Gallatin Wildlife Association

Myth: Bison are a wildlife species in Montana. Reality: Almost all bison in Montana are privately-owned. Most of these bison contain cattle genes. The only “free-ranging” bison in Montana come out of Yellowstone National Park. Most are slaughtered during winter. The rest must be moved back into the Park before May 15 (April 15 on the north side). Wild bison are extirpated from Montana.

Myth: In Montana, bison are managed by the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks. Reality: Bison leaving the Park are managed by the Department of Livestock. Even the annual hunt, overseen by FWP, must be approved by DOL. As a result, bison are hazed, confined to two small areas north and west of the Park, captured, tested for brucellosis, vaccinated and many are slaughtered. Remaining animals are pushed back into the Park in spring. Bison are managed as livestock in Montana.

Myth: There is no habitat for wild bison in Montana. Reality: There is sufficient habitat in southwest Montana to restore bison on a year-round basis and to allow a sustainable and respectful hunt. This area, both north and west of the Park, is framed by the Dome Mountain Wildlife Management Area in the Yellowstone Valley, The Gallatin WMA in the Gallatin Valley and the Wall Creek WMA in the Madison Valley. It includes considerable amounts of other state and federal lands. Elsewhere in Montana, there are large areas of mostly public lands that could support wild bison.

Myth: Most private landowners in southwest Montana do not want bison. Reality: Within the southwest Montana area described above, most private landowners see a value in managing bison as a wildlife asset. Most private land either has no cattle or has no cattle during the bison birthing period when transmission of Brucella to livestock is possible. Private landowners will lead and limit bison recovery and conservation in southwest Montana.

Myth: Controlling bison will eliminate the risk of brucellosis for cattle. Reality: Brucella bacteria are carried by Yellowstone elk that are more numerous and range farther than do bison. Brucella may also be present in several carnivores and scavenging mammals. Zero tolerance of wild bison in Montana is not simply a brucellosis issue.

Myth: Bison are a year-round threat to transmit brucellosis to livestock. Reality: Although transmission of Brucella from bison to cattle has never been recorded in the wild, transmission might occur if cattle contact recently dropped bison placentas. Almost all bison calving occurs in April and May, with a few calves born in early June. Placentas are scavenged or desiccated within about a week. Research indicates Brucella bacteria do not persist on the ground past June 15 in the Yellowstone area. Managing susceptible livestock around this window of potential transmission is a sound brucellosis prevention technique.

Myth: Managing wildlife as if they were livestock is the cost-effective way to control brucellosis in Montana cattle. Reality: Managing brucellosis in thousands of wild animals, including elk, over a vast landscape is unlikely. Any attempt would be cost-prohibitive, would require enforced access to private lands, and would involve a federal appropriation of states’ rights to manage wildlife. Vaccines are ineffective in wildlife and difficult to deliver to wild animals. In Wyoming, managing elk as livestock, on feedgrounds, facilitates transmission of disease and maintains higher levels of brucellosis than in free ranging herds. There is an unbroken chain of elk and brucellosis from Wyoming feedgrounds to winter ranges in southwest Montana.

Myth: The livestock industry foots the bill for control of bison in Montana. Reality: Through 2007, 97% of the cost of bison control has come from federal sources - the Park Service, Forest Service and Animal Health and Inspection Service (APHIS). In 2008, APHIS money used in bison control was a special appropriation (earmark) in the federal budget. In 2006 and 2007, about $3 million/year was spent on bison control. Much more was spent in 2008 and the average taxpayer is footing the bill.

Myth: Brucellosis cannot be controlled with reasonable cattle management. Reality: Management of cattle that are already controlled and handled annually in southwest Montana is possible and cost-effective. Protecting livestock with fences, periodic vaccinations and limiting use of bison habitat until after June 15 is sound and reasonable management to prevent brucellosis losses in cattle. Steers, spayed heifers and/or horses can be grazed without restriction because they are unable or unlikely to obtain or transmit the disease.

Myth: Loss of brucellosis-free status will be a disaster for the Montana cattle industry. Reality: While the Montana Stockgrowers have suggested that loss of brucellosis-free status will cost the Montana livestock industry $6 million, experience in Wyoming suggests otherwise. In Wyoming, increased testing requirements cost cattlemen about 1% of production costs per year, or about $1.7 million. Much of these costs was borne by state taxpayers. Moreover, prices for Wyoming cattle rose during the state’s loss of brucellosis-free status. Admittedly, these costs are not borne equally by all producers. Most cattle moved in, or out of Montana will not require testing. Steers, spayed heifers, cattle under 18 months of age and any cattle shipped directly to slaughter do not have to be tested. Only breeding cattle over 18 months of age must be tested before a change of ownership or interstate movement.

Myth: Capture, handling, vaccination and slaughter of Yellowstone bison is consistent with the mandates and policies of the National Park Service. Reality: Congressional mandates are to retain Park resources “in their natural conditions” and “leave them unimpaired for future generations.” Park Service policy is to “maintain processes of naturally evolving ecosystems” and to minimize “human interference with evolving genetic diversity.” It is likely that genetic diversity of the Park’s bison was lost to slaughtering in 2008. Moreover, natural selection has largely been replaced by human intervention.

Myth: The Interagency Bison Management Plan, produced in 2000, is an effective tool for managing Yellowstone bison and brucellosis. It will provide for a “free-ranging” wild bison herd. Reality: In 2008, the Government Accountability Office reported a need to “refine, revise or replace” the IBMP. The IBMP prohibits establishment of a wild bison population in southwest Montana. This is not acceptable and is costing over $3 million each year for bison control and slaughter. The IBMP focuses on thousands of wild animals for brucellosis control, rather than on a few hundred livestock that are already controlled and handled annually. This is impossible.

Myth: The proposed agreement to pay the Church Universal and Triumphant $3.33 million will significantly reduce the slaughter of bison. Reality: The CUT agreement removes cattle from the Royal Teton Ranch on CUT property; and allows 25-100 bison to use a narrow corridor for access to federal land to the north. These bison must be captured, tested and determined to be seronegative for brucellosis. They may not cross the Yellowstone River onto public lands to the east. They must be hazed back into the Park by April 15. Thus, slaughter of wild bison will be reduced by 25-100 animals. If the CUT agreement were in place in 2008, probably 1575 bison would have been slaughtered, rather than 1600.

Myth: The CUT agreement involves leasing of winter forage for bison. Reality: Bison would be allowed to use the travel corridor and 3 bison-use areas on the RT Ranch. A description of the bison-use areas has not been released. However, all of the Ranch, including the bison-use areas may be grazed by horses. All of the Ranch, excluding only the travel corridor, may be subdivided and developed. (Part of the travel corridor is a county road, where public access presumably could already be used to move bison.)

Myth: The $3.33 million agreement with CUT makes economic sense. Reality: Capital value of the agreement to CUT exceeds $3.33 million because 56% of the money must be paid up front and the rest during the first 20 years of the 30-year agreement. The CUT acreage made available to bison is unclear because part of the bison travel corridor is already public accessible and the 3 bison-use areas have not been delineated for the public. If, at most, 100 bison are grazed for 4 months each winter, we are paying CUT about $278 per animal unit-month for grazing access, mostly on federal land we already own. (Federal agencies currently charge $1.35 per animal unit month for livestock grazing on our lands.) In addition, Fish, Wildlife and Parks is committed in the agreement to numerous activities that will increase the cost of the agreement. How much habitat could be permanently fenced to protect cattle for $3.33 million?

Myth: The deal with CUT was developed with broad public awareness and input. Reality: A copy of the agreement, without important attachments, was not made available until the Governor announced it as a done deal. FWP intends to conduct an environmental analysis of the agreement soon: after a decision has already been announced.

Myth: Outside of the greater Yellowstone area, we cannot reintroduce wild bison into Montana, as on the CMR National Wildlife Refuge, because brucellosis-free bison are not available. Reality: Brucellosis-free bison are available from Wind Cave National Park and from the Fish & Wildlife Service Sully’s Hill Preserve.

Myths of Bison Management and Brucellosis in Montana