Buffalo Allowed to Roam

Trailblazer, credit: Yellowstone Gate News

A federal District Court judge ruled dismissed two lawsuits against Montana's decision to allow Yellowstone buffalo to roam 70,000 acres outside the Park's boundaries on Monday. District Judge E.W. Phillips issued a ruling that allows migrating buffalo to forage during the winter in Gardiner Basin which is mostly US Forest Service land north of the Park. In the past bison leaving the Park in search of forage were subject to slaughter. Park County officials and local ranchers objected to the state's policy reversal citing possible property damage and public safety. Judge Phillips wrote in Park County Stockgrowers v. Montana the state has no statutory obligation to protect residents from wildlife and that the level of private property interference does not rise to a substantial and unreasonable level in a state with still abundant wildlife. The decision's impact will be closely watched in Wyoming where buffalo also roam outside Yellowstone Park boundaries.

Yellowstone's northern buffalo herd is growing, and in the opinion of some managers growing too large for the available ecosystem. National Park biologists recommended culling 450 females from the herd at the November management plan meeting. The herd is estimated at 4,200 individuals in two main groups, one near Old Faithful and another that lives in the Lamar Valley and Yellowstone River drainage. Hunting and predation is not reducing the herd size enough according to the Park Service. Killing bison is unpopular with conservationists and the general public. Conservationists want the government to open up more land for the Yellowstone bison to disperse across the landscape, but local agricultural interests are resisting that suggestion. Last year Montana's governor blocked the shipment of slaughtered Park buffalo on state highways. There is an environmental assessment underway at the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife Parks and the Montana Department of Livestock to study the impact of buffalo inhabiting lands adjacent or near the National Park year-round. The assessment is due in March. The federal court decision is significant for these efforts to expand habitat for buffalo in Montana*.

*Update: Annoying insurance company telly commercials notwithstanding US Person does not advocate allowing buffalo herds run loose in populated areas. No self-respecting buffalo would live in a human suburb anyway.