Tribes consider bison hunt restrictions near Gardiner

May 24, 2017 by Laura Lundquist

As more tribes join the bison hunt north of Yellowstone National Park, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks is asking them to put hunting restrictions on themselves.

On Wednesday, the wildlife representatives of five tribes met in Missoula with FWP, Department of Livestock, U.S. Forest Service and YNP managers to review this winter’s tribal bison hunt north of Gardiner and west of West Yellowstone. Although it was a fairly successful hunt, a few parts of it weren’t pretty.

Digital hunting tags raise privacy questions

January 05, 2017 by Laura Lundquist

Montana's tribes may regain their licenses to hunt bison but Montana's hunters may have to solve privacy problems before gaining the right to have digital hunting tags.

In the Senate Fish and Wildlife Committee, Sen. Jennifer Pomnichowski, D-Bozeman, learned her bill promoting digital game tags already faced an amendment because of privacy concerns.

Legislators encourage bison hunting in Yellowstone Park

September 15, 2016 by Laura Lundquist

On Thursday, the Environmental Quality Council of the Montana Legislature sent a letter to Yellowstone National Park Superintendent Dan Wenk urging him to allow tribal bison hunting in the park, even though it would take an act of Congress.

“While this letter is not written at the request or on behalf of the tribes, the EQC urges you to honor any future requests from Indian tribes to hunt bison within Yellowstone National Park,” the letter said.

Tribes devise remedy for Yellowstone bison shoot-outs

May 25, 2016 by Laura Lundquist

To stop dangerous situations that are beginning to occur during the bison hunt outside Yellowstone National Park, treaty tribes may borrow a trick from water skiers.

Four tribes that have treaty rights to hunt Yellowstone bison came together in Missoula Wednesday to find a remedy for what Fish, Wildlife & Parks Region 3 Supervisor Sam Sheppard called the most unsafe hunt yet.

Big lands, human tolerance needed for wildlife restoration

February 24, 2016 by Laura Lundquist

Wildlife restoration has seen both triumphs and challenges in the past few decades, but challenges will dominate the future if biologists can’t learn to forge new relationships to overcome intolerance, according to leading Montana biologist.

This week in Missoula, some of the finest wildlife researchers in Montana are attending an annual state meeting of The Wildlife Society to discuss their latest projects and learn of new research on everything from bison to bighorn sheep and beavers. The conference theme is wildlife restoration, so during Wednesday’s kick-off session, experienced conservation leaders told their younger colleagues that future restoration efforts need to focus on large landscapes owned by several entities so the most important part of a biologist’s job would be building relationships with a wide array of people.

Yellowstone bison face cull while awaiting bigger habitat

January 06, 2016 by Laura Lundquist

Two weeks after the state of Montana decided Yellowstone bison could roam year-round in the area outside West Yellowstone, an interagency group decided almost 1,000 bison needed to be killed this winter.

Members of the Interagency Bison Management Plan decided once again that 600 to 900 bison needed to be eliminated from the herds of Yellowstone National Park to reduce the population below the 4,900 estimated to reside in the park.

Private reserve grows bison herd, encourages state effort

October 21, 2015 by Laura Lundquist

Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks is expected to soon release its draft environmental impact statement on the possibility of developing a state bison herd. While some doubt the state’s ability to establish such a herd, the American Prairie Reserve is already well on its way toward returning large herds to Montana’s plains.

In its recently released annual bison report, the American Prairie Reserve predicts that its herd should grow to more than 1,000 animals by 2018, based on the more than 600 bison now roaming 31,000 acres of the 305,000-acre reserve.

Bison manager ends 40-year career with FWP

July 01, 2015 by Laura Lundquist

The Dood abides but no longer within Fish, Wildlife & Parks.

Tuesday was the last day of a 40-year career in FWP for threatened and endangered species coordinator Arne Dood.

Report recommends more room, flexibility for park bison

June 19, 2015 by Laura Lundquist

On Friday, three national wildlife organizations released their ideas of what should be included in a new Yellowstone bison management plan so that bison have more room to roam.

The National Parks Conservation Association, the National Wildlife Federation and the Wildlife Conservation Society published a 44-page report detailing more than a dozen recommendations as Yellowstone National Park and the State of Montana begins to revise the out-dated 2000 Interagency Bison Management Plan.

The 90-day public scoping period closed Monday on proposals for the new IBMP. The recommendations in the report are just some of the more than 3,000 comments received.

Sportsmen and wildlife advocates want Yellowstone bison to be managed as wildlife in larger areas of Montana using more science- and risk-based analysis than was in the previous plan.

Montana FWP opens comment on state bison plan

June 11, 2015 by Laura Lundquist

Montanans have 90 days to weigh in on if and how they'd like Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks to proceed with establishing a state bison herd.

At Thursday's FWP commission meeting, Non-game Wildlife Management Chief Lauri Hanauska-Brown announced the release of a draft environmental study for the possible creation of a state bison herd.

"This is a different effort from the (Yellowstone) IBMP or the west-side expansion. The purpose is to determine whether the restoration of bison is appropriate somewhere in Montana," Hanauska-Brown said. "These are not site-specific alternatives - they are broad alternatives."