US agency to look at bringing back bison on Montana refuge

U.S. officials say they will consider in coming years whether to reintroduce wild bison to a million-acre federal wildlife refuge in central Montana

BILLINGS, Mont. -- U.S. officials said they will consider in coming years whether to reintroduce wild bison to a million-acre (400,000-hectare) federal wildlife refuge in central Montana, a move that would be at odds with Republicans in the state who want to limit where bison can roam. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service plans beginning in July “to engage Tribes and stakeholders on the topics of bison and bighorn sheep reintroductions” on the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge, a remote landscape of badlands and prairie bisected by the Missouri River, according to an Interior Department statement. Bison historically roamed the region but were wiped out across most of North America by overhunting in the late 19th century. Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte and his fellow Republicans in the Legislature have sought to make it harder to reintroduce bison to new areas. Many ranchers in the state, including around the refuge, oppose efforts to restore bison to the landscape, fearing they could compete with livestock for public grazing space and spread the disease brucellosis. That’s an infectious disease carried by Yellowstone National Park bison that can cause animals to prematurely abort their young.