HELENA — On Thursday, a Federal District Judge Brian Morris for the District of Montana heard several motions in the State of Montana’s lawsuit against Yellowstone National Park over bison management.
In December, the Gianforte Administration sued Yellowstone National Park over its new plan to increase bison populations and tolerance in and around the park.
(Watch to learn more about the State of Montana lawsuit against Yellowstone National Park over bison management)
Motions include requests to join the case as defendants from the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, and the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation. The Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes are already defendants in the case.
A lawyer for the tribes said they want to join the case because the new Trump administration has not made it clear what their stance on the lawsuit or Yellowstone bison management.
Judge Morris also heard a motion from Cottonwood Environmental Law Center to put a pause on the case until the U.S. Forest Servicecompletes a 2020 court-ordered National Environmental Policy Act assessment regarding bison management.
No decisions were immediately made by the judge on Thursday.
The 2024 Bison Management Plan builds on the previous plan from 25 years ago. It would see the goal of the bison herd managed at a size of an average about 5,000 animals.
The National Park Service would maintain the herd size through transferring animals to tribal lands, allowing for tribal and state hunting outside of the park, and capturing and processing the animals for meat.
Governor Greg Gianforte has criticized the National Park Service for how it developed the plan, saying it was made without enough state consultation.
Montana’s lawsuit demands that the park’s bison herd be managed at less than 3,000 animals, about 40 percent smaller than the 2024 plan calls for, and that bison be vaccinated against brucellosis.
The Gianforte administration lawsuit alleges that without those steps, it could have significant impacts on Montana cattle herds, notably the risk of brucelosis infection.
Yellowstone bison have been historically confined to the park specifically due to the concern that they may spread the disease.
However, to date, there has not been a recorded case of brucellosis transmitted from bison to cattle. Although there have been more than 20 documented cases of the disease spreading from elk to cattle and farmed bison herds in the states that border Yellowstone National Park.
