Folly on the range
The persecution of bison continues in Montana
You gotta be kidding
Bison in Yellowstone National Park
The Trump administration wants bison moved off of federal land in Montana. This has been a dream of cattle ranchers for a long time; it’s only their right to use public lands for their private benefit.
When you drive the Highline across northern Montana, you’ll often see signs posted that favor cows over bison. It’s a contest of ideas.
What’s extraordinary is the nonprofit American Prairie uses property rights in its dream of restoring the land as a healthy eco-system. You’d think conservatives would like that. They don’t.
Here is what the cattle industry says:
Montana Stockgrowers along with North and South Phillips County Grazing Districts have long fought for the decision to be appealed due to the lack of process followed for this decision and the very clear violation of the Taylor Grazing Act (TGA) in which bison are not a preferred species.
“MSGA is thrilled to see this decision by the BLM to restore grazing allotments back to their intended usage for production livestock grazing, affirming what ranchers have been saying since the beginning of this process,” Lesley Robinson, MSGA President stated. “MSGA is proud to defend sound, lawful land management. This decision is an incredible win for public lands grazers, ranching families, and rural communities across the west.”
Today’s Notice of Proposed Decision rescinds BLM’s 2022 Final Decision on bison grazing and cancels the associated permits authorizing bison grazing. In the notice, BLM notes that American Prairie’s bison herd is managed as wildlife in a way that is not meant for production according to the meaning of the term domestic livestock.
The Coalition of Large Tribes makes the case for bison. (My mind still says buffalo.) This is from a piece posted on its web site:
Tribes have also benefited from partnerships with conservation organizations that share a vision of big, healthy bison herds grazing across large landscapes. Chief among these partners is American Prairie, which for the past 25 years has worked to restore intact grasslands on public and private lands adjacent to Montana’s Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge. As part of its work, American Prairie has also provided both technical expertise and buffalo to many tribal nations rebuilding their herds.
Yet even with these initiatives, there are only a few thousand truly wild buffalo today, and they occupy just a tiny fraction of their former range across the American and Canadian prairies. Why?
The persecution of bison continues – nowhere more so than in Montana.
The political divide over bison reflects the greater divide over public policy. Conservative ranchers don’t want bison as “a preferred species.” Or Wildlife. The U.S. BLM is supposed to stand for the Bureau of Livestock and Mining. Those are the preferred actions.
Tribal ideas on bison should matter. In 2023, during the Biden administration, there was praise for Indigenous knowledge. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland told the Associated Press:
“… the decimation of bison by European settlers eliminated the primary food source for many tribes and opened the way for their land to be taken away.
“The return of bison in some locations is considered a conservation success. But Haaland said they remain “functionally extinct” and more work is needed to return the animals to tribal lands and restore the grasslands they depend on.
“This holistic effort will ensure that this powerful sacred animal is reconnected to its natural habitat and the original stewards who know best how to care for it,” Haaland said in announcing her order Friday, during a World Wildlife Day event at the National Geographic Society in Washington, D.C.”
Fighting words.
There are so many public policy problems with Interior’s latest decision to remove bison from some grazing leases. First: Bison are better for the land. Bison, unlike cows, benefit watersheds. To put it bluntly: cows shit everywhere.
A piece published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences flat out says: “Bison outperform cattle at restoring their home on the range.”
High-diversity grasslands are increasingly recognized as “old-growth” communities, having assembled over at least millennia, and often much, much longer. Human-caused disturbance frequently disassembles such communities, reducing them to lower-diversity states. A substantial challenge to conservationists interested in habitat restoration is to reassemble high-diversity communities that have been degraded by anthropogenic disturbance.
But that gets back to the greater political divisions. If there is climate change, we need to know as much about restoring the land as possible. And bison are pretty damn good teachers. And if there’s not climate change? Well, that’s a question without an answer except that it reflects human folly. We know the world is changing.
A Newsrime from the past
Today’s Newsrime
So the cattle ranchers win a round
checking bison herds and a rebound
But climate change will write new rules
no matter what’s said by ignorant fools
Ahead: Reporting from France
Later today posting my Indigenous House channel story from France. Here is a preview. (I will post the full video on Friday here.)