Bison group gives FWP ‘guiding principles’

A 20-member advisory committee has finished its review of future bison management in Montana without reaching consensus on potential relocation sites, but general agreement was found on several guiding principles, including no “free-roaming bison.”

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks is about to resume a bison conservation study that will include analysis of reintroductions.

The committee’s recommendations are not binding, but FWP Director Jeff Hagener said the core concepts developed by its members will be “very important” as the study proceeds. Now, he said, “We have to put a whole lot more flesh on that.”

FWP expects to have a draft study in the spring, he said.

Last year, FWP halted the bison conservation study because of the divide over the possibility of bison reintroductions.

FWP formed the discussion group to gather insights from competing interests before the study was relaunched.

Members represented wildlife conservation, agriculture and sportsmen. State lawmakers and local elected officials also served. Seven representatives from the governor’s office, FWP, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, state Department of Livestock, Bureau of Land Management and Legislative Services served as technical advisers.

The group met for the final time at the Holiday Inn in Great Falls on Thursday. About 30 people from the general public attended as well.

“This is a discussion about where we go from here,” Hagener told the group at the start of the meeting.

Sage grouse, grizzly bears and wolves all are controversial in Montana, he said, “But I’m not sure bison is not the most controversial.”

FWP formed the discussion group to come up with some “core concepts” for FWP to consider before it develops specific alternatives in the conservation plan, Hagener said.

While there was general acceptance among the discussion group members of the guiding principles, not every member agreed with each one, said Lauri Hanauska-Brown, FWP’s chief of the Nongame Wildlife Management Bureau.

The suggested guiding principles and constraints suggested by the group as a whole included:

• Respecting private property rights.

• FWP managing bison as wildlife, as opposed to livestock, under the state Department of Livestock.

• Utilizing local working groups to clarify any site-specific plan.

• Recognizing public hunting as a positive social good that should be used as a primary management tool.

• Implementing containment plans that are funded and enforced.

• Identifying source populations, and making sure they are free of disease.

• And allowing no free-roaming bison without containment.

Committee member Tom France, the Missoula-based regional director of the National Wildlife Federation, said the committee’s discussions were positive. Common ground was reached on the need for a containment strategy for reintroduced bison, he noted, and members agreed there should be no “free-roaming” bison. The agreement on those fronts could help inform future discussions on specific plans, he said.

Jay Bodner of the Montana Stockgrowers Association credited FWP for putting together a diverse group of interests.

“Whether we really decided on any consensus, I don’t think that’s the case,” he said.

But the group did provide input that should help FWP develop better alternatives, he said.

Agreement on not allowing bison to roam free, without fencing, he said, “was a pretty significant step I think,” Bodner added.

Members discussed five alternatives, including no action and moving bison to either private, public and tribal lands.

Hagener asked group members to discuss whether they want to see specific relocation sites analyzed in FWP’s environmental impact statement on bison conservation.

Previously, areas along the Rocky Mountain Front, and the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge, have been suggested as possible locations.

“Do we do that and put it out there right now?” Hagener said.

Committee members discussed specific sites, but reached no consensus on what areas should be analyzed.

In 2012, in preparation for developing an environmental impact statement on bison management, FWP began taking public comments. Part of the discussion was possible reintroductions of Yellowstone National Park bison to state and tribal lands.

The process drew an unprecedented 22,928 comments and 700 people attended meetings in eight towns in May of that year.

The agency originally had scheduled completion of a final study by fall 2013, but the polarizing debate over the bison reintroductions slowed the process.

During a public comment period Thursday, several people said they supported a “no action” alternative, and cited infringement of private property rights and bison causing property damage as concerns. But others noted bison are a native species of Montana that should be managed as wildlife, with the state having suitable areas the animals could occupy without causing problems.

Reach Tribune Staff Writer Karl Puckett at 406-791-1471, 1-800-438-6600 or kpuckett@greatfallstribune.

com. Twitter: @GFTrib_KPuckett.