Yellowstone bison could soon have a quarantine program that would allow them to be shipped elsewhere/NPS, Jacob W. Frank

Could Yellowstone National Park bison soon be shipped off to other locations rather than to slaughter? It depends largely on the state of Montana at this point.

National Park Service officials in the agency's Intermountain Region Office in Denver approved the park's plan to establish a quarantine program that could identify disease-free bison that could be relocated to other organizations, such as Native American tribes that want bison herds of their own.

“Quarantine is a positive step forward for bison conservation,” said Yellowstone Superintendent Dan Wenk. “The NPS will continue to work closely with tribes, the State of Montana, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, and other stakeholders to implement this program.” 

Montana officials and the ranching industry are concerned about Yellowstone bison entering their state because of a disease, brucellosis, that some bison carry. The disease can cause spontaneous abortions in cattle.

In Yellowstone, upwards of 60 percent of bison are thought to have been exposed to brucellosis; the park’s herds are judged to be “chronically infested” with the disease. But while bison long have been viewed as the key players in carrying the disease to livestock, that’s not the case at all. Last year the National Academy of Sciences concluded that, “(I)n tracing the genetic lineage of Brucella across the ecosystem and among species, elk are now recognized as a primary host for brucellosis and have been the major transmitter of B. abortus to cattle.”

Park Service staff, in the narrative on their Finding of No Specific Impact document released Wednesday, said the reproductive nature of bison required that an outlet for excess animals from Yellowstone was necessary.

"There is limited capacity for bison in Yellowstone and limited political and social tolerance for bison migration into nearby areas of surrounding states (Idaho, Montana, Wyoming) due to concerns about transmission of the disease brucellosis to cattle, competition with cattle for grass, human safety, and property damage," they wrote. "However, the bison population is prolific with high reproductive and survival rates that lead to rapid population growth. During 2008 to 2016, numbers of Yellowstone bison increased from about 3,000 to 5,500, which is the largest number in recorded history. High densities of bison could lead to resource degradation in the park and, during winters with high snowfall, mass migrations into local communities that cause conflicts such as highway traffic hazards, property damage, and mingling with cattle."

Montana officials, working with APHIS, tested a quarantine protocol at Corwin Springs, Montana, from 2006-2010 with 214 bison calves from Yellowstone to see if they would “remain free of brucellosis through at least their first pregnancy and calving,” Yellowstone staff noted in their environmental assessment on quarantine protocols published in 2016. The testing largely was considered a success.

Approval from Montana is needed for Yellowstone's Park Service-approved quarantine program to be implemented, though, since the state currently prevents Yellowstone bison that haven’t gone through quarantine from being transported through Montana. As a result, the Park Service can’t ship Yellowstone bison to tribes that want to start, or increase, their own herds, or to other areas to create or supplement existing herds. That’s a Catch 22 that prevents the Fort Peck Reservation from putting its quarantine facility to use and which prevents the genes from Yellowstone’s bison from bolstering other herds.

“We commend the National Park Service for working in good faith with the Assiniboine and Sioux tribes of Fort Peck to finalize this win-win program, which will support tribal conservation efforts and reduce the number of Yellowstone bison killed each year," Bart Melton, the Northern Rockies regional director for National Parks Conservation Association, said Wednesday. "The commonsense and science-backed program will allow for a better future for these animals – one that does not end at the slaughterhouse.

“American bison are our national mammal, symbols of our National Park Service and represent an important conservation success. We have come a long way since wild populations plummeted to around 20 in the early 1900s. Today’s announcement serves as the next step towards continuing this proud legacy of North American wildlife conservation.”