HELENA, MT – The National Park Service is being sued over a new bison management plan it released last year for Yellowstone National Park. The plan aims to lower transmission of brucellosis to cattle in the area, despite scientific findings that show all recent recorded transmissions came from elk, not bison.
The National Park Service faces at least two lawsuits for its latest bison management plan for Yellowstone National Park – the first update released in about 25 years. The new plan allows for a slightly larger bison population in the park – between 3,500 and 6,000 animals – as well as more space for them to roam and increased capacity for people to hunt them.
The State of Montana is suing, alleging a lack of cooperation in planning. And the conservation group Alliance for the Wild Rockies is also suing – because, as Executive Director Mike Garrity says, the plan’s Environmental Impact Statement doesn’t follow the most current science.
The plan aims to prevent the spread of brucellosis, a bacterial disease that can lower birth rates in cattle – a priority for local ranchers.
But a report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine shows all recent cases of the disease in cattle were transmitted by wild elk, not bison.
The Park Service plan received some praise for incorporating the Bison Conservation Transfer Program, which relocates some healthy animals to Tribal nations across the U-S. But Garrity says the plan needs work around hunting protocols, which lead to intensive hunting in one gulch that acts as a migration bottleneck.
Both the Alliance lawsuit and the state’s will be heard in Montana’s Billings Division U-S District Court.
