Bison on the move: Annual migration to park borders taking shape

By SCOTT McMILLION, Chronicle Staff Writer

Bison have begun moving out of Yellowstone National Park and hazing efforts have started on both the north and west sides of the park.

The Montana Department of Livestock, assisted by several other agencies, hazed 18 bison Wednesday from the Madison River area back inside the park, DOL spokeswoman Karen Cooper said.

"That's the first activity of any size for this season," she said, adding there were "no problems and no arrests."

The hazing was done on snowmobiles, she said.

Larger numbers of bison are outside the park or near its borders on the north side, near Gardiner.

About 95 animals are outside the park in the Jardine area, where they are allowed to roam untested for brucellosis as long as they don't move too far north.

Another 60 to 70 animals are between Gardiner and Mammoth Hot Springs, said Yellowstone spokeswoman Cheryl Matthews, and rangers on horseback and in vehicles began hazing Jan. 18.

Three hazing operations have moved as many at 71 animals since then, she said.

Bison are tolerated only in very limited areas outside the park because of fears they will spread brucellosis to cattle, although there has never been a documented case of such transmittal in the wild.

State and federal officials operate under a plan that calls for relying on hazing as first approach. If that doesn't work, bison can be trapped and slaughtered. If they can't be captured, they can be shot in the field.

The National Park Service operates a trap northwest of Gardiner and DOL has one on private land in the Duck Creek area north of West Yellowstone.

It also has a U.S. Forest Service permit to assemble and use a second trap in the Horse Butte area, near Hebgen Lake.

That trap has not been assembled this winter, Cooper said.

"We can expect more hazing," Matthews said.

Scott McMillion is at scottm@dailychronicle.com

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