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| credit: NRDC |
Yellowstone's growing wild bison herd will at last be left peacefully alone to graze in the Gardiner Basin outside the Park's Montana boundaries for the first time in decades. Federal, state and tribal authorities were able to agree for the benefit of our national icon, that the herd can now roam across 75,000 more acres foraging for winter food. Wildlife advocates are thrilled with the agreement since our buffaloes will not have to suffer annual harassment operations intended to confine them within the park, or senseless death at the hands of hired government killers or intolerant thrill seekers {"Yellowstone"}. Of course the optimum solution to Yellowstone Park's diminishing space is to expand the Park to the natural boundaries of the Yellowstone Basin ecosystem as far as practical [map]. 
Development of a major natural gas field is already approaching the park's southern boarders, but expansion is now still possible without sacrificing a major domestic energy source. The $1 billion the US is illegally spending to bomb Col. Qaddafi out of existence could be better spent to purchase more land for a cultural treasure, instead of treating wild buffaloes like a public nuisance*. The first piece of land that should be acquired is Horse Butte outside the park's western border with Montana. Hundreds of buffaloes graze and give birth there in the winter and spring, but are chased out by agents in May, allegedly to protect livestock. The reality is there are no cattle grazing there, and there is no documented transmission of brucellosis from bison to cattle despite what ranchers' think. Yup, old ways die hard.*the USDA spends millions each year killing off predators and other animals considered inconvenient for farmers and ranchers. The big bison bull in the lower right photo was killed by USDA agents in Idaho.