NPS releases Final Environmental Impact Statement for Yellowstone bison management

EBS STAFF

On June 6, the National Park Service released its Final Environmental Impact Statement, with a range of possible actions for a bison management plan at Yellowstone National Park, intended to build on the existing Interagency Bison Management Plan, approved in 2000.

“This plan allows the NPS to manage bison based on new scientific information and changed circumstances, explore ways to increase the transfer of bison to American Indian Tribes, and continue working closely with Tribal Nations and agency partners in management,” a June 6 NPS press release stated.

Three alternative options to bison management are outlined in the FEIS, according to NPS. 

The first alternative recommends that NPS continue management according to the existing management plan. 

“This would maintain a population range of bison similar to the last two decades (3,500 to 5,000 bison after calving), continue hunt-trap coordination to balance population regulation in the park by using harvest and hunting opportunities outside the park, increase the number of brucellosis-free bison relocated to Tribal lands via the Bison Conservation Transfer Program, and work with the State of Montana to manage the already low risk of brucellosis spreading from bison to cattle,” the release stated. 

The second alternative is “preferred” according to NPS—bison would be managed within a population range of about 3,500 to 6,000 after calving, “with an emphasis on using the Bison Conservation Transfer Program to restore bison to Tribal lands and Tribal treaty harvest, and public hunting outside the park to regulate numbers.”

The third alternative would rely on natural selection, bison dispersal and public and tribal harvests in Montana as primary ways to regulate population. Bison population would likely range from 3,500 to 7,000 or more after calving, according to NPS. 

After a 30-day wait period effective June 7, NPS will publish its decision for bison management in the Federal Register. 

According to the release, Yellowstone National Park is committed to the Interagency Bison Management Plan’s objectives. They include maintaining a wild, free-ranging population, reducing the risk of brucellosis transmission from bison to cattle, managing bison that leave the park and enter Montana lands, and maintaining Montana’s brucellosis-free status for domestic livestock. 

“The FEIS also considers the bison management actions likely to occur on lands outside the park in Montana, maintains NPS’s continued commitment to working with the State of Montana, Tribes, and other federal partners to balance bison management efforts, while acknowledging the NPS does not have jurisdiction or control over actions such as hunting or tolerance for bison beyond the park boundary,” the release stated.