Animal Welfare Information Center Newsletter, Spring 1997, Vol. 8 No. 1

Montana, Federal Officials Agree on Yellowstone Bison Management

Washington, June 20, 1997 -- Federal agencies and the state of Montana have agreed upon an approach to manage brucellosis in the Yellowstone bison population.

The agreement reached between the state of Montana, the National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service, and APHIS achieves the purpose statement agreed upon by the parties, which is "to maintain a wild free-ranging population of bison and address the risk of brucellosis transmission to protect the economic viability of livestock interests in Montana."

State and Federal officials met this week to discuss an environmental impact statement (EIS) for management of the Yellowstone bison herd, and agreed upon a "preferred alternative," which included the following:

• capture and shipment to quarantine of animals testing negative. Those animals would then be made available to American Indian tribes to help establish herds.

• capture of bison to control movement onto private lands.

• bison hunting in certain situations.

• vaccination of bison when a vaccine is developed.

The draft EIS, which will detail the "preferred alternative" and other options for managing the burcellosis threat and the Yellowstone bison herd, will be released for public comment later this summer.

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