Montana's Prairie Reserve seeks to expand bison grazing

The American Prairie Reserve is seeking permission to expand bison grazing on 17 grazing allotments totaling 236,239 acres on public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management in northeastern Montana.

APR is asking for a change in the class of livestock allowed on the grazing leases it holds, from cattle to bison; season-long grazing; and the OK to remove interior fences.

APR is making the request because of its growing bison herd, said Betty Holder, reserve lands manager for APR.

The changes will give bison a more natural grazing pattern, she said.

“Bison automatically and naturally move themselves across much larger areas than cattle do,” Holder said. “Their typical grazing pattern is over 20,000 acres.”

The nearly 400,000-acre American Prairie Reserve, owned by the not-for-profit American Prairie Foundation, is located 50 miles south of northeastern Montana's Malta adjacent to public lands near the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge. 

Removing interior fences also is good for wildlife, Holder added.

APR plans to fortify external boundary fences to keep bison from escaping and a damaging nearby property, said Pete Geddes, APR’s managing director.

“These are not bison running willy-nilly across the landscape," Geddes said.

About 720 bison already graze on 44,735 acres of APR deeded property and land APR leases from the BLM and state Department of Natural Resources and Conservation.

APR has said its goal is to acquire 500,000 acres, then link that land with 3 million acres already publicly managed, creating a 3.5 million-acre wildlife reserve spanning six counties.

The BLM previously approved changes at APR's request to other allotments to accommodate bison grazing.

Approval of the grazing changes at the 17 allotments would allow grazing on an additional 236,269 acres.

APR also is seeking to graze bison on 18 DNRC school trust land allotments on an additional 28,629 acres, Holder said. 

APR is currently leasing most of these allotment to cattle ranchers.  

At most, the proposed action would displace about 32,936 animal unit months on APR's leased public lands over the next 12 years, APR said. An AUM is the amount of forage needed by a cow and a calf.

“Agriculture has been and will continue to be a major contributor to the way of life in  northeast Montana and this action will not change that," Geddes said.

The state and federal grazing allotments are located in Fergus, Petroleum, Phillips, Petroleum and Chouteau counties.

Bison have had no negative impact on native range and have, in fact, improved the condition of some riparian areas because they are not as tied to water sources, Geddes said.

The BLM is planning to conduct five “scoping” meetings to find out what the public thinks should be assessed in an environmental study of the 17 grazing allotments, said Mark Albers, district manager for the BLM’s North Central Montana District.

In 2016, APR's request for grazing changes on the 13,000-acre Flat Creek allotment prompted more than 100 protest letters, with many people wondering about the impacts of year-round grazing.

The BLM is now planning to conduct an environmental assessment of the proposed changes at the 17 grazing allotments, including the Flat Creek allotment, in one environmental assessment to consolidate efforts, rather analyzing them one-by-one, Albers said.

The public asked the agency to assess the larger block of allotments to better understand the cumulative impact, Albers said.

“This is outside the norm,” Albers said. “We’re trying to go above and beyond here so the public has a chance to be involved in this.

“Normally, we wouldn’t do scoping for an EA in like this — in this manner anyway. And we rarely produce a draft for the public to comment on. Again, we’re trying to make this as transparent and open as we can,” Albers said.

Open house-style “scoping” meetings will be conducted in Winnett, Winifred, Malta and Glasgow.

Scoping meetings are meant to gather input on what members of the public think should be assessed by the agency in the EA.

“It doesn’t do us a lot of good to send us an opinion on what they think of APR or bison grazing,” Albers said. “What we are looking for is substantive issues that they want to see addressed.”

Once the draft EA is completed, it will be released for additional public comment.

APR just concluded its first public bison hunting season and eight bison were harvested.

Six of those hunts were reserved for people from within the APR region. Two were auctioned hunts.

“All were successful,” Holder said.

The grazing expansion is an important step to achieving APR’s long-term goals of improving public access, expanding hunting opportunities and working to diversify the economy in northeast Montana, Geddes said.

APR has plans to expand outdoor and recreation infrastructure to support and encourage year-round visitation in coming years. 

APR says a recent study by the University of Montana concluded there is untapped potential for increased visitation to Missouri River country, APR said.

According to the study, if the broader vision of American Prairie Reserve is realized, nonresident spending could increase 67 percent from the $113 million spent in the region in 2015.

APR has said its goal is to acquire 500,000 acres, then link that land with 3 million acres already publicly managed, creating a 3.5 million-acre wildlife reserve spanning six counties.

Scoping meetings are:

» April 9 in the Petroleum County Courthouse

» April 10 at the Winifred Community Center

» April 11 at the Old Junior High gym in Malta

» April 12 at the Cottonwood Inn in Glasgow.

Each meeting is from 1:30 p.m. to 5 p.m.