Let’s be clear: Gianforte’s lawsuit doesn’t represent Montanans, but rather Montana livestock interests. The vast majority of Montanans want wild, migratory buffalo restored in our state.
The brucellosis boogey-man argument is old and is full of holes. The disease was brought to North America through invasive cattle. Brucellosis entered the Yellowstone buffalo herds by erroneous human actions. There has never been a documented case of wild buffalo transmitting brucellosis to livestock, even prior to the expired Interagency Bison Management Plan. Montana livestock interests even oppose quarantine, which, while a domestication process, produces brucellosis-free buffalo. Elk have been implicated dozens of times in transmitting brucellosis to livestock, yet are free to roam. This issue has never been about brucellosis. It is a centuries-old range war about the grass and who gets to eat it.
How, exactly, was Montana left out of Yellowstone’s new bison management plan planning process? They had every opportunity to submit comments and attend a webinar beginning in January 2022. They regularly meet with Yellowstone officials as well as other Interagency Bison Management Plan cohorts. In fact, Gianforte’s feedback to Yellowstone during the planning process grossly altered the Draft Environmental Impact Statement as well as the Final EIS and Record of Decision. Yellowstone had suggested a much higher population in Alternative 3 during the scoping phase, but due to Gianforte’s threats, the park significantly reduced target population numbers. Gianforte and Yellowstone have ignored public opinion. More than 75% of people who commented chose Alternative 3, but Gianforte threatened to sue Yellowstone, so the park not only reduced population objectives, but chose Alternative 2. I’d call that input that was caved to.
Roam Free Nation doesn’t much care for the new bison management plan either, but for completely opposite reasons than Gianforte and his livestock cronies.
And why should Gianforte care if the population increases? Nearly every single buffalo who migrates into Montana is gunned down by state and treaty hunters. The Montana Dept. of Livestock has barely lifted a finger in over a decade. Now they have mainly tribes doing their dirty work, using treaties to facilitate the destruction of the last wild buffalo.
Gianforte’s complaint repeatedly states that Yellowstone’s buffalo population is too high, even at lower numbers than what the new plan calls for, which is scientifically unsound. The fact is, Yellowstone’s senior bison biologist, Chris Geremia, publicly stated that Yellowstone alone can sustain upwards of 11,000 buffalo. Gianforte’s complaint also suggests that the buffalo are “harming” habitat in the park, which is also scientifically inaccurate. Yellowstone’s former senior bison biologist, Rick Wallen, has stated that the buffalo don’t even use all the available habitat within the park, and that they create and manage their own habitat — which they have done for hundreds of thousands of years. It’s what they do. Wild, migratory buffalo are the true stewards of grasslands and prairies.
Yellowstone’s plan is bad enough, caving to livestock interests, domestication, and “hunting”, but Gianforte’s lawsuit could impose heavier, more serious setbacks with dire consequences. The Yellowstone population is ecologically extinct throughout their native range, wild bison are “red listed” by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature as “near threatened”. MT Fish, Wildlife & Parks — shockingly a plaintiff on the suit — classifies buffalo as a Tier 1 species, “one in greatest conservation need.” The Montana Heritage Program and MFWP have listed bison as a species of concern, considered to be at risk. The Yellowstone herds are being considered for Endangered Species Act protection by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.
Wild bison advocates have gotten too soft on Montana’s livestock interests. Given Gianforte’s crybaby actions, it’s time to put them back in the hot seat.
Stephany Seay is the cofounder of the Montana-based and native-lead Roam Free Nation. More information can be found at RoamFreeNation.org.
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