Associated Press
MOIESE (AP) — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is preparing a new management
plan to guide the National Bison Range for the next 15 years.
The
Missoulian reports that draft plans are now open for public comment and
envision less than a dozen staff positions for the Bison Range, and place it
within a large, regional refuge complex.
Those proposals have drawn
concern through the public-comment process, and at public meetings this week
held at the Bison Range, in Missoula and in Polson.
Skip Palmer is a retired Fish
and Wildlife Service employee who spent 16 years at the Bison Range.
He commented that the proposed
staffing is not enough.
The draft plan projects the
three alternative plans being considered would cost between $1.1 million and
$1.4 million each year.
