Bison restoration efforts and grazing rights hinge on one question: Are bison wildlife? |
Bison are political animals. A federal decision to revoke grazing leases for bison on public lands on the rolling plains of eastern Montana is the latest manifestation of long-standing contention. The largest land animal in North America, bison are considered a “keystone” species, meaning they have high ecological and cultural importance.
The May 2026 decision represents a significant setback for a decades-long effort by American Prairie, a private conservation organization, to restore wild bison to the Great Plains. Those in favor of the decision are describing the move as a boon for rural farmers and ranchers because it would reduce competition for grazing lands.
The legal question at the heart of the federal decision is a seemingly simple one: Are bison wildlife or are they domestic livestock? Approximately 400,000 bison roam the North American landscape today, of which nearly 90% are considered livestock.
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management argues that American Prairie’s herd of around 940 animals is intended as wildlife conservation, so it does not qualify as livestock production and is therefore ineligible to hold federal permits to graze on public lands.
American Prairie plans to appeal the decision, countering that it follows all pertinent regulations for livestock management – including containment and annual testing for diseases. Despite the organization’s vision of recreating an “American Serengeti,” these bison are privately owned and managed as livestock: wild in rhetoric only.
As political ecologists who study the human dimensions of conservation, we are interested in how environmental decisions – such as how people legally define and manage animals – reflect power dynamics and how people understand the value of wildlife.
Our own research focuses on how tribal nations are navigating complex legacies of colonial settlement to restore bison as keystone relatives in a shared ecosystem. Collaborating closely with advisers from across the four nations of the Blackfoot Confederacy, including the Blackfeet Nation in Montana, we have learned that this perspective on bison, also known as buffalo – and “iinnii” to our Blackfoot partners – complicates, and enriches, this distinction between wildlife........