IBMP Partners Conclude Bison Population Management Efforts Around Yellowstone

Approximately 600 bison have been removed this year from Yellowstone’s herd of approximately 4,600 bison.

The Interagency Bison Management Plan (IBMP) partners use an adaptive management strategy to manage population abundance and distribution. Last summer the partners determined that the removal of approximately 600 bison from the northern range herd should be conducted through harvest by state and tribal hunters or culled directly through capture and consignment to slaughter or research.

Federal, state, and tribal members of the IBMP agreed to use hunting as the primary method for removing bison from the population. This year half of the removal was conducted through capture and consignment from the Stephens Creek capture facility in Yellowstone National Park. This management approach was adopted in the 2014 IBMP Winter Operations Plan approved by all of the partner agencies in December 2013.

As of Monday, March 3, state and tribal permitted hunting outside the park boundary in Montana had removed 199 bison from the north boundary area and an additional 64 bison from the west boundary area.

The National Park Service has concluded bison population management operations at the Stephens Creek facility after consigning 258 bison to tribal partners for nutritional and cultural purposes and transferring 60 bison to UDSA-APHIS for an ongoing research project.

The Secretaries of Agriculture and Interior and the Governor of Montana signed a court-mediated agreement in 2000 that included guidelines to limit the bison population in Yellowstone to around 3,000 to 3,500 animals.

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.

Information on the IBMP is available online. Additional information about Yellowstone bison and their management can be found here.



Jeff
Hiking in Glacier National Park

Bison EA Comment Period Extended

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks and the Montana Department of Livestock have extended the public comment period on a draft environmental assessment (EA) reviewing the potential for bison to occupy public lands adjacent to Yellowstone National Park on a year-round basis.

Public comments on the EA will now be accepted until 5 p.m. September 13, 2013; the original deadline was August 13, 2013.

The draft EA evaluates several options, or “alternatives,” allowing for increased tolerance of bison in the Hebgen and Gardiner Basins. It also includes a “No Action” alternative which would result in no changes to current bison tolerance zones defined by the Interagency Bison Management Plan (IBMP).

The full text of the document can be found online here.

Comments can be emailed to YearRoundBison-EA@mt.gov, or mailed to Bison Year-Round Habitat EA, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, 1400 S. 19th Ave. Bozeman, MT 59718.


Jeff
Hiking in Glacier National Park

Yellowstone Releases Summer Bison Population Estimate

Yellowstone National Park has completed its annual summer bison population abundance monitoring.

Three airplane surveys were conducted with a high count of the population at 4,230 bison. There are approximately 2,600 bison in the Northern herd and 1,600 in the Central herd this summer. There were about 600 calves-of-the-year observed in a June aerial survey.

This year's observations represent an increase of nearly 14% over last year's count. The peak population estimate of 5,000 bison was recorded in the summer 2005.

The observed rate of population change this past year is within the natural range of expectation for wild bison.

This population estimate is used to inform adaptive management strategies under the Interagency Bison Management Plan (IBMP). The IBMP is a cooperative plan designed to conserve a viable, wild bison population while minimizing the risk of brucellosis transmission between bison and cattle.

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 here.


Jeff
Hiking Glacier National Park