Ervin Carlson and InterTribal Buffalo Council’s recent editorial promoted the expensive quarantine program producing brucellosis-free Yellowstone bison for transfer to Native American Tribes. Carlson claims the program will (1) reduce slaughter of park bison; (2) preserve unique genes of Yellowstone bison; and (3) restore wild bison across the continent.
However, quarantine only transfers slaughter from Yellowstone to another place, or to other bison; and the unique genes of park bison are available from other brucellosis-free herds, some tribal.
Here, I consider the issue of restoring wild bison – to preserve the resilience of the wild bison genome and reestablish the valuable ecological role of plains bison. These goals require some herds of
at least 1,000 bison on at least 100 square miles of diverse habitat. Wild bison must be limited with human hunting and endure as little other human intervention as possible – emphasizing natural, rather than artificial, selection.
Over 200,000 private, commercial bison in the USA are being domesticated, with loss and disorganization of the wild gene pool. They are not biologically or legally “wildlife.” Among private owners of bison, American Prairie Reserve is becoming an exception.
Tribal commitments to restoring wildness of plains bison are unclear. But most tribal herds are small and have been managed much as livestock. Tribal herds must provide for important needs of
Native Americans, involving much domestication.
Restoration of significant herds of wild bison in the USA will depend upon public-trust bison. Like air, water, public lands and other wildlife, public-trust bison are managed largely by elected “trustees” to provide benefits to all the people. No other category of bison provides these benefits. Preponderant promotion of tribal bison by major conservation NGOs neglects these benefits. They avoid the more difficult task of opposing the livestock industry by supporting public-trust bison on public-trust lands, especially the C. M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge.
Jim Bailey
Belgrade
Bozeman Daily Chronicle Letter to the Editor 12/18/20