Cottonwood Moves Yellowstone Bison Closer to Roaming Freely on Public Land.

Cottonwood has secured a court order that requires the Federal Government to prepare new environmental analysis that addresses the management of Yellowstone bison. At the time the current bison plan was approved in 2000, the state of Montana and federal government decided not to allow Yellowstone bison to roam freely on federal land because it was thought that bison transmitted a disease called brucellosis to cattle. Brucellosis causes cattle to abort fetuses. In 2017, the National Academy of Sciences published a peer-reviewed article indicating brucellosis was brought to the United States from Europe in cattle before being transmitted to wildlife. There has never been a documented case of a bison transmitting brucellosis to a cow. Elk are transmitting brucellosis to cattle all across the state of Montana.

Bison are America’s national mammal. Millions of bison used to freely roam across the State of Montana. Today, fewer than 6,000 bison remain in Yellowstone National Park and a small area surrounding it for fear of disease. Cottonwood has prevailed on a lawsuit that will help change that.

The real reason bison are not allowed to freely roam on federal lands is because the federal government provides an enormous economic subsidy to the livestock industry. It costs less than $1.50 to graze a cow/calf pair on federal land for one month. Imagine being able to feed two animals that collectively weigh more than one thousand pounds as much grass as they can eat for $1.50/month. If bison are allowed on federal land, the private livestock would have to compete with bison for the cheap grass.