Deal near for bison to roam - in safety

Matthew Brown, Associated Press

Monday, March 19, 2007

BILLINGS, Mont. - With a congressional hearing set for Tuesday over the government's killing of bison that migrate from Yellowstone National Park, state officials are negotiating to give the animals safe travel through a sprawling, church-owned ranch north of the park.

A deal would end a seven-year impasse on about 6,000 acres owned by the Church Universal and Triumphant, a religious sect that gained notoriety last decade for its predictions of impending apocalypse. Church President Kate Gordon said Friday the two parties "are very close" to a final agreement.

The purchase of grazing rights on the property would give bison room to move out of the park without possibly being rounded up for slaughter, as mandated by state and federal policies. The policies were created after cattle producers expressed concern their grazing animals would become infected with brucellosis through contact with Yellowstone bison carrying the disease.

In cattle, brucellosis can cause the abortion of calves. Some Montana ranchers worry brucellosis in their livestock would restrict the cattle trade, including beef exports.

"Without successfully negotiating an agreement on this land, bison are going to continue to be stopped at the park's border and shipped to slaughter," said Tim Stevens of the National Parks Conservation Association.

Last winter, 1,003 bison heading to less snowy, lower elevations outside the park were captured and slaughtered following unsuccessful attempts to force them back into Yellowstone. That number dropped to just two bison killed this winter because milder weather and other factors allowed most to remain in the park, park spokesman Al Nash said.

The park's 3,600 bison make up the world's largest surviving herd of the animal, which is the symbol for the National Park Service.

Stevens will join Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer, federal officials and advocacy groups, including livestock producers, at Tuesday's scheduled hearing on Yellowstone bison. The hearing will be before the House Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands.

The subcommittee's chairman, Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., wants to determine whether slaughtering bison "is really something that needs to be done or if there are other ways to go about it," according to his spokeswoman, Natalie Luna.

It has been seven years since an earlier deal with the Church Universal and Triumphant. In that deal, the federal government paid $13 million for land and conservation easements totaling almost 7,800 acres.

A second deal - to purchase grazing rights on the church's remaining land - fell through in 2000 after federal officials balked at the $2.8 million price, Gordon said.

That meant about 150 head of cattle continued to graze on the church's Royal Teton Ranch, disappointing wildlife advocates who had hoped the $13 million would clear the way for bison outside the park.

Negotiations picked up again in 2006, this time with the state Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

"This is part of the fix - creating a corridor that the bison could use to migrate through Royal Teton Ranch and reach Forest Service property just north of us," Gordon said. But she added that the church property "is not a huge rolling plain where the bison could remain and have food for part of the winter. Other land needs to open up." Fish, Wildlife and Parks spokeswoman Mel Frost said the negotiations "are going well," but she declined to be specific.