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In an attempt to allow hunters to kill more cow elk and thereby reduce the animal’s population, rifle hunts could be extended until Feb. 15 in 18 more Montana hunting
Gianforte Scraps Plan For Free-Roaming Bison
Montana officials are butting heads over the future of the national mammal. At stake is whether bison should be treated as livestock or as wildlife. New legislation and policy changes under the Gianforte administration are derailing hopes of establishing the first free-roaming bison herds in the state.
It’s baby bison season in Yellowstone National Park. Tourists are pulled off on the side of the road, marveling at newborns a couple hundred yards away. One tourist, Kathie King, is from Butte. Oh, the babies,” she laughs. “That’s why we like this time of year. To see the babies.”
Lawmakers seek help on Montana bison
American Indian Caucus wants to reintroduce herds By MATTHEW BROWN, Associated Press
Published: May 4, 2021, 6:02am
Share: A herd of bison stand in a pen on the Fort Peck Reservation near Poplar, Mont., in 2012. (Associated Press files)
BILLINGS, Mont. Native American lawmakers in Montana called on the Biden administration to help craft a plan to reintroduce wild bison to the landscape in and around Glacier National Park and the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge.
The request was made last week by eight members of the Legislature’s American Indian Caucus in a letter to Interior Secretary Deb Haaland. It comes after Gov. Greg Gianforte and his fellow Republicans in the Legislature have sought to make it harder to reintroduce bison to areas of the state that the burly animals once roamed.
ROB CHANEY
Sorting out whoâs upset with whom over the recent Montana bison management moves is about as easy as herding buffalo.
Gov. Greg Gianforte on Friday warned the U.S. Department of Interior that a future bison transplant to the Charles M. Russell Wildlife Refuge in northeast Montana should be a state decision. But the federal government hasnât announced any plans for such a reintroduction.
Gianforte previously announced a settlement on April 20 with United Property Owners of Montana (UPOM) declaring the state wouldnât undertake its own bison relocation process in the refuge for 10 years.
UPOM represents ranchers in the area opposed to a bison reintroduction project by the nonprofit American Prairie Reserve (APR). But APR representatives say they werenât the focus of the previous Democratic Gov. Steve Bullockâs effort to allow wild, free-roaming bison in the region. They are happy to keep their herd of roughly 800 animals consider