Alternative 2

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Alternative 2: Minimal Management

The purpose of this alternative is to restore as near-natural conditions as possible for bison, including a small portion of their historic nomadic migration patterns. The area outside Yellowstone National Park over which bison would be able to range (e.g., the SMAs) without interference from agencies is the largest of all alternatives.

In each alternative, including alternative 2, many changes, such as land acquisition, changes in cattle operations, and a safe and effective bison vaccine, are described. Each of these involves some unknowns, as well as time to implement. Therefore, until these changes were in place, relevant management tools in the interim plan would remain in effect. The description below assumes these changes have been made. Since completion of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement, the federal Departments of the Interior and Agriculture and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation teamed in February and again in August 1999 to purchase lands and conservation easements totaling 6,131 acres between the Reese Creek boundary and YankeeJimCanyon. The purchased lands would be under the jurisdiction of the GallatinNational Forest and available for use by wildlife. It is expected that bison would be able to use the acquired lands for winter range when a cattle lease currently in operation on part of this property expires in 2002.

The primary means to minimize the risk of disease transmission would be changes in cattle operations in the SMAs. This alternative would provide for lethal control of bison only in cases where human safety was in immediate danger, on private property at the request of the landowner, or outside the SMA border. Bison would not be captured or slaughtered by agencies. A key tool available to restore natural conditions and help control bison distribution would be the closure (e.g., discontinuing grooming) of winter groomed roads in Yellowstone National Park that the animals now use to traverse the park. Bison have “discovered” these pathways from the interior to both the northern and western boundaries of the park, and can use them routinely during the winter to access areas they would otherwise have more difficulty reaching. It is hypothesized that the energetic cost of traveling long distances on groomed roads would be low, and they in effect could be allowing bison to access other foraging areas, leave the interior, and move to boundary areas. Alternative 2 would be the only alternative to propose changes in winter operations in some segments of park roads to control bison distribution, although other alternatives include research on the use of roads and potential barriers to bison travel (alternative 3), and plowing to access capture facilities (alternatives 5 and 6).

In addition to leaving road segments ungroomed, the agencies would maintain boundary lines through hazing and shooting. Landowners could request bison on their property be removed, or could shoot them with permission of the Montana Department of Livestock. Cattle operators on private lands inside designated SMAs might be offered incentives to remove susceptible (breeding) cattle, or grazing rights, easements, or property in bison winter range might be purchased from willing sellers to remove cattle altogether. In addition, public grazing allotments might be modified to accommodate bison.