Defending Treaty Rights and Restoring Bison

Cottonwood has been working for years to allow bison to roam freely on public land in the state of Montana. Millions of bison used to roam across the state, but today their numbers have been reduced to fewer than 6,000 animals. The few bison that remain are confined to Yellowstone National Park and a tiny area of the Custer Gallatin National Forest outside of the Park. 

By confining bison to a small area outside of Yellowstone, the Forest Service is making it difficult and dangerous for Tribes to exercise their Treaty rights to hunt bison. Every year, Tribal members from across the western United States travel to Yellowstone and line up on the Park boundary to shoot bison as soon as they enter the Custer Gallatin National Forest. The hunters have been documented shooting across roads and shooting at each other because the area where bison are confined is so small.

The U.S. Forest Service is in the process of updating the Custer Gallatin Forest Plan. Cottonwood, on behalf of the Rocky Mountain Tribal Leaders Council, has objected to the Forest Service’s decision not to designate bison as a Species of Conservation Concern for the revised Forest Plan. The designation would increase opportunities for bison to freely roam on the millions of acres of Forest Service land in Montana.

Cottonwood’s goal is to increase bison numbers and opportunities for tribal and non-tribal members to safely hunt by allowing bison to freely roam on federal land all across Montana. By designating bison as a Species of Conservation Concern, the Forest Service will better manage our public lands by ensuring greater opportunities for our National Mammal to return to the areas they historically occupied.

Learn More:

Read the full objection here.