Yellowstone bison deal opens new access to land

Officials announced a deal Thursday to let a small number of bison migrate through a private ranch bordering Yellowstone National Park, sparing the animals from slaughter under a disease control program that has claimed more than 3,000 bison since 2000.

Gov. Brian Schweitzer and park Superintendent Suzanne Lewis said the Royal Teton Ranch's owner, the Church Universal and Triumphant, agreed to sell grazing rights under a 30-year lease that would initially allow 25 bison to pass through the property to access thousands of acres of federal land outside the park.

Church President Kate Gordon said the deal won't be signed until the church gets the estimated $2.8 million it is owed. State officials said that would likely be in the fall.

Despite criticism from both the livestock industry and bison advocates, Lewis characterized the deal as breaking an eight-year impasse on one of the National Park Service's most divisive wildlife issues.

"Until today, bison were never allowed to use that space," she said.

All other bison leaving the park during the winter migration still would be subject to slaughter. Since last fall, a record 1,601 bison have been killed to prevent the spread of brucellosis, which can cause cows to abort their calves.

Bison advocates noted most of the killings would still have occurred even if the deal had been in place, since only a small number of bison would have been allowed through the ranch.

"Sixteen hundred dead American buffalo later, they give us this lip service," said Stephany Seay with the activist group Buffalo Field Campaign. "This will do nothing to stop the slaughter and just means 25 wild bison will be run through the typical gauntlet."

Livestock industry representatives also weighed in against the deal, saying it did not directly address the core problem of brucellosis. Errol Rice with the Montana Stockgrowers Association said the Park Service needed to put more effort into a vaccine.

But Schweitzer said the deal was the best option on an issue that has vexed the state and the Park Service for more than a decade.

Lewis said Thursday that the National Park Service will contribute $1.5 million to the deal. The state will put up $300,000 and conservation groups pledged to raise the remaining $1 million.