Bison Transfers Threaten Wild Buffalo

Winter weather frequently drives wild Yellowstone bison out of the park seeking forage, where they are captured or killed at the park border. Photo George Wuerthner 

Recently news media announced the transfer of 141 of Yellowstone’s bison to the Fort Peck Indian Reservation. Most of the media and many conservation groups hailed this as “restoring” bison to the plains. What is not said is that this transfer to the tribe, and all other previous transfers are destroying the wild bison genome.

The second issue is the failure of the federal government to protect it Public Trust obligations.  Yellowstone’s bison belong (if one can suggest wildlife belongs to anyone) to the American people. Yet they are being given to tribal reservations that are essentially private lands.

Yellowstone’s bison are of international significance in part because they have been the least domesticated buffalo in the West. They are an evolutionary heritage that is priceless. Preservation of their wild genome should be preserved, not treated as trading cards in political machinations.

Yellowstone bison have survived harsh winters, droughts, natural predators, and other evolutionary processes. Photo George Wuerthner 

They have been subject to native predators, harsh winters, droughts, had natural selection in breeding and free to migrate—until they reach the border of the Park.

Domestication is the biggest threat to wild bison. And nearly all government and private policies are eroding the wild bison genome. I believe the various interest groups—state, federal, and tribal governments all want to avoid a long term solution that protects wild bison. The tribe makes some of these previously public bison available for canned hunts.

The bison transferred to Fort Peck will be held in a 13,000 acre “ranch”. Since 2019, the Yellowstone Bison Conservation Transfer Program has transferred 414 bison to Fort Peck. A record 116 animals were transferred this February: 108 males, four females and four calves.

Bison will suffer from domestication. Animal social networks are disrupted, bison may be fed and artically breed, age structure changed, and other factors that cause loss of wild genome. Photo George Wuerthner

These animals are likely to be artificially fed; perhaps selectively bred and killed, disrupting natural population dynamics. Since they will be held in a small enclosure (13,000 acres is nothing to a bison) they may lose the tendency to migrate which is perhaps their greatest evolutionary adaptation to an unpredictable environment.

All these non-Yellowstone herds are too small to avoid inbreeding depression and random genetic losses.

In short, on-going bison transfers and slaughter of bison at the park border will continue the erosion of Yellowstone bison wildness and they will be domesticated.

Though proclaiming bison transfers are “saving” bison simply do not understand basic biology. It is like promoting fish hatcheries and asserting we are “saving” wild salmon. In fact, numerous studies have documented that hatchery production is contributing to the decline of wild fish.

Some may suggest that transferring bison to tribal lands is a good solution to the on-going controversy over Yellowstone bison. However, there are several issues that are not discussed.

The first is that bison are largely confined to Yellowstone due to policies promoted by the Montana livestock industry. They argue that bison can transmit brucellosis to cattle. Brucellosis is a disease that can cause abortion in infected animals. However, there has never been a case of wild bison infecting cattle, though there are numerous instances of elk transmission of the disease to cattle. But we don’t keep elk bottled up in Yellowstone Park.

Second, when bison are transferred from the park or killed on the border, it removes the biomass from the ecosystem that would otherwise be consumed by scavengers and predators. It also reduces competition between individuals making it more likely they will survive and are in better condition, thus more difficult for predators like wolves and grizzlies to kill them.  And bison removed from the ecosystem is essentially taking food from the mouths of ecosystem animals from magpie to wolves.

Third, due to the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution, the Federal government is not obliged to adhere to the state’s prohibition against restoration of bison on public land in Montana. The federal government can legally promote migration of wild  bison to the Custer Gallatin NR and other federal holdings around Yellowstone.

Bison slaughtered near Yellowstone Park border by tribal members.Such hunts may be illegal. Photo George Wuerthner 

The federal government could prohibit the annual slaughter of Yellowstone bison by tribal members due to a clause that negates treaty “rights’ if necessary for conservation purposes. But none of the fake conservation groups like Greater Yellowstone Coalition that support bison transfer or so called “treaty hunts” never review whether there are legal rights to kill bison wandering from the park. They merely accept the assertions of the tribe and state (which wants to keep bison bottled up in the park) that hunts are legal for tribal members.

If there are “excess” Yellowstone bison, at the very least they should be transferred to public lands, not privatized. Establishing several other “wild” herds will preclude the loss of this genome if there were a disease outbreak or some other factor contributed to the loss of Yellowstone’s bison herds.

Missouri River in Charles M. Russell NWR, Montana combined with adjacent BLM lands and perhaps American Prararie Reserve lands  is one location large enough to sustain a wild bison herd. Photo George Wuerthner

The Charles M. Russell Wildlife Refuge, and adjacent BLM lands like the Missouri River Breaks NM and perhaps the American Prairie Reserve combined offers a superb opportunity to establish another free-ranging bison herd. There are other lands in Wyoming and Idaho that are also suitable for bison recolonization and large enough to maintain evolutionary processes like the Red Desert, Upper Green River, and Birch Creek/INL lands in Idaho.

However, I think nearly all the interest groups do not want a resolution to the bison issue. The state is obsequious to the livestock industry and continues to thwart bison recolonization. Conservation groups want a continuing controversy so they can raise money “saving bison” by promoting domestication of the animals.  The tribes want to continue killing bison on Yellowstone’s border and obtaining America’s bison for their reservations.

I believe (but have no proof) the Biden administration doesn’t want to rock the boat by creating a controversy that pits the federal government interests against the state’s policies. They probably fear it might hurt the reelection chances of Senator Tester. Plus, Sec of Interior tends to support policies that favor tribal interests over the public interest.

Due to all these factors, wild bison are the ones harmed. And we are allowing their wildness to be destroyed by domestication because of flawed policies.

Wild bison deserve a better future than being turned into domesticated livestock. We don’t have to accept the current policies. We should and can demand that Yellowstone bison be permitted to migrate beyond Yellowstone borders without being slaughtered, as well as establishing several other herds that are subject to evolutionary processes. Groups promoting wild bison restoration including Free Roam Nation, Yellowstone Voicies, Gallatin Wildlife Association, Montana Wild Bison Council, and Alliance for Wild Rockies. Help these groups promote restoration of wild bison.

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