Montana considers bringing bison back

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks is seeking public comment on a draft environmental impact statement that offers four alternatives for returning bison to state, private and tribal land in Montana where they haven't been seen since the 1880s, wiped out by excessive hunting.

Three alternatives consider restoration of a publicly managed bison herd on:

• private and/or public land.

• tribal land.

• and/or large landscapes that could handle a minimum of 400 bison with minimal livestock conflicts. That could be private, state or federal land.

The fourth alternative is "no action."

The purpose of the EIS is to determine whether bison restoration is appropriate and, if so, what potential opportunities are feasible, said Ron Aasheim, an FWP spokesman.

"We're talking about the potential of managing bison as we do other game species in Montana," he said. " 'Potential' is the operative word."

Landowners would have to be willing to take the animals, FWP said.

FWP Director Jeff Hagener will make the final decision on bison management and conservation following public hearings and a public comment period ending Sept. 11.

A decision to move bison to a specific location would have to be made by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission, Aasheim said.

The draft statewide bison conservation and management EIS considers bison restoration somewhere in Montana where animals could be managed as a native species, but offers no specific locations.

Where the animals that would be reintroduced would come from hasn't been determined, but they would have to be cattle- and disease-free, the state said.

Bison flourished throughout the majority of Montana prior to the settlement of the American West, according to the EIS study.

Large herds of bison moved throughout most of the state east of the Rocky Mountains, with smaller bison groups utilizing western Montana. In 1882, a herd between 50,000 and 80,000 bison was observed crossing the Yellowstone River near Miles City.

In the summer of 1806, Meriwether Lewis recorded passing immense herds of buffalo in the Marias River area north of Great Falls.

Driven by high demand for bison robes in eastern markets, bison hunters, along with settlers, hunted the species to near extinction and he great herds were all but gone by the 1880s with their disappearance of the bison having tremendous impact on the culture and economy of the plains tribes, the study says.

Today, there are several wild bison herds on tribal and federal lands in Montana including Fort Peck and Fort Belknap reservations and Yellowstone National Park, but there's no public herds managed by FWP, the state agency charged with managing fish and game in Montana.

Bison restoration presents opportunities for restoring some of the ecological role bison played on the prairie, as well as for increasing tourism and hunting opportunities, the state says in the study.

But there are concerns that bison could negatively impact agricultural interests, affect current land uses, transmit diseases to livestock, have negative economic impacts, or reduce public access, the study notes.

Sine 2010, the state has listed bison as a species of concern.

They are designated as both a wildlife species in need of management, and a species in need of disease control in Montana.

Restoring them to the landscape has been highly controversial with conservation and tribes generally supporting it and livestock producers opposed.

In 2012, FWP began a public discussion on a bison restoration and it drew an unprecedented 22,928 comments.

"It's up there with wolves as far as differences of opinion," Aasheim said.

Gov. Steve Bullock vetoed a bill in the 2015 legislative session that would have given county governments the power to veto any proposed transfers of bison to their counties.

General guidelines are provided in the EIS to assist in the selection of potential project sites, choosing the source of bison for the project and for management and program implementation.

For instance, the guidelines assume that restored bison would be free of disease and cattle genes, that each potential project site would be thoroughly assessed and that containment and management plans would be mandatory.

Full funding would be secured for at least a five-year test period, and local community involvement would be required.

For more information

Visit fwp.mt.gov for more information or to comment. Click on Bison EIS. The draft EIS will be available for 90 days of public comment through 5 p.m. Sept. 11. Comments can be mailed to: Bison Conservation and Management EIS, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks; P.O. Box 200701; Helena, MT 59620-0701. A series of public hearings will be scheduled later this summer.