https://abcnews.go.com/US/wire...ribal-herds-97608733



US to focus bison restoration on expanding tribal herds

U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland says her agency will work to restore more large bison herds to Native American lands

By MATTHEW BROWN Associated Press
March 3, 2023, 9:02 AM



DENVER -- U.S. officials will work to restore more large bison herds to Native American lands under a Friday order from Interior Secretary Deb Haaland that calls for the government to tap into Indigenous knowledge in its efforts to conserve the burly animals that are an icon of the American West.

Haaland also announced $25 million in federal spending for bison conservation. The money, from last year's climate bill, will build new herds, transfer more bison from federal to tribal lands and forge new bison management agreements with tribes, officials said.

Bison have bounced back from their near extinction due to commercial hunting in the 1800s. But they remain absent from most of the grasslands they once occupied, and many tribes have struggled to restore their deep historical connections to the animals.

As many as 60 million bison once roamed North America, moving in vast herds that were central to the culture and survival of numerous Native American groups.

They were driven to the brink of extinction more than a century ago when hunters, U.S. troops and tourists shot them by the thousands to feed a growing commercial market that used bison parts in machinery, fertilizer and clothing. By 1889, only a few hundred bison remained.


Haaland, of Laguna Pueblo in New Mexico, is the first Native American to serve as a U.S. Cabinet secretary. She's championed tribal concerns on issues ranging from wildlife conservation to energy development, and put a spotlight on past mistreatment of Native Americans through a series of listening sessions about systemic abuses at government-run boarding schools.

She told The Associated Press in an interview last year that the decimation of bison by European settlers eliminated the primary food source for many tribes and opened the way for their land to be taken away. The species' slow recovery is considered a conservation success, yet more work is needed to return the animals to tribal lands and restore the grasslands they depend on, Haaland said.

“This holistic effort will ensure that this powerful sacred animal is reconnected to its natural habitat and the original stewards who know best how to care for it,” Haaland said in announcing her order Friday, during a World Wildlife Day event at the National Geographic Society in Washington, D.C..

“When we think about Indigenous communities, we must acknowledge that they have spent generations over many centuries observing the seasons, tracking wildlife migration patterns and fully comprehending our role in the delicate balance of this earth,” she added.

Across the U.S., from New York to Oklahoma to Alaska, 82 tribes now have more than 20,000 bison in 65 herds. Numbers have been growing in recent years along with the desire among Native Americans to reclaim stewardship of the animals.


Many of the tribes' bison came from U.S. agencies, which over the past two decades transferred thousands of the animals to thin government-controlled herds so they don’t outgrow the land.

Past administrations have proposed or advanced bison conservation plans — including under former Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump — and tribes have long been part of that process.

Haaland's order puts Native American interests at the center of the Interior Department's bison program. It also adds a tribal leader, yet to be named, to a group that's exploring establishing new herds on both tribal and federal lands.

Bison reintroductions could put the Biden administration at odds with state officials in Montana. Republican lawmakers have resisted returning the animals to federal lands and opposed some previous bison transfers to tribes.

State lawmakers voted Thursday to advance a resolution opposing the reintroduction of bison to the million-acre (400,000-hectare) Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge in northern Montana — an idea that's been floated by the Biden administration and has support among Native Americans.


“Bison were part of the culture 200, 300 years ago. We aren't going back to that,” said Montana state Sen. Mike Lang, who sponsored the resolution. Lang said he doesn't oppose bison on tribal lands but added that as populations grow they can cause problems for ranchers and present a public safety threat.

About half of the $25 million announced Friday will go to the National Park Service. The remainder will be split among the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Bureau of Land Management and the Fish and Wildlife Service.

It includes about $1 million to establish an apprenticeship program that will provide training to tribes on managing bison, including at national parks and national wildlife refuges, officials said.

The Interior Department currently oversees 11,000 bison in herds on public lands in 12 states.

What is the issue for Montana politicians to oppose bison reintroduction to federal lands?
I would have thought, this would be something hunters and conservationists would support any day of the week and so would most citizens as Montana is known for being nature friendly.
I do also understand, cattle industry is against it and biggest issue supposedly is brucellosis ( but that is simple by reintroducing brucellosis free animals )

Never let politicians tell you how good it is for us to trust them…

One major issue is Bovine Tuberculosis.

Folks are very concerned and rightly so expanded Bison herd would cause disease issues in domestic beef production.

What we hear in the way of opposition from the ranching interests stem from a fear of brucellosis and, to a lesser extent, tuberculous. In Montana there has been aggressive testing that has resulted in the removal of some elk. Of course the State was paying for this. Folks are starting to ask why it incumbent on the taxpayer to fund solutions to a problem wholly created by the livestock industry. Brucellosis and tuberculosis were introduced to wild populations through domestic livestock.

I thought that reservations were sovereign lands.

How is it that USFWS comes up with a plan for reintroduction?

quote:

Originally posted by TCLouis:
I thought that reservations were sovereign lands.

How is it that USFWS comes up with a plan for reintroduction?

This years IHS, (Indian Health Service) budget from Uncle Sam is $9 billion and this years BIA, ( Bureau of Indian Affairs) budget is $3 billion from The Great White Father.

Not very sovereign.

Rumor on the street is red indians get everything in US free?

As Charles Lyell put it this way “ We wield the sword of extermination as we advance “

Well at least the bison will provide something for the wolves reintroduced to eat.

quote:

Originally posted by Kanec:
Rumor on the street is red indians get everything in US free?

Well, no, but many tribes are very subsidized.
Our federal housing department provides lots of low income and free housing. Our department of agriculture has lots of reduced cost and free food programs. Federally funded construction can require native hire or local residential hire. Tribes can also be awarded federal construction projects and use the award for tribal hire. Energy can be federally subsidized for the tribe and law enforcement on the reservation/ tribe is federally funded and regulated.

Native American tribes have many diverse opportunities for advancement and profit. In some cases tribes take full advantage and do quite well. From here it appears to me the popular motive is to take the best advantage of the federal handouts you can and personally I fear the uncertainty of being given someone else's money.

quote:

Originally posted by Scott King:

quote:

Originally posted by Kanec:
Rumor on the street is red indians get everything in US free?

Well, no, but many tribes are very subsidized.
Our federal housing department provides lots of low income and free housing. Our department of agriculture has lots of reduced cost and free food programs. Federally funded construction can require native hire or local residential hire. Tribes can also be awarded federal construction projects and use the award for tribal hire. Energy can be federally subsidized for the tribe and law enforcement on the reservation/ tribe is federally funded and regulated.

Native American tribes have many diverse opportunities for advancement and profit. In some cases tribes take full advantage and do quite well. From here it appears to me the popular motive is to take the best advantage of the federal handouts you can and personally I fear the uncertainty of being given someone else's money.

When I was in college tribal people got to go for free. This is quite a long time ago now and I wonder if the members who took up the offer were successful in their lives with the education? I don't know what degrees they pursued, none were friendly with the rest of us.

quote:

Originally posted by Kanec:
What is the issue for Montana politicians to oppose bison reintroduction to federal lands?
I would have thought, this would be something hunters and conservationists would support any day of the week and so would most citizens as Montana is known for being nature friendly.
I do also understand, cattle industry is against it and biggest issue supposedly is brucellosis ( but that is simple by reintroducing brucellosis free animals )

Never let politicians tell you how good it is for us to trust them…

Yep MT is nature friendly....just paid $750 for the deer draw!

quote:

Well, no, but many tribes are very subsidized.
Our federal housing department provides lots of low income and free housing. Our department of agriculture has lots of reduced cost and free food programs. Federally funded construction can require native hire or local residential hire. Tribes can also be awarded federal construction projects and use the award for tribal hire.

I personally know a Navajo woman who owns a construction company. Her husband is Caucasian. They run a very successful business and do a lot of federal projects. They also do a lot of volunteer work on the Navajo reservation for her people. However, that being said, if you want to see how many of the tribes have been successful with the federal government's free handouts, just visit the Ute Reservation in Utah, the Moapa and Piute Reservations in Nevada, the Navajo Reservation in New Mexico/Arizona, or a number of others. High incidence of alcoholism, gambling, suicide, crime, low graduation numbers, few college graduates, etc. Most do not work. Many just sit at home. Run down homes, old cars and appliances sit junked in the yards, etc. When people, whether native America or not, are just given most everything, there is no incentive to better yourselves. Not to say that there are not success stories with many First Nations and reservations, but there are problems with free handouts and no accountability or responsibility. And no, it's not all the white man's fault. The pendulum has swung from extermination to enablement, without any accountability. Maybe done due to the government's past guilt and trying to right past wrongs in the wrong way.

It would be nice to have Bison a person could hunt on public land.

I put in for an Alaska Bison permit for many years. In the last couple of years I've read so many reports that the Bison have not stayed on public land the average hunter can assess. A person either has to pay a fee to hunt on "native land" or pay a fee ($2,000?) to hunt them on private farm land.

I hunted bison with my 54 black powder rifle years ago on the Deseret Land and Livestock Company ranch in Northeastern Utah. They had sold their herd to Ted Turner and Jane Fonda for one of their big ranches in Montana, but had around 25 incorrigibles left on the ranch that didn't get shipped north. Hunted in February when it was below zero most nights and in the teens during the day. Tons of mule deer sighted in Randall, Utah, and many starving from a lot of snow and no feed. Many dying deer right up against the sides of homes to try and get some warmth and to avoid the wind and snow. Shot a nice bull buffalo, just short of making Boone and Crocket. Made everything available for my Mountain Man Rendezvous kit from the buffalo, and had hundreds of pounds of rich buffalo meat to eat for over a year. Bison is so rich tasting as a meat. I compare it to eating a slice of German Chocolate cake in the cake world.

quote:

Originally posted by LeonardC:
It would be nice to have Bison a person could hunt on public land.

I put in for an Alaska Bison permit for many years. In the last couple of years, I've read so many reports that the Bison have not stayed on public land the average hunter can assess. A person either has to pay a fee to hunt on "native land" or pay a fee ($2,000?) to hunt them on private farmland.

There are several public lands and free-range Bison hunts in Utah. Many miles of accessible free-range public land to hunt them on. The biggest challenge in drawing the tag. I was one of the lucky residents who were able to draw in 2008. It was one of the best and toughest hunts I have been on. After destroying my scope mounts on mine, I killed my Bison on day six with my backup 7mm WSM.300 Win. Put in for the hunt, you never know....

Let the state handle the problem with govt funds is our best bet BUT this looks like a wreck getting ready to happen, being driven by a bureaucrat..