YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK — Last week, the Montana Sierra Club, represented by Cottonwood Environmental Law Center, filed a motion to intervene in defending the 2024 Yellowstone National Park (YNP) Bison Management Plan (BMP), another step in the litigation initiated by the state of Montana to lower bison population objectives by 45%.
The 2024 BMP is an update to the 2000 Interagency Bison Management Plan (IBMP). On Dec. 31, Montana alleged through litigation that a less restrictive management approach has been allowing YNP’s bison population to boom and increasing the risk of brucellosis-infected bison spilling into Montana and threatening the livestock industry.
Cottonwood originally challenged the National Park Service (NPS) in 2018, alleging they failed to update the IBMP to “consider new information indicating bison population objectives should increase from 3,000 animals to 7,500.”
Cottonwood also challenged the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) and Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) for failing to update its portion of the IBMP to consider new science regarding the transmission of brucellosis, pointing to science that confirms elk are the species transmitting brucellosis to cattle all over Montana and asking the court to allow Yellowstone bison to roam freely on public land wherever elk can go.
While the court ordered the USFS and APHIS to complete the analysis, Cottonwood points out in its new motion that both organizations failed to do so. Cottonwood is asking the federal court to reopen the 2018 case and order the USFS and APHIS to complete the analysis and determine whether bison should be allowed to roam free on public lands.
“It’s time for Yellowstone bison to roam free on public lands to restore hunting opportunities for my people.”
Alvin Fritzler, a member of both the Crow Tribe and Cottonwood
“The state of Montana seems to have forgotten that natives were hunting bison long before Montana became a state,” Alvin Fritzler, a member of the Crow Tribe and a supporter of Cottonwood’s pro bono work, said in a statement. “It’s time for Yellowstone bison to roam free on public lands to restore hunting opportunities for my people.”
According to the InterTribal Buffalo Council (ITBC), formed in 1992 and comprising of 83 tribes across 20 states, restoring the bison population is “part of a healing process” for Indigenous peoples.
“With renewed stewardship, tribal members can build their herds and feel the wholeness of being in the presence of this sacred animal,” the ITBC writes on its website. “The near eradication of the bison to control Native people requires a trust responsibility to begin to repair the harms done to Native peoples. The ITBC supports tribes as they rebuild herds, grow local economies, reintroduce healthy bison meat to Native diets and many other means to build sovereignty and regain a part of what was taken from them.”
On Friday, Jan. 17, Montana-based conservation groups the Alliance for the Wild Rockies (AWR) and Council on Fish & Wildlife (CFW) also sued YNP over its BMP for what they claim is “senseless harassment and pointless slaughter” of the national mammal.
YNP’s Public Affairs Office tells Buckrail that they “respectfully decline to comment” on the current BMP and additional development in the pending litigation.
