The National Park Service plans to conduct an in-depth environmental impact statement to determine how best to manage Yellowstone's bison/NPS file

"New scientific information and changed circumstances" have prompted the National Park Service to reconsider how best to manage bison in Yellowstone National Park.

While a Park Service release Monday did not specify what that new scientific information was or what circumstances have changed, and Yellowstone staff did not immediately respond to a question about those matters, the Interior Department for a number of years has been collecting genetic information on all its herds to understand their lineages.

Today's herds are thought to have descended from a small handful of privately owned herds and one deep in Yellowstone's interior that escaped the Great Slaughter that decimated bison during the late 19th century. Those "foundational" herds were held by Charles Goodnight in Texas, Michel Pablo and Charles Allard in Montana, James McKay in Canada, Frederic Dupree in the Dakota Territory, Charles "Buffalo" Jones in Kansas, and William Temple Hornaday at the New York Zoological Park in New York City.

Better understanding the flow of genetics is essential if the Interior Department moves to establish herds in places such as Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado, where the current bison population contains cattle genes and is viewed as undesirable in the move to best preserve pure bison genes.

At the same time, there has been legal pressure from the Western Watersheds Project and the Buffalo Field Campaign, which long have campaigned to stop the slaughter of Yellowstone bison. The killing of park bison that move out of the park and into Montana is an annual occurrence intended to both control the population and slow the spread of brucellosis, a disease that can lead domestic livestock to abort their fetuses. This winter, as many as 900 bison are to be removed from the park's herds.

Working with Native American tribes in Montana, the park staff has been able to divert more and more bison from slaughterhouses to tribal herds, but it's a slow process.

In January, a lawsuit by the two groups that have been pushing to have the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service designate the park's bison as either threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act prompted a federal judge to order FWS to re-examine, for a third time, the groups' petition.

While U.S. District Judge Randolph D. Moss did not rule one way or another on whether Yellowstone's bison merit ESA protection, he did say the Fish and Wildlife Service needs to do a better job of explaining why it doesn't think they do. He also expressed some consternation that a case brought in 2014 has not been satisfactorily handled by the agency.

Now the Park Service plans to re-evaluate through an environmental impact statement how Yellowstone bison are being managed.

"This plan allows the NPS to evaluate bison management based on new scientific information and changed circumstances, explore ways to reduce bison being sent to slaughter, and to continue working closely with tribal nations and agency partners in management," a park release said. "The EIS will also consider the bison management actions likely to occur on lands outside the park in Montana, while acknowledging the NPS does not have jurisdiction or control over actions such as hunting or tolerance for bison beyond the park boundary.

"The purpose of the EIS is to preserve an ecologically sustainable population of wild, wide-ranging bison while continuing to work with other agencies to address issues related to brucellosis transmission, human safety, property damage, and to support tribal hunting outside the park," it added.

Under the plan, three alternatives are to be examined:

• Alternative 1 (No Action, Continue Current Management): The NPS would continue management of bison pursuant to the Interagency Bison Management Plan, 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 culling at Stephens Creek 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.
• Alternative 2 (Enhance Restoration and Tribal Engagement): Bison would be managed within a population range of about 4,500 to 6,000 animals after calving with an emphasis on using the BCTP and tribal hunting outside the park to regulate numbers. The NPS may use proactive measures such as low stress hazing of bison toward the park boundary to increase tribal hunting opportunities outside the park. The NPS would reduce shipment to slaughter based on the needs and requests of tribal nations.
• Alternative 3 (Food-limited Carrying Capacity): The NPS would rely on natural selection, bison dispersal, and public and tribal harvests in Montana as the primary tools to regulate numbers, which would likely range from 5,500 to 8,000 or more animals after calving. Trapping for shipments to slaughter would immediately cease. The NPS would continue captures to maintain the BCTP as in Alternatives 1 and 2.

The National Park Service published notice of the upcoming EIS in the Federal Register on January 28, which kicked off a 30-day public comment period for individuals, organizations and other agencies to provide written comments regarding alternatives, information, and analyses that should be addressed in the study.

The preferred method for submitting comments during the comment period is online at this site. 

In addition, Yellowstone National Park will host two virtual public meetings during the public comment period. Attend these meetings to learn more about the plan and planning process and ask NPS staff questions. Public meeting details include:

Webinar 1: Feb. 9, 5:30 p.m.–7 p.m. MST

Link: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/2460364395865970700

Webinar ID: 856-248-035

Audio: +1 (415) 655-0052 Access Code: 902-543-158

Webinar 2: Feb. 10, 12 p.m.–1:30 p.m. MST

Link: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3873438048186311436

Webinar ID: 889-739-083

Audio: +1 (415) 930-5321 Access Code: 456-608-998

At the conclusion of the 30-day public comment period, the NPS will analyze and consider all comments received and refine the issues, alternatives and impacts analyzed though the development of the Draft EIS. When complete, the Draft EIS will be released for a 45-day public review and comment period, expected in fall 2022.