Helena

Fears over bison lead to several more Montana bills

Posted: Jan 27, 2011 9:51 PM by MATT GOURAS - Associated Press

HELENA, MT - Growing fears that wild bison will be increasingly moved to new locations in the state - on both public and private land - are leading ranchers and others to ask the Legislature for more restrictions on the divisive animal.
Three bills heard in different legislative committees were all partly reacting to news the state and others may move Yellowstone National Park bison to other areas in the state.
Ranchers and others in rural areas have become increasingly worried about the bison plans. They fear the bison will transmit brucellosis to their cattle.
Bison supporters argue the animals need more places to roam than just Yellowstone National Park.
One bill pitched Thursday afternoon would require county approval to move wild bison across their borders. Another measure would clarify that bison are legally considered livestock and not wild animals, perhaps making it easier to capture loose bison.
Another would mandate that the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks write a bison management plan before putting the animals on state land, as some fear will happen.
The agency has named Spotted Dog, Marias River and Beartooth wildlife management areas as possible sites to relocate the 50 bison now in the U.S. Department of Agriculture's quarantine facility north of Yellowstone.
Bison opponents argue there is no place for wild bison in the state because free-roaming bison are too large to manage.
"If we are to come to a resolution, we are going to have to acknowledge that bison are a victim of manifest destiny and we can't restore them to what they used to be," John Mundinger, a former FWP employee, told the Senate Fish and Game Committee.
It's nice to dream about completely restoring bison to where they historically roamed, but it would require undoing the basis nation's economy west of the Mississippi River - an idea that is neither realistic nor practical, he added.
FWP officials are in the process of identifying possible sites to temporarily relocate up to 50 quarantined Yellowstone National Park bison for five years. The agency has said it plans to develop a management plan during that period and determine whether the bison should be permanently relocated.
"I don't want to proceed with any transplantation of buffalo until we have a plan," Sen. Rick Ripley, the bill's sponsor, told the Senate Fish and Game Committee on Thursday.
FWP director Joe Maurier opposed the bill because it would dictate what should be included in a bison management plan and would prohibit the transfer of wild bison if it would negatively affect the multiple use of the land.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Topics: Montana Legislature, Bison