Deal might let some bison roam outside park

BILLINGS – Montana officials have reached a tentative deal allowing some bison to roam outside of Yellowstone National Park without fear of slaughter, a potential breakthrough in a decade-long attempt to end the killing of thousands of bison for disease prevention.

The deal reached this week between the Church Universal and Triumphant, which owns the Royal Teton Ranch north of Yellowstone, and the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks would allow bison to move through the ranch during winter to reach about 2,000 acres in the Gallatin National Forest.

Yet to be decided, however, is how much the church will be paid. U.S. Rep. Maurice Hinchey, a New York Democrat who sits on the National Parks subcommittee, said this week he will press the U.S. Department of Agriculture to contribute $1.5 million toward the deal.

“Pretty much the deal is done, and we wait for funding,” church President Kate Gordon said Friday.

Since 1998, the federal government has paid $13 million for conservation easements on the ranch but has never resolved the issue of grazing rights. That is considered key to preventing contact between bison, which can carry the disease brucellosis, and livestock. If the disease spreads to livestock, it can cause pregnant cows to abort their calves and have major financial consequences for the state’s cattle industry.

In recent years, bison coming out of the park have been routinely rounded up and sent to slaughter to prevent the spread of the disease. That has prompted outrage from members of Congress and environmental groups who want more protection for the nation’s largest herd of wild bison, also known as buffalo.

Under terms of the deal, a small number of the animals would be allowed to range well outside the park’s northern boundary in areas free of cattle. Initially, 25 bison that test negative for brucellosis would be allowed passage. In coming years, that could grow to 100 bison if the program proves successful.

Bison that wander outside Yellowstone’s northern boundary in excess of those numbers would still be subject to slaughter.

Pat Flowers, who has been handling negotiations for the state, said Montana would put up an undetermined amount of money toward purchase of the Royal Teton grazing rights. Conservation groups would be asked to contribute the rest, Flowers said.

One such group would be the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, Flowers said. The group’s national parks program director, Amy McNamara, said the deal described by Flowers was “a positive step forward” that appears to meet her group’s objectives of allowing bison greater freedom while keeping them separated from cattle. “While we need to see the final agreement, we are prepared to commit financial resources,” she said.

However, a spokesman for U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg, a Montana Republican with strong ties to the livestock industry, urged caution pending more details on how the agreement would fit with the broader effort to prevent the spread of brucellosis from Yellowstone.

“Let’s not start throwing funds in on a federal level because of some guy from New York who’s not familiar with the situation,” said Rehberg’s spokesman, Bridger Pierce.

Rehberg last week blocked an amendment sought by Hinchey that called for federal financing of the ranch deal and the creation of a “brucellosis-free” zone, by removing cattle from lands adjacent to the park.

Rehberg has said he wants brucellosis-carrying bison dealt with inside the park and opposes the idea of a buffer zone.

In May, brucellosis was found in seven cows that originated from a ranch in Emigrant – just north of the Royal Teton Ranch. That resulted this month in the destruction of about 600 cows, calves and bulls from the same herd, an action federal authorities said was necessary to preserve Montana’s brucellosis-free designation.

Losing that designation would force Montana cattle producers to undertake a costly brucellosis vaccine and testing program.

An aide to Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer, who supports the idea of a cattle-free zone surrounding the park, said the issue should not be “intertangled” with the Royal Teton Ranch deal.

Flowers said he expects the financial side of the deal to be worked out within six to nine months, with the first bison possibly moving through the ranch by the winter of 2008.