Since 2008, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has Red Listed the bison as “Near Threatened.” ¹

In Montana, two entities (1) Fish, Wildlife, and Parks; and (2) Montana Natural Heritage Program, currently list the status of the bison as S2, which is defined as, "At risk because of very limited and/or potentially declining population numbers, range and/or habitat, making it vulnerable to global extinction or extirpation in the state.” ²

"Today, the plains bison is for all practical purposes ecologically extinct within its original range." ³ ~ Dr. Curtis H. Freese.

This is why BFC’s legal team works so diligently to get the last wild herds of buffalo (taxonomically speaking: “Bison bison”) listed as an officially endangered species. That well-deserved designation—with all of the protections it would give—can protect the buffalo, their ecosystem, and their survival.

"The Bison of Yellowstone National Park are unique among bison herds in the United States, being descendants, in part, of the only continuously wild herd in this country." ⁴ ~ Dr. Margaret Mary Meagher, retired Yellowstone National Park bison biologist.

"Yellowstone National Park is the only place in the lower 48 States where bison have existed in a wild state since prehistoric times. Bison occupied the region encompassing the park from shortly after recession of the last glaciers 10,000 to 12,000 years ago, until the 19th century when they came close to extirpation." ⁵ ~ C. Cormack Gates Ph.D., University of Calgary.

No other plains bison population is as important to the survival of the species as the Yellowstone bison. The extirpation of the Yellowstone bison would:

• Result in the complete loss of genetically-intact, wild bison from the last stronghold of their historic and ecological range;
• Rob the United States and with world of “Bison Bison’s” unique ecological adaptations to the regional environment;
• Forfeit many other valuable and unique genetic qualities of this rare species.

Yellowstone’s geothermal features influence bison habitat and bison behavior by providing thermal sanctuaries within the park. The inclusion of geothermal areas as a significant portion of habitat represents an unusual ecological adaptation, one completely unique to the Yellowstone bison population. ⁵ [emphasis added]

The portion of the northern Greater Yellowstone ecosystem occupied by Yellowstone bison is the only place where natural patterns of population structure and gene flow in plains bison can be observed. ^{6, 8} [emphasis added]

Using mitochondrial DNA extracted from bison fecal samples, Gardipee (2007) found evidence of population structure and female philopatry to breeding territories. Female bison returning to breed at or near their place of origin is a behavior that has not been documented in any other wild bison population. ⁷ [emphasis added]

Halbert et al. (2012) demonstrated the existence of two genetically distinct subpopulations of bison within Yellowstone National Park that showed longitudinal differences in migration patterns. ⁸

The Yellowstone bison are not just geographically isolated from other bison, but have been physically isolated from other bison populations for more than 100 years.

Historically, within the northern Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem bison ranged across some 20,000 square kilometers (7,722 square miles!) in the headwaters of the Yellowstone and Madison rivers. The current occupied range is approximately 3,175 square kilometers...about 16% of their historic range. ¹⁰ Click here for Habitat Maps.

Livestock and livestock grazing management directly and indirectly impact bison and their habitat. Livestock directly affect vegetation structures, alter plant communities, alter soil characteristics, and impact other habitat elements. Public lands livestock grazing requires development such as fencing, cattle-guards, and roads to control livestock movements. These range developments impair buffalo movements and distribution. The proximity of livestock poses a significant threat of disease transmission from the domesticated animals to these free-roaming bison. ¹¹

Continued livestock grazing public-lands bison habitat promotes a perceived need for “disease risk-management operations” such as those occurring under the auspices of the IBMP. Unfortunately, rather than managing domestic cattle to avoid bison habitat, the agencies instead manage bison out of its native habitat—for the sole purpose of benefiting a few powerful livestock industry interests. Public lands benefiting private interests: Does that sound right to you?

Extensive amounts of land within the northern Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem are unprotected and threatened by land use intensification. Zoning policies are needed that can affect large areas, including regionally coordinated growth management efforts to preserve biodiversity by redirecting future development (Gude et al., 2007). The same authors conclude, “Future habitat conversion to exurban development outside the region’s nature reserves is likely to impact wildlife populations within the reserves.” ¹² [emphasis added]

To appease Montana's powerful livestock industry, which doesn't want to compete with wild bison for public lands grazing. Yellowstone bison that seek winter habitat near the Park's boundaries are subject to intensive management actions conducted under the Interagency Bison Management Plan. These actions, driven by commercial interests, disturb current population substructures (Halbert, 2003; Gardipee, 2007; Freese et al., 2007; Halbert et al., 2012).

Many hundreds of Yellowstone bison have been killed since the State of Montana brought bison hunting back in 2005 and the tribes resumed hunting under their treaty rights. This includes those animals killed in both the Gardiner and West Yellowstone areas.

While scientists acknowledge the existence of largely distinct Northern Range and Central Range bison herds, the agencies currently fail to take this complex subpopulation structure into account. Since the Northern Range bison tend to migrate from the Park at Gardiner, and the Central Range bison migrate both from Gardiner and West Yellowstone, the smaller Central range bison herd clearly bears the brunt of the hunt and slaughter. This contributes to the disproportionate culling of genetically distinct breeding herds and poses a grave threat to the future of this iconic species.

Explore other Problems Buffalo Face.

The American Bison Specialist Group recognizes nine federally listed diseases of concern for bison conservation in North America: anaplasmosis, anthrax, bluetongue, bovine spongiform encephalopathy, bovine brucellosis, bovine tuberculosis, bovine viral diarrhoea, Johne’s disease, and malignant catarrhal fever (sheep associated). Hemorrhagic septicemia (outbreaks have occurred in the past) and malignant catarrhal fever (outbreaks have occurred in the region) pose the most immediate threats to Yellowstone bison.

The IUCN cites a number of serious threats to the conservation of plains bison such as: habitat loss; genetic manipulation of commercial bison for market traits; small population effects in most conservation herds; lack of exposure to a full range of natural limiting factors; cattle gene introgression; loss of genetic non-exchangeability through hybridization between bison subspecies; and the threat of depopulation as a management response to infection of some wild populations hosting reportable cattle diseases. In particular, the IUCN cites culling of bison populations to prevent spread of bovine diseases as a major threat to their conservation. ¹ Yet it continues each year...

Genomic extinction poses one of the most imminent threats to bison conservation. Bison are at extremely high risk of genomic extinction because of domestication and anthropogenic selection, and hybridization with cattle (Freese et al. 2007). More than 95% of “bison/buffalo (nearly all beef-alo) exist under private ownership and are subject to agricultural practices which promote anthropogenic selection for traits to meet the market standards of the commercial bison industry (Freese et al., 2007). There is widespread evidence of hybridization with cattle among private bison herds. Selection for particular traits which may be conferred by cattle alleles has the potential to increase current levels of introgression (Ward et al., 1999; Halbert, 2003; Halbert et al., 2005; Freese et al., 2007; Halbert and Derr, 2007). Evidence of hybridization with cattle has now been found in all major conservation herds except for the Yellowstone bison. As such, the Yellowstone bison are the last remnant of genetically intact plains bison. ^{3, 16, 13, 17, 18}

Human activities have led to large increases in the atmospheric concentration of heat-trapping gases, which is changing the climate in Greater Yellowstone. According to Saunders et al. (2012) in Greater Yellowstone, the last decade was 1.4°F above the region’s 20th century average. Summer temperatures in Greater Yellowstone have gotten hotter by an even larger margin, with the summers of the past decade 2.3°F above the average for 20th century summers. Yellowstone National Park has documented that precipitation has been declining as temperatures have been increasing (Yellowstone Center for Resources, 2013). Thus as the climate dries, more bison will move out of the park, and as they leave the park, they will be hazed and killed. ^{19, 20}