Range employees, and informing all FWS employees in the Mountain-Prairie region about the proposal in an email, on the same day the tribes were approached about the possibility of a transfer.

While FWS never made a public announcement that it had approached CSKT about turning the Bison Range over to the tribes, it certainly had to know the news would leak quickly. The Missoulian had obtained a copy of Walsh’s email within a few hours.