bison management

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Yellowstone sued for denying access to bison culling operations

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Bison that are destined for slaughter are temporarily crowded into a holding pen at a capture facility in Yellowstone National Park.

A lawsuit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Wyoming claims the National Park Service is improperly restricting press and public access to bison culling operations in Yellowstone National Park. The plaintiffs—a freelance journalist and a wildlife advocate—say the seasonal closure of a large section of Yellowstone land around a bison capture and sorting facility amounts to censorship of those working to share details of how hundreds of the park's bison may be shipped for slaughter this winter. Continue Reading →

Filed under: Wildlife, Yellowstone, bison management, Christopher Ketcham, lawsuit, Stephany Seay, stephens creek

Public input sought for Yellowstone bison management plan

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A bison stands near road signs in downtown Gardiner, Mont. in January 2006. (Jim Peaco/NPS - click to enlarge)

The National Park Service and the State of Montana will begin preparing an Environmental Impact Statement for a new plan to manage a wild and migratory populations of Yellowstone-area bison, while minimizing the risk of brucellosis transmission between bison and livestock to the extent practicable. A Notice of Intent has been published in the Federal Register. The new plan is needed because conditions have changed since implementation of the Interagency Bison Management Plan began in 2001, including agency experience in managing bison and new science. Continue Reading →

Filed under: Gateway Towns, Wildlife, Yellowstone, bison management

Montana seeks public comment on bison quarantine plan

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Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks is seeking public comment on a draft environmental assessment proposing the relocation of 145 brucellosis-free bison to create or augment existing wild bison herds. The wild bison were part of the Bison Quarantine Feasibility Study, a research project that began in 2004 directed by FWP and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. Continue Reading →

Filed under: Wildlife, bison, bison management, brucellosis

Yellowstone to work with Montana on revised bison plan

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Proposed changes to a 2001 plan to manage Yellowstone Park's wild bison will be considered as part of a new environmental impact statement to be jointly developed by the National Park Service and state of Montana. New information and circumstances pertaining to bison and the management of brucellosis will be drawn from Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, the Montana Department of Livestock, and the Park Service, according to a statement released Friday by park officials. Continue Reading →

Filed under: News, Wildlife, bison, bison management

Yellowstone bison expansion plan still viable in Montana

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A proposal to dramatically expand the territory available for bison living in and around Yellowstone National Park s still under consideration, despite a decision by the Montana Board of Livestock this week to table the plan pending further analysis. The plan to boost available habitat from about 40,000 acres used mostly on a seasonal basis to 420,000 acres year-round west and north of Yellowstone in Hebgen Lake Basin, the Taylor Fork of the Gallatin River and other areas "remains viable," officials say. Continue Reading →

Filed under: Gateway Towns, News, Wildlife, Yellowstone, bison, bison management

Yellowstone bison won’t get vaccines from ‘bio-bullets’

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A group of bison graze and rest near the roadside south of Madison in Yellowstone National Park in August 2013.

Wildlife managers in Yellowstone National Park have chosen not to use an unusual drug delivery method that had been proposed for vaccinating bison against a disease feared by cattle ranchers in nearby communities. Citing a lack of scientific evidence of its effectiveness, the National Park Service has dismissed the potential use of "bio-bullets" as a way to deliver brucellosis vaccines to wild bison in the park . Continue Reading →

Filed under: Yellowstone, bison, bison management, brucellosis

Yellowstone bison population up nearly 9 percent over 2012

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A group of bison graze and rest near the roadside south of Madison in Yellowstone National Park in August 2013.

An annual bison population survey released by Yellowstone National Park shows an estimated jump in nearly 9 percent over last year. Based on a series of aerial surveys, researchers estimate that 4,600 bison live in Yellowstone. There are approximately 3,200 bison in the northern herd and 1,400 in the central herd this summer. Continue Reading →

Filed under: News, Wildlife, Yellowstone, bison, bison management, brucellosis, gardiner, trending

Research aims to better predict winter migrations of Yellowstone bison

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A bison stands near road signs in downtown Gardiner, Mont. in January 2006. (Jim Peaco/NPS - click to enlarge)

When hundreds of bison move through a small town like Gardiner, Mont. at the north entrance to Yellowstone, they have the potential to damage property, injure people and transmit disease to livestock. Park managers and other wildlife agencies try to reduce those potential conflicts, but don't always know where and when the animals will move, said Chris Geremia, a National Park Service researcher at the Yellowstone Center for Resources. Continue Reading →

Filed under: Gateway Towns, Research, Science & Nature, bison, bison management, gardiner, science, trending

Montana judge’s ruling gives Yellowstone bison more room to roam

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A trio of bison make their way along a highway near Yellowstone National Park. (Ruffin Prevost/Yellowstone Gate - click to enlarge)

Bison migrating out of the North Gate of Yellowstone National Park during cold and snowy weather will have some extra room to roam following a ruling by a Montana judge. District Court Judge E. Wayne Phillips on Monday dismissed a lawsuit brought by state and local livestock groups that sought to block a plan that would allow bison to move throughout a 70,000-acre "tolerance zone" of mostly federal land north of the park. Continue Reading →

Filed under: Gateway Towns, bison, bison management, buffalo field campaign, yellowstone national park