Future of Mont. bison migrations headed to trial

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) – Montana's newfound tolerance toward wild bison is heading to trial as cattle ranchers and county officials seek to prevent a repeat of last year's mass migration of hundreds of the animals out of Yellowstone National Park.

State District Judge Wayne Phillips has been asked to settle a fundamental question: Are bison in Montana free-roaming wildlife, or should they be kept in the park to protect private property and public safety?

Deep snows last winter prompted an estimated 1,400 bison to spill out of the park in search of food at lower elevations in Montana. Many were captured and released in the spring, but hundreds of the animals, also known as buffalo, for a time roamed at will in the 75,000-acre Gardiner Basin.

That appeared to mark an end to the state's longstanding practice of shooting or slaughtering bison that leave the park, which claimed almost 4,000 of the animals over the last decade. But now Park County and the Park County Stockgrowers Association want to revive restrictions on bison movement.

“I'm not anti-wildlife,” said Joe Sperano, a 69-year-old member of the stockgrowers' group who lives north of Gardiner and runs a small number of horses and cattle. “The buffalo are a different deal. There was never any problem with one or two. When we've got 30 or 40 coming through my place at one time, they want to go through the fences, rub on my house, destroy my irrigation pipes.”

Sperano said he suffered $2,000 in damages to irrigation pipes that were crushed by bison and additional damage to his house and an electrified fence.

Lawsuits filed by Park County and the stockgrowers would overturn an agreement signed in April by federal and state agencies and several Indian groups that allowed bison into the Gardiner Basin during winter.

Although some bison previously were permitted in limited areas outside the park, the agreement allowed them into areas where bison had been barred for decades.

The suits contend free-roaming bison destroy private property, threaten the safety of county residents, and increase the chances that a disease carried by the animals, brucellosis, could be transmitted to cattle.

An initial hearing is scheduled for Wednesday in Livingston.

Attorneys for Gov. Brian Schweitzer and two state agencies are seeking to disqualify one of the stockgrowers' attorneys, John Bloomquist, because he represented the state in past lawsuits over the animals. Hearings on more substantive issues were postponed pending the disqualification hearing.

Even if Phillips sides in favor of the state on the larger question of allowing bison into Montana, Park County Attorney Brett Linneweber pledged in an interview with The Associated Press that last year's migration would not be repeated.

“The county's not going to roll over and say there's nothing we can do about it. People have a right to be safe,” he said. “There are steps we can take outside the legal arena, but we would prefer not to.”

Linneweber declined further explanation.

Last spring, a Park County resident who claimed his dog was being threatened by bison shot and killed two of the animals and wounded several others. No charges were filed.

Experts say tens of millions of bison once roamed across most of North America. At the turn of the last century, when the species had been nearly driven to extinction by overhunting, Yellowstone offered one of the last refuges for the iconic animal.

The park's 3,500 bison today make up one of the largest wild concentrations of the animals in the world.

While they're clearly wild in the park – where careless visitors are occasionally gored by the animals – the stockgrowers' lawsuit challenges that status for any bison stepping into Montana. The group contends they should be managed differently than other wildlife.

Officials with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks dispute the group's assertion, saying state law has classified bison as wildlife at least since 1995.

“They are, in the end, wild animals,” said agency attorney Rebecca Jakes Dockter. “Sometimes you can predict what their behavior will be and sometimes you can't ... That's what you have to take along with the privilege of living with wildlife on our landscape.”

Since the April agreement allowing bison into the Gardiner Basin, Dockter's agency has agreed to further study the issue before deciding what actions to take this coming winter. That will include an opportunity for public comment – something not sought before the agreement was reached.

To address concerns over private property damage, state officials working with several conservation groups have installed an estimated 1,500 feet of fencing to keep bison away from Gardiner Basin landowners who don't want them.

The pushback from Park County and local ranchers mirrors resistance to a related effort by wildlife officials to relocate up to 160 Yellowstone bison onto state wildlife management areas or tribal lands.

Those animals have been kept in quarantine for several years to ensure they are not carrying the disease brucellosis. When earlier relocation efforts fell through, the animals were placed temporarily on a ranch outside Bozeman owned by media mogul and philanthropist Ted Turner.

A decision on the relocation proposal is due next month.