A coalition of American Indian tribes and environmental groups have proposed a way to save Yellowstone bison from slaughter and restore bison to tribal lands.

The InterTribal Bison Cooperative (ITBC) and the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) have asked federal and state officials to create a system for testing bison for disease and moving brucellosis-free bison to tribal lands.

That system may reduce the number of bison killed when they stray into Montana from Yellowstone National Park. Federal and Montana officials justify killing the bison, citing fear of brucellosis transmission from bison to domestic livestock and over population of park bison herds.

Brucellosis is a bacterial disease that can cause stillbirths in cattle, yet there has never been a recorded instance of bison transmitting brucellosis to livestock in the wild.

The intertribal group, representing 51 tribes, met this week in consultation with National Park Service officials in Mammoth Hot Springs and nearby Gardiner, Mont. Here in Wyoming, the Northern Arapaho Tribe belongs to the ITBC.

"We are gathered here to show our support for the Yellowstone buffalo and to start a new round of discussion that we hope will finally put an end to the senseless destruction of the Yellowstone buffalo by federal and state agencies," said Fred Dubray, executive director of the intertribal group.

The tribal and environmental coalition wants the federal Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and state of Montana to explore another management option. Instead of killing all bison that step out of the park, the coalition wants officials to:

-- Quarantine and test strayed bison in a bison health certification center to be built on Fort Belknap Reservation property in north-central Montana.
-- Relocate disease-free bison to the nation's tribal and public lands, while slaughtering infected bison.
-- Acquire winter grazing ranges and migration corridors outside the park.
-- Adjust cattle grazing times and patterns on public lands bordering the park to preclude the mixing of cattle and bison.
-- Ensure brucellosis vaccination of domestic cattle on a consistent and routine basis.

"This is a common-sense solution that ensures that our children and their children will be able to enjoy the sight of wild buffalo in Yellowstone and beyond," said Stephen Torbit, tribal lands program director for the National Wildlife Federation.
The plan is similar to a management option that has been deferred in the current bison management plan, which was approved in late 2000.

"There is a quarantine option in the management plan," said Wayne Brewster, deputy director for the Yellowstone Center for Resources. The quarantine option was deferred in late 2000 and is now in very early, very preliminary discussions with the ITBC, he said. When the plan was finalized, officials felt it was premature to discuss whether to construct and operate a quarantine facility.

"What we're asking ourselves is, is it time to discuss this option?" Brewster said. The quarantine option that already exists in the bison management plan would provide for testing of all bison that stray into Montana and slaughter those that test positive for brucellosis, he said. Remaining bison would be shipped to a quarantine facility where they would be processed through a lengthy quarantine protocol, Brewster said. Bison found to be truly disease free would be shipped off to tribal and public lands.

"Before we make a commitment, we want to test-drive the idea," Brewster said.
This past spring, under terms of the Interagency Bison Management Plan, the Montana Department of Livestock captured and slaughtered 12 bison, while National Park Service employees captured and shipped 231 bison to slaughter, according to state and federal figures.

All told, some 1,600 bison were hazed back into the park, said Karen Cooper, spokeswoman for the Department of Livestock. Because the bison population is approaching 4,000 -- well above the 3,000 upper limit -- there was no testing for brucellosis before slaughter, she said.

Cooper cautioned that the quarantine option could be expensive, complicated and time consuming. A quarantine that would be accepted by other states would be for two birth cycles, or 18 months, she said. "Considering we hazed 1,600 back into the park, how many can they manage?"

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