Yellowstone Bison News Article 11/22/07

   WASHINGTON (AP) - Federal wildlife managers have reversed their decision to cut off tribal involvement in management of the National Bison Range.

   Earlier this month, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service abruptly canceled an interim plan that had allowed the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes a role in managing the range, on tribal land in northwestern Montana. The department said Friday that it will re-establish that relationship in January, under certain conditions.

   The agreement was announced by Deputy Secretary of the Interior Lynn Scarlett, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dale Hall and Associate Deputy Interior Secretary Jim Cason. The three said they have agreed to draft a five-year range operations plan and retain an ombudsman to work at the range to assist in resolving any problems with range management.

   The Interior Department statement also said a tribal proposal seeking full management of the 19,000-acre bison range would be ''suspended at this time.''

   That proposal came just months after release of a performance report that indicated some of the work for which the tribes were responsible was not done.

   Tribal chairman James Steele Jr. said Friday that members were surprised and pleased about the department's reversal. He said the tribe was taking care of its responsibilities on the range and there has been a ''continual pattern of misinformation and false allegations'' about tribal activity there.

   The new decision means ''somewhere along the line someone was actually listening to our concerns,'' he said.

   ''We had some serious concerns with the allegations and the reasons they had used to negate this agreement,'' Steele said.

   A fax sent to the tribes Dec. 11 told them to ''immediately cease performing all activities'' at the bison range and withdraw all employees from the site. The fax said the tribes had failed to perform work properly and had created a hostile and intimidating work environment.

   The joint management plan has been controversial from the start.

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