Letter: Montana Governor is Out-Of-Touch on Yellowstone Bison

A growing chorus of businesses, outdoor industry groups, conservation groups, and Tribes are asking Montana Governor Greg Gianforte to join the 74 percent of Montanans who want bison managed as wildlife, not livestock.

The Greater Yellowstone Coalition, groups representing nearly 100 Tribes, businesses, and conservation organizations sent Gov. Gianforte and his Fish, Wildlife & Parks director a letter this week asking the administration to rethink its position on bison management.

“Yellowstone bison represent an ongoing conservation success story – a collaborative effort to bring bison back from the brink of extinction and see them restored more broadly across their native range,” GYC Executive Director Scott Christensen and partners write in the letter. “Bison are important ecosystem engineers. The North American landscape is less balanced in their absence. The State’s position threatens not only to put an abrupt halt to bison conservation, but to dismantle the last two decades of progress – taking the Yellowstone bison population back to the diminished numbers of 20 years ago. This is regressive, short-sighted, and damaging to the long-term health of the State’s economy and outdoor heritage.

The state of Montana is asking Yellowstone National Park to manage bison like livestock and stick to outdated practices that aren’t based on science. The state wants the iconic herd cut nearly in half, and is threatening to eliminate the tolerance zones bison can wander to outside of the park. These two actions will radically limit or altogether end public and Tribal bison hunting opportunities which not only impacts Montana’s outdoor industry but impedes Tribal treaty rights and efforts to transfer live bison to Tribes through the Bison Conservation Transfer Program.

"Yellowstone bison serve an essential role in food sovereignty, cultural revitalization, and Tribal buffalo conservation for our Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho herds on the Wind River Indian Reservation,” said Eastern Shoshone Tribal member, Senior Program Manager of Tribal Buffalo Partnerships for the National Wildlife Federation, Executive Director of the Wind River Tribal Buffalo Initiative, and Vice President of the InterTribal Buffalo Council Jason Baldes. “Tribes require a source population with the best conservation genetics, Yellowstone bison are preferable to ensure herd health and diversity. Restoring buffalo to Tribal lands and communities is important for food sovereignty and nutrition, ecological restoration and biodiversity, educational and academic opportunities, and of course for the cultural and spiritual importance to Native American people. It has been demonstrated that transfer of disease-free bison to Tribal lands across the nation has been successful. These actions are part of the federal trust responsibility to Tribes, and administrations in states like Montana should not intervene or impede Tribal treaty rights and self-determination to restore buffalo backed by science-based solutions.”

“The state of Montana wanting to reduce the number of buffalo goes against what it means for our people to have buffalo returned to our lands. We don’t understand why the state wants to undo the progress we’ve made together to see live disease-free animals transferred to Tribes for our cultural herds,” said Fort Peck Fish and Game Director Robbie Magnan, who oversees the quarantine testing facility. “The Fork Peck Tribes have been cooperating with the state to ensure these animals are healthy for transferring to Tribal lands. The buffalo is a family member and important to healing our people.”

Millions of visitors come to our region each year to see Yellowstone bison. These visitors spent $452 million in the communities adjacent to Yellowstone National Park, supporting the small businesses that power Montana’s economy.

"Wild bison are a major draw for visitors to Yellowstone and tourism is now the primary economic driver for Montana,” said Gardiner-based guide and business owner Cara McGary. “My business and my entire community rely on these visitors to sustain us financially. Montana's insistence that Yellowstone National Park cut the herd’s population will only damage our state's reputation with visitors and hurt our businesses. Visitors will choose to go elsewhere, as they have done before."

Together, we join three in four Montanans who, in May 2023 public opinion research, said bison should be managed as wildlife and restored to appropriate public and Tribal lands in Montana. This overwhelming majority is bipartisan and shared among demographic groups.

New research from the National Parks Conservation Association finds that 91 percent of Americans support restoring healthy bison herds at Yellowstone National Park and other national parks.

The governor’s office needs a reality check on Yellowstone bison, and we hope he’ll listen to the folks on the ground who have been working together for decades to ensure our national mammal thrives in Yellowstone and in Montana.

Read the letter signed by the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, Intertribal Buffalo Council (representing 83 Tribes across 21 states), Rocky Mountain Tribal Leaders Council (representing 11 Tribal Nations from ID, MT, WY, Canada), Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes, Wind River Tribal Buffalo Initiative, National Wildlife Federation, Montana Wildlife Federation, Defenders of Wildlife, National Parks Conservation Association, Wild Livelihoods Business Coalition (representing 175+ Montana businesses in Greater Yellowstone), Park County Environmental Council, Bear Creek Council, International Buffalo Relations Institute, Montana Audubon, Idaho Conservation League, Large Carnivore Fund, and more.