Bison and Cattle Wars: The Battle for Public Lands in Greater Yellowstone

McBeth, Mark

During the winter of 1996-97, between 1000 and 1500 Yellowstone bison were killed by the Montana Department of Livestock as result of the "Interim Bison Management Plan" signed by Yellowstone National Park officials to settle a lawsuit filed by the State of Montana. Montana officials feared that the Yellowstone bison herd in which some bison have brucellosis would infect Montana cattle and Montana would lose its "brucellosis-free" status as conferred by the Animal, Plant, Health, Inspection Service (APHIS) of the United States Department of Agriculture. The plan initially called for testing bison and slaughtering of infected animals. The policy soon spun out of control, however, as bison were indiscriminately corralled and shot on site regardless whether they tested positive for brucellosis. This study reports the results of the qualitative portion of a mail survey sent to citizens in the Yellowstone border communities of West Yellowstone and Gardiner, Montana. Respondents offered their open-ended answers to questions concerning problem definition and possible solutions. The results indicate that in regard to problem definition, 36% of the comments were directed against the management practices of the National Park Service (NPS) and 33% were directed against the trio of Montana ranchers, elected officials, and APHIS. Citizens who blamed the NPS for the problem overwhelmingly favored a carrying capacity for bison that will keep the bison in the park. The rest of the respondents offered several solutions including buffer zones, vaccination of cattle, and ethical hunting of bison.