Ranchers upset about bison's return to Montana

Some farmers and ranchers in Montana are unhappy with the reintroduction of bison from Yellowstone National Park to the wild, saying they fear the large animals might be mismanaged, damage private property and compete with their own herds for grass, Nate Schweber of The New York Times reports. "Bison are a romantic notion, but they don't belong today," said rancher Curt McCann, who opposes bison reintroduction. Montana has 3 million cattle, and agribusiness is the state's largest industry. (NYT photo: Lynn Donaldson)

Last month, Sioux and Assiniboine tribe members celebrated as about 60 bison ran into a prairie that hadn't been grazed by bison in almost 140 years. Just 11 days prior, 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," Schweber reports. Fort Peck Indian Reservation Fish and Game Director Robert Magnan will be overseeing the transplanted Yellowstone herd. "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," he said.

A 2011 National Wildlife Federation survey showed that a majority of the state's residents supported reintroduction of huntable bison into the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge. State Sen. John Brenden said wild bison pose a threat to ranchers' herds that can't be contained in refuges. "Unless they have the German wall and a moat with a bunch of crocodiles and piranhas, they’re not going to contain those woolly tanks," he said. But American Prairie Reserve President Sean Gerrity said, “There is room for small islands of conservation within this sea of agriculture." (Read more)