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The analysis area is a part of what is often described as the Greater Yellowstone Area, the largest and most nearly intact ecosystem in the contiguous United States (Greater Yellowstone Coordinating Committee 1991). The portion specifically subject to analysis includes those areas in Yellowstone National Park habitually occupied by bison (approximately 1.75 million acres) and adjacent federal, state, and private lands outside the park in southwestern Montana (parts of Park and Gallatin Counties) that have been periodically occupied by Yellowstone bison over the past 12 years. The area outside the park includes approximately 568,994 acres, of which about 97% is managed by Gallatin National Forest, 1% by state or local government, and 2% by private owners (see Greater Yellowstone Area map).