“Would you ladies like to put your bikes in the truck and hop in for a bit?”
Amaya and I exchanged relieved glances before nodding enthusiastically, “that would be amazing! Thank you!”
Not a reprieve from a long day in the saddle, as it might first appear, but to put at least a sheet of metal, in the form of the truck, between our bodies and those of the fifty or so massive 300-900kg behemoths milling about on the road ahead; American Bison (Bison bison).
It was to be the first of many “Bison-Jams” we’d encounter during our days within Yellowstone National Park in Montana & Wyoming. We eventually developed a technique of biking the center line, putting buses and trucks full of tourists between us and the deceptively gentle-looking giants that often stop traffic throughout the park.
The massive herds that cause the delays, to the consternation and delight of motorists and visitors alike, have quite the history in this landscape. And, a mere century ago, the sight of these Bison-Jams would have been a fantasy, and an impossibility.
Once numbering over 50 million individuals, during the colonization of North America the American Bison were systematically hunted down until only 23 wild, free-roaming Bison remained, in the Pelican Valley of Yellowstone National Park. I say “Wild”, since there were pockets of captive Bison throughout the States on private ranches.
The Salish word for Bison is Quee-quai / qweyqwiy (I have found the two different phonetic spellings during my reading, I’m not sure which is more correct) and literally translates to “many little black spots”. The word itself encapsulates the concept of abundance. And yet, we went from millions of Bison to less than two dozen, in under 100 years.
The extermination of the Bison during the 1800s may not have started with the intention of driving them to extinction, but the systematic effort it became was no accident.
An army officer in the US federal forces is quoted as saying:
“Only when the Indian becomes absolutely dependent on us for his every need, will we be able to handle him. He's too independent with the buffalo. But if we kill the buffalo we conquer the Indian.”
In his memoirs, General John M. Schofield wrote,
“I wanted no other occupation in life than to ward off the savage and kill off his food, until there should no longer be an Indian frontier in our beautiful country”.
And, an excerpt from an 1869 issue of the Army Navy Journal states,
“General Sherman remarked in conversation the other day that the quickest way to compel the Indians to settle down to civilized life was...to shoot buffaloes until they became too scarce to support the redskins."
Bison hunting also fuelled the Industrial Revolution through hide hunting and using the leather in factories. It was also considered sport for awhile, with tourists encouraged to shoot animals from passing trains. However, the parallels and overlap between the attempted extermination of the American Bison and the attempted extermination and subjugation of the Indigenous tribes of North America is inescapable.
In 1872, 1.5 million Bison were killed. 1872 is also the year that Yellowstone National Park was founded. It was the world’s first national park, and also ultimately the place where Bison conservation efforts saved the species from extinction.
In 1902, Congress funded a Bison restoration program. 21 genetically pure Bison were purchased from private owners. They were corralled near Fort Yellowstone and then were later moved to the Lamar Valley Buffalo Ranch. By 1915, these Bison mingled with the 23 wild Bison in the Pelican Valley herd, and interbred. These 44 Bison (Wild, and re-wilded) are the ancestors of the thousands of Bison that can now be seen on Yellowstone’s landscapes.
Now, you might think this is an amazing conservation success story, and it definitely is, in some ways. However, there are two big components to the current state of affairs that hold me back from saying it is a complete success…
The first is that Bison continue to occupy a very politically charged space in Yellowstone and beyond. In 2000, the Interagency Bison Management Plan (IBMP) was created. It is called an “Interagency” plan because the decision makers consist of several government, state, and tribal agencies.
Don’t get me wrong, this collaboration is a good thing, especially as it represents the very different perspectives of various Montanans on what Bison management should look like. Unfortunately, one outcome of this collaborative management is the need for population control of the Bison, and limits to where they can range outside of Yellowstone park.
Since the IBMP was created, the Bison population in Yellowstone has ranged between 2,400 and 5,500 animals (the IBMP calls for a target population of 3,000 animals). The biggest reason for this target, and therefore for the annual culling of hundreds of animals, is the concern that Bison will transmit Brucellosis to the cattle on ranches nearby.
Brucellosis is a disease that can be carried by Elk, Bison, and cattle. It can cause stillbirths/abortions of unborn calves. The transmission of the disease from Bison to cattle is a massive concern among ranchers, since it is carried by some of the Bison and Elk in Yellowstone. However, it is important to note here that while there have been confirmed cases of Elk transmitting Brucellosis to cattle, and it has been proven in a lab that Bison can pass along the disease, there has also never been a case of a Bison transmitting the disease to cattle.
So it’s both possible but has never happened.
But the concern is great enough that it was the impetus for the creation of the IBMP, and for the strict management of Bison numbers and where they can range. The Yellowstone herds of American Bison are a species that historically migrated freely across massive expanses of land, descending off the Yellowstone plateau to lower elevations during the harsh winter months. These lower elevations are now occupied by ranch lands, and Bison are now restricted to primarily within the park, with no access to their historic winter ranges…
So, is this a success? It’s definitely better than only 23 Bison, or total extinction for that matter, but I don’t think we can say that herds of truly free-roaming Bison exist within Yellowstone. Not yet anyways.
But, it is a complicated world, and we have to figure out just how this coexistence with these massive animals is going to work. And it’s still a work in progress.
The second reason I’m hesitant to declare this a complete success story is that a) Yellowstone National Park itself is stolen land. And b) up until recently, participation in the conservation decisions and management of Bison was denied to the Indigenous tribes to whom this species is so integral.
One thing both Amaya and I noted during our explorations of the park, was the glaring lack of discussion on, and information available around, the Indigenous histories with this landscape. There was one small sign in one of the visitor centres, and that was it. It might not be pretty history; to acknowledge the forced removal, genocide, and systematic oppression that occurred on these lands, but it is a massive piece of how we got to where we are now.
However, three tribal entities are now involved in the IBMP (the Confederated Salish Kootenai Tribe, the Nez Perce Tribe, and the InterTribal Buffalo Council) and even more recently (2021) the management of the National Bison Range has been transferred to the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. After 113 years, the tribes have reclaimed both the 18,800 acres of grassland and woodland as well as the wildlife and the Bison herd there.
Chairwoman Shelly Fyant stated,
“We are such a place-based people. To have this land back, to be in control of it, is a fresh, new hope.”
There are so many tangled threads when it comes to these majestic animals and this wild landscape. So many individuals and organizations are working hard to figure out what is best for the Yellowstone herds and for the diversity of people who live on these lands. We can only hope that going forward all voices are heard and honoured, and that the beautiful buffalo will continue to roam free.
Sending love, Heather
All photos in this post taken by Heather. Additionally, the following are sources that informed this blog post:
IMBP info: https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/custergallatin/landmanagement/planning/?cid=stelprdb5213460
Threshold podcast (season 1):
Transfer of National Bison Range to Indigenous management news article:
Papers on Bison, Brucellocis, and intersectional management:
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