The iconic American bison is not only recognized as our national mammal, but is regarded as a keystone species for its contributions to the health of our grassland ecosystems. As large, free-ranging herbivores, bison were a predominant biological force across North America for hundreds of thousands of years. For over 10,000 years, they were the indispensable, cultural bedrock of dozens of Tribal cultures. Despite this, many current approaches to manage Yellowstone National Park bison herds (Central and Northern) prevent them from fulfilling vital ecological and cultural contributions that once helped shape the Great Plains and other swaths of the intermountain west known as the “American Serengeti”.

North American grasslands that have coevolved with bison are now among the most imperiled habitat types in the western hemisphere. More than 50 million acres of tallgrass, mixed/short grass prairies and sagebrush shrub-steppe landscapes have been lost in just the past decade due to invasive plants, large-scale fire, agricultural conversion and development. These landscapes have important roles in carbon sequestration, water filtration, soil conservation and are home to numerous essential pollinators, migratory and resident bird populations and other native wildlife species groups.

Bruce Becker photo.

Recently, ICL submitted comments to the National Park Service, which is coordinating with Interagency Bison Management Plan (IBMP) partners to revamp the nearly 25-year-old Yellowstone National Park Bison Management Plan and determine how the most genetically- pure bison in the world will be managed for the foreseeable future.

ICL believes that those conservation strategies should be based on recent research and used to reestablish bison as a critical lever to help restore the resiliency of the Greater Yellowstone Area and the wildlife communities that depend on it. The new IBMP should also reflect new directives put forth by the United States Department of the Interior (DOI), which articulates a vision for restoring wild, free-ranging bison to historic areas of prairie grasslands by engaging Tribal entities and affirming principles of the Bison Conservation Initiative. Any new bison plan must transform these native animals that are currently “functionally extinct” outside the Greater Yellowstone Area (GYA) to a wild-roaming ungulate population able to realize the ecosystem benefits it historically made throughout the West. Concerns from the ranching industry about brucellosis disease transfer from bison to cattle (causing fetuses to abort) have been scientifically disproven, but are still so pervasive that they will likely keep bison populations from being restored across their entire historic range. However, the first, best place to begin returning bison to the landscape is in the public lands adjacent to Yellowstone National Park.

ICL believes that the guiding principles for new policies used to manage bison populations in Yellowstone and the GYA should:

Bruce Becker photo.
  • Recognize bison’s outsized ecological significance in this ecosystem and the effects their disappearance had on the Tribal entities that depended on them.
  • Treat bison as a wild, native species – just like other wildlife and big game species in the larger Rocky Mountain region, by working with the US Forest Service to allow for their dispersal into unoccupied areas of public land outside Yellowstone.
  • Plan habitat improvements that enhance connectivity and other life-cycle requirements for self-sustaining populations of bison.
  • Encourage policies that balance treaty obligations and public hunting opportunities with the goal of managing populations healthy enough to disperse into other viable habitats outside YNP.
  • Make all attempts to manage the declining Central herd as unique and distinct from the Northern herd, since significant demographic, behavioral and genetic differences exist between each population.
  • Establish guidelines that minimize conflict between bison and livestock operations and other management policies that promote social acceptance of bison outside Yellowstone.
  • Update bison quarantine period timelines and other “conflict” policies based on brucellosis science that shows most disease transmission to cattle comes from wild elk.
  • Rapidly phase out the “ship-to-slaughter” program and terminate it at the earliest realistic opportunity.

ICL will continue to support the efforts of IBMP partners that advocate for the use of evolving research during the next era of Yellowstone bison management and are pushing to expand the year-round presence of bison on public lands beyond park boundaries. Actions such as this, along with other policies outlined above, will be pivotal to restoring the role of bison in grassland ecosystem functionality and fulfilling sacred Tribal trust responsibilities across America’s Serengeti.

You can learn more about the history of bison in the American west on Monday night, October 16th, when PBS debuts Ken Burns’ latest documentary, “The American Buffalo.” 

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