The US Department of the Interior said it would revoke grazing permits that allowed American Prairie to run bison on about 63,000 acres of federal public land in Montana. This decision will affect seven parcels managed by the Bureau of Land Management in Phillips County, and hinders the organization’s larger goals of conserving large tracts of intact grasslands while restoring native grazers to those landscapes.
Interior’s reason for yanking the permits, according to its proposed Jan. 16 decision, is that under the Taylor Grazing Act, the BLM can only issue grazing permits for livestock managed for “production-oriented” purposes. She contends that American Prairie’s emphasis on conservation runs counter to those goals.
American Prairie CEO Alison Fox criticized this reasoning as both unfair and inconsistent with long-standing grazing practices on public lands in Montana. She said in response to the decision that creates uncertainty, not only for the American Prairie – which has been grazing bison using federal leases since 2005 – but for all other livestock owners in the West. She added that American Prairie plans to protest the decision and will take further legal action, if necessary.
“This is a slippery slope,” Fox said in a statement shared with them Outdoor Life. “When federal agencies begin to change how the rules are applied after the process is complete, it undermines confidence in the system for everyone who relies on public lands. Montana’s livestock owners deserve clarity, fairness, and decisions they can rely on.”
As America’s largest land mammal, bison are uniquely equipped to survive on the prairie. Photo courtesy of Dennis Lingohr / American Prairie
The grazing permits now in limbo were approved by the BLM in 2022 after years of analysis and public comment. The agency noted in its record of decision that the bison’s foraging habits could lead to habitat improvement there, and that it had granted similar bison grazing permits on BLM lands in Colorado, North Dakota, Wyoming, and other western states.
This approval, however, drew a strong push from industry livestock groups and politicians in Montana, who considered it a radical proposal and an attack on the state’s ranchers. Those same groups challenged the BLM’s approval in court, and are now celebrating Interior’s most recent decision — one that was signaled in December, when Interior secretary Doug Burgum used his authority to assume jurisdiction over the long-running legal battle.
“[This] decision by the BLM is a victory for Montana ranchers, our agricultural producers, and the rule of law,” Montana Governor Greg Gianforte said in a press release praising the decision.
At the heart of this dispute is the livestock industry’s concern about the impacts that bison may have on traditional grazing operations. American Prairie’s director of public affairs, Beth Saboe, says these concerns tend to be misplaced, and that the organization has shown over the past 20 years that cattle and bison can – and do – coexist on the prairie.
Saboe explains that of the 600,000 acres in Montana that American Prairie manages, more than 500,000 acres are being leased back to local ranchers. The vast majority of the organization’s habitat base is public land, and American Prairie’s long-term goal is to bring together both public and private enterprises to establish a widespread conservation reserve that benefits wildlife, ranchers, and the American public.
“There are 25 peasant families who run their cattle with those leases, and it is somewhere around 8,000 cattle,” says Saboe, who comes from a peasant family herself. “We know that this region is very important to the livestock industry and the ag economy. What we are saying is that we can be additive. We are not taking that land away from production.”
American Prairie bison are classified, regulated and managed as livestock in Montana. Photo courtesy of Mike Kautz / American Prairie
The organization also disputes Interior’s main argument for revoking the grazing leases, namely that American Prairie bison are conservation herd (emphasis added by Interior), and not a domestic herd of livestock used for commercial purposes. Saboe says that these bison are actually classified and regulated as livestock by the state of Montana, and that “since these animals are not sent to the market,” they are also managed in the same way as a production operation. This includes trading animals with other tribes and organizations, and, when possible, donating bison meat to local food banks.
“We also offered a public bison harvest, where we give out between 20 and 25 tags a year,” says Saboe. The tags are distributed through a lottery system, and successful applicants pay $300 per tag. “So, one, they’re paying for the tag. And two, they’re getting the meat. We’ve also given a lot of harvest to local charities as raffle items… Those charities have raised over $150,000 over the last eight years.”
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This seems to align with the Interior’s own definition, included in its recent decision, of animals that must be grazed and used for production-oriented purposes: “This would include their use for meat, milk, fiber, or other animal products.” And it is only part of the economic value these herds bring to America’s public landowners. Bison contribute to healthier pastures, which in turn provide more opportunities for hunters, ranchers, and other prairie inhabitants.
“There aren’t many places left on the planet where prairie grasslands have been saved intact, and where this kind of landscape-scale conservation is possible. Montana, and this section of the Northern Great Plains, is one of them,” says Saboe. “How will people feel when they know that our federal government just said that our national mammal can’t graze on our public lands?”