Sioux and Assiniboine tribe members wailed a welcome song last month as
around 60 bison from Yellowstone National Park stormed onto a prairie
pasture that had not felt a bison’s hoof for almost 140 years.
That historic homecoming came just 11 days after 71 pureblood bison,
descended from one of Montana’s last wild herds, were released nearby
onto untilled grassland owned by a charity with a vision of building a
haven for prairie wildlife. Some hunters and conservationists are now
calling for bison to be reintroduced to a million-acre wildlife refuge
spanning this remote region.
“Populations of all native Montana wildlife have been allowed to rebound
except bison; it’s time to take care of them like they once took care
of us,” said Robert Magnan, 58, director of the Fort Peck Indian
Reservation’s Fish and Game Department, who will oversee the transplanted Yellowstone bison program.
But with several groups now navigating a complex and contentious path to
return bison to these plains, agribusiness is fighting back. Many
farmers and ranchers fear that bison, particularly those from
Yellowstone, might be mismanaged and damage private property, and worry
that they would compete for grass with their own herds.
“Bison are a romantic notion, but they don’t belong today,” said Curt
McCann, 46, a Chinook rancher who this month drove four hours to a
public meeting in Jordan to speak against bison reintroduction.
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