U. S. Department of Interior Recommits to National Bison Conservation Initiative

Department of Interior Secretary David Bernhardt recently extended the 2008 federal Bison Conservation Initiative for another 10 years, presumably with renewed vigor. The Initiative is managed by the Department’s Bison Working Group and will coordinate conservation strategies for wild bison, especially across 19 herds on lands of the Fish & Wildlife Service, National Park Service and Bureau of Land Management.

The initiative also calls for shared stewardship of wild bison with states, Native American tribes and non-government organizations.

The activity of the DOI Bison Working Group over the last 12 years has not been entirely clear. Likely, they supported transfer of a few bison among DOI herds to bolster their genetics, and supported the needed expansion of bison habitat and herd size at Badlands National Park. Perhaps their most important product has been a recently released Population Viability Study. It analyzes the genetics of most DOI herds and compares the effects of several proposed management strategies for maintaining and enhancing genetic diversity among and within herds. It is an important guide to future management. The research was supported by the Wildlife Conservation Society.

The DOI announcement includes plans for transferring a few bison from the Rocky Mountain Arsenal Refuge to the Theodore Roosevelt National Park herds, and for developing a large Tribal herd of bison on and with the Rosebud Sioux Reservation in South Dakota. Of concern, DOI reveals nothing about any commitment of the Sioux Tribe toward management that will limit artificial selection and conserve the diversity and wildness of the herd genome.

Among the DOI Working Group goals are: (1) conserve bison as healthy wildlife; (2) support genetic diversity across DOI herds; (3) cooperate with states, tribes and other stakeholders; (4) establish large, wide-ranging bison herds on large landscapes where bison will shape diverse ecological communities of plants and animals; and (5) restore cultural connections of bison with all people.

DOI goals 3 and 4, above, are especially coincident with goals of the Montana Wild Bison Restoration Coalition. In particular, restoring a large, public, wild bison herd on the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge will enhance all five DOI goals, and the federal government has reiterated its desire to work with Montana to this end. 

Jim Bailey

 

Secure a Future for Wild Bison: Lobby Montana Candidates

The future for any restoration of public, wild bison in Montana could be extinguished by the 2021 state legislature. Similar attempts have occurred in the past; but were vetoed by our governors. However, Montana will have a new governor in 2021.

Once the legislature convenes, it is too late for informed public discussion of the issues. It is therefore imperative to stimulate bison restoration as an issue in 2020 election campaigns. Readers are encouraged to broach the issue at public forums and in letters to editors of newspapers, to encourage other conservation organizations to take a stand, and to contact candidates of both parties to address the issue of bison restoration.

Justifications for bison restoration on the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge are abundant and diverse. See them throughout this website. However, in most situations, it will be necessary to initiate communication with a brief, pointed message. Please consider this example, written as a letter to a candidate for Montana office:

Candidate,

Aside from seasonal visitors from Wyoming, Montana has no public-trust wild bison herd. (See more at mtwildbison.org.)

Yet the Montana Constitution mandates remedies for unreasonable depletion of natural resources, provisions to restore historic, scientific, cultural and recreational objects for use and enjoyment by the people, and preserving the opportunity to harvest wild game.

Montana law (MCA 87-1-216) provides guidelines for restoring public bison with a contained herd while protecting private property and resources.

Three polls have indicated that 70 percent of Montana voters support restoring public, wild bison on the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge.

If you are elected to a position with responsibilities to uphold the Montana Constitution, will you support restoration of a sizeable public-trust bison herd on a substantial but contained landscape, such as the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge?

So far, the candidates have been ignoring environmental issues. Getting our concern into the election dialogue will be difficult. But silence is unacceptable. Please join us in this effort. Together, we can stir the pot. 

Jim Bailey