Yellowstone Bison Management Plan

Record of Decision Issued

Yellowstone National Park has released its’ record of decision for a plan on how buffalo will be managed for years to come.

Here is what the plan does:

If the bison population exceeds 5,200 going into winter, Yellowstone National Park will “proactively”manage for a “decreasing population.”
Yellowstone National Park will trap 600 to 1,000 bison for a “decreasing population” through shipment to slaughter and quarantine.
Yellowstone National Park will accelerate trapping bison for quarantine which will operate “at full capacity.”
From 300 to 750 bison will be trapped “during most years” to fill Yellowstone National Park’s quarantine quota.
“[S]ome bison will continue to migrate outside the park . . .”
The total bison population range is expected to be between 3,500 and 6,000 due to the “limited available summer and winter habitat outside the park.”
“Montana has stipulated that how the NPS manages abundance [of bison] within the park could influence how the State manages these areas in the future.” (Addressing the “tolerance” areas Montana imposes on bison that limits and confines their migrations including on National Forest lands).
Yellowstone National Park's decision is intended to “support the protection of the state’s livestock industry” and to manage bison “at a population level that does not exceed the winter range capacity . . . of Montana’s tolerance areas.”

The above quotes are excerpted or taken from Yellowstone National Park's Bison Management Plan, Record of Decision (July 23, 2024).

Background

In January 2022, Yellowstone National Park published a notice asking for public scoping comments on a new bison management plan that reflects all of the changed circumstances and the best available science since the outdated plan went into effect in 2000. The Park’s notice also terminated an attempt, begun in 2015, to write a new plan with the State of Montana. BFC submitted detailed comments and a proposal asking that the public be given a chance to comment on an alternative to manage wild bison like wild elk. Download BFC's scoping comments from February 28, 2022 (PDF).

In August 2023, Buffalo Field Campaign and Western Watersheds Project collaborated in developing joint comments on the Park’s draft plan which can be downloaded here: BFC and WWP Comments Yellowstone National Park Bison Management Plan Draft EIS, September 20, 2023 (PDF 614kb)

In June 2024, Yellowstone National Park released its’ Final Environmental Impact Statement. In response, Buffalo Field Campaign strongly advocated for an environmentally preferable alternative that best preserves wild buffalo herds and the Yellowstone ecosystem. Download Buffalo Field Campaign comments on Yellowstone National Park’s Bison Management Plan (June 25, 2024) (PDF) (1.7MB)

Read Yellowstone National Park’s Record of Decision, July 2024 (PDF)

Read Yellowstone National Park’s Final Environmental Impact Statement, June 2024 (PDF)

Read Yellowstone National Park’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement, August 2023 (PDF)

Read Yellowstone National Park's newsletter, January 2022 (PDF)

Read Yellowstone National Park's notice in the Federal Register, January 2022 (PDF)

Go to Yellowstone National Park's Bison Management Plan web page.