Buffalo Field Campaign

A major study released Wednesday now says elk – not bison - are the primary source of new brucellosis infections in Greater Yellowstone Area cattle.

That’s a significant change in thinking from 20 years ago when the scientific community blamed bison for most of the area’s brucellosis transmission cases. 

At least 80 Yellowstone National Park bison are now trapped in government corrals. Hundreds more will soon follow suit and be sent to slaughter.

Bison-watchers around Montana are on alert. Yellowstone National Park has proposed a new plan that could help reduce the number of wild bison shipped to slaughter every year. Public comment on the plan ended in February, and park officials say a final decision will be issued soon.  

A bison advocate and a journalist are suing the National Park Service over access to Yellowstone National Park’s bison capture facility.

Two bison cows and one calf were wounded during the Montana bison hunt today on the northern border of Yellowstone National Park.

Federal, state and tribal officials have agreed to kill as many as 600 to 900 Yellowstone National Park bison this year.

Governor Steve Bullock today issued a decision that would allow wild bison from Yellowstone National Park to roam in portions of Montana north and west of the Park year round. The decision potentially breaks a longstanding impasse in a wildlife conflict that's dragged on for decades.

Yellowstone National Park might tolerate thousands more bison by 2017, or perhaps hundreds fewer. State and federal wildlife managers are developing a new Yellowstone bison management plan and several options are on the table.

Yellowstone National Park has started capturing bison near the park's north entrance and bison advocates have sued to stop it.

Disease management and carrying capacity are at the center of the operation.

Park spokesman Al Nash says a total of 800 to 900 bison that migrate out of the park could be removed.

"We're doing so to be able to approach the target bison population and to see if we can reduce the potential for a mass-migration of bison into Montana where there is still some limited tolerance."

National Park Service officials are announcing a partnership with the state of Montana to consider changes to managing bison in and around Yellowstone National Park.

Hundreds of bison wander into the state from the park’s northern boundary during many winters.

Livestock owners worry about the animals damaging property and spreading disease.

The Park Service and the state have been operating under their current Bison Management Plan since 2001.

The agencies think it may be time for an update.