You are here

Several Hundred Bison Hazed Into Capture Facility At Yellowstone National Park

Share

Perhaps sensing a drastic change in the weather, roughly 300 bison left Yellowstone National Park during the weekend and headed to lower ground in Montana, where they were met Monday by hazers who forced them back into the park and into a "capture facility."

The bison movement came as a cold front barreled south out of Canada and draped sub-zero temperatures across the park. Monday's high temperature was in the single digits, the overnight low was forecast to plunge to 28 below zero, and Tuesday's high wasn't even expected to reach zero degrees Fahrenheit.

The bison had moved nearly 10 miles and onto private and public land north of Corwin Springs during the weekend. By late Monday afternoon "approximately 300 bison was hazed into the Stephens Creek bison capture facility," federal wildlife managers said in a prepared statement. The facility, located inside the northern boundary of Yellowstone just northwest of Gardiner, Montana, is operated under the Interagency Bison Management Plan.

Under that plan, when hazing bison back into the park "becomes unsafe or ineffective, bison can be captured at the Stephens Creek capture facility," a release from the park said.

Migrating bison, genetically programmed to head to lower ground in winter, long have been viewed as a problem at Yellowstone. Montana livestock officials, worried their state might lose its "brucellosis-free status" and thus require expensive testing of their cattle herds to ensure they don't carry the disease that can cause spontaneous abortions in livestock, have long been opposed to letting Yellowstone bison wander out of the park and into their state.

Earlier this year, though, there was an effort to see if some "tolerance" couldn't be developed among those livestock interests by allowing a small number of bison to move out of the park and north into the Gallatin National Forest. However, wildlife managers and livestock agents have had trouble keeping the bison on the forest lands and away from private lands. One bison was shot and killed last week when efforts to haze it back onto the national forest failed.

The latest foray of several hundred bison out of the park and into Montana this past weekend could further exasperate the efforts to build tolerance in the state to roaming bison.

Since a large number of bison were discovered well north of the park boundary again Monday morning, the IBMP partners made the decision to haze them into the capture facility.

The partner agencies have agreed at this point in the winter that captured bison will be tested for exposure to brucellosis, that seropositive bison will be shipped to slaughter, and that they endeavor to hold seronegative bison for spring release back into the park. Meat from bison shipped to slaughter will be distributed to tribal groups and regional food banks.

The IBMP partners are looking for opportunities to alleviate the need to hold and ship bison to slaughter this winter. Looking beyond this winter, they will also continue discussions for the long-term on how and where Yellowstone bison might be tolerated in areas surrounding the park or relocated outside of the park if captured.

To-date, no bison have been shipped to slaughter during the winter of 2010-2011. State permitted and tribal hunters have taken approximately 90-110 bison this season. Three bison have been killed due to management actions. The late summer 2010 population estimate was 3,900 bison.

For safety reasons, the area around the Stephens Creek facility is closed to the public when capturing, holding, and releasing bison. A map and information on the closure is available for public review during normal business hours at Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park at the Albright Visitor Center and the Office of the Chief Ranger.

This is the eleventh winter the IBMP has been used to guide brucellosis risk management actions.

The cooperating agencies operating under the IBMP are the National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, the Montana Department of Livestock, the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, the InterTribal Buffalo Council, the Confederated Salish Kootenai Tribes, and the Nez Perce Tribe.

More information on the IBMP can be found at http://ibmp.info/.

Comments

What is it about the "migratory instinct" that the people who developed the "interagency bison management plan" don't understand???? Why does the plan work against this instinct??? Common sense seems to be lacking. Since there has never been a documented case of brucellosis transferred from bison to cattle, the cattle industry needs to quit harassing the bison under this absured, flawed plan. No bison from the herd should ever be killed because they are considered a "problem" for the cattle industry.


AMEN!!!!! People think they are in control of cows, I would argue it the opposite with all we do for their "protection."


It is obvious that something needs to be done about the bison. Right now, they are thought of as livestock and a threat more than as a native species. I think that the brucellosis issue is taking the focus away from the really problem. Brucellosis appears to be under control. Even though bison transferring the disease to cows is not unheard of, it is very unlikely. The real problem is that park cannot hold all the bison any more. There are so many bison that they leave the park in order to search for better wintering grounds. The conflict occurs because private landowner do not want bison on or near their land. They are afraid of brucellosis spreading and potential property damage that the bison could do. Since the private landowners will not tolerate bison on their property, relocating the bison to a place where they will have room to roam and where they won't conflict with private landowners seems to be the best option. I've heard that Fish, Wildlife and Parks is trying to find such a place. This could potentially solve the problem; I believe treating the bison like other big game species, and collaboration and compromise between landowners and agencies are a necessity for a happy ending to the bison problem.


Add comment

CAPTCHA

This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.

Image CAPTCHA
Enter the characters shown in the image.

The Essential RVing Guide

The Essential RVing Guide to the National Parks

The National Parks RVing Guide, aka the Essential RVing Guide To The National Parks, is the definitive guide for RVers seeking information on campgrounds in the National Park System where they can park their rigs. It's available for free for both iPhones and Android models.

This app is packed with RVing specific details on more than 250 campgrounds in more than 70 parks.

You'll also find stories about RVing in the parks, some tips if you've just recently turned into an RVer, and some planning suggestions. A bonus that wasn't in the previous eBook or PDF versions of this guide are feeds of Traveler content: you'll find our latest stories as well as our most recent podcasts just a click away.

So whether you have an iPhone or an Android, download this app and start exploring the campgrounds in the National Park System where you can park your rig.