Meyers bison relocation plan fails

State Rep. Bruce Meyers, R-Box Elder, thought he had a compromise plan to keep both Native Americans and ranchers happy on the issue of bison relocation.

But his compromise plan was tabled by the House Fish, Wildlife and Parks Committee, effectively killing it for this year.

Natives have been happy that in recent years, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks

has agreed to relocate bison from Yellowstone National Park and environs to Fort Belknap and Fort Peck. Natives on both reservations say bison have a special meaning to their culture.

But that action has brought swift protests from neighboring ranchers who fear that bison will plow through fences and escape from the reservations to cause damage to adjacent farm and ranch land.

Meyers compromise plan would require FWP to bond $5,000 for each bison that was transported from downstate to a reservation.

That way, he said, farmers and ranchers would be quickly paid if some problem developed.

Meyers said he understood both the attachment Natives have to bison and the concerns farmers and ranchers have, and he thought this agreement would make it possible for both sides to support bison relocations.

Supporters of Meyers plan said to a hearing before the House Fish, Wildlife and Parks Committee that insurance companies have been slow to pay damages caused by bison, and that has caused tensions between tribes and ranchers.

FWP staffers, environmentalists and supporters of wildlife causes teamed up in opposition to Meyers’ plan for various reasons, though each one praised Meyers for his efforts to reach a compromise.

FWP’s Mike Valesky said the cost of the bonds would come close to a half million dollars, and said it would set a dangerous precedent. Would FWP then have to bond for grizzly bears and other endangered species that are in Montana’s wildlife landscape, he asked.

“It’s a dangerous precedent,”he said.

“I think it’s a peaceful precedent, not a dangerous precedent,” Meyers responded.

Montana Wildlife Federation, Helena Hunters and Anglers and other sportsmen groups joined in the opposition.