In 2023 the Blackfeet Nation released bison into the Chief Mountain area along the border of Glacier National Park. The release was part of a plan to build a free roaming herd in a place bison had been absent from for more than 100 years. One listener wants to know where those bison are now. MTPR's Aaron Bolton fills us in on what he found.
Austin Amestoy: Welcome to The Big Why, a series from Montana Public Radio where we find out what we can discover together. I'm your host, Austin Amestoy. This is a show about listener-powered reporting. We'll answer questions, big or small, about anything under the Big Sky. By Montanans, for Montana, this is The Big Why.
Today we’re talking bison. Reporter Aaron Bolton is here with me to tell us about the return of this megafauna to the east side of Glacier National Park.
Aaron Bolton: Hey Austin.
Austin Amestoy: Set the stage for us here. What question are we setting out to answer?
Aaron Bolton: You may remember a couple of years ago, the Blackfeet Nation released bison into the Chief Mountain area, which is along the border of Glacier National Park. It was a big deal at the time as bison hadn’t been seen there in over 100 years.
David Baltz of Columbia Falls had heard about it. He works for Glacier National Park in St. Mary.
David Baltz: I would drive by what I think is the bison enclosure where they release the bison, but I never saw any bison over there — for the last two years I haven't seen any.
Aaron Bolton: So, he was wondering what happened to those bison.
Austin Amestoy: So, are they hiding out in the woods somewhere?
Aaron Bolton: No, I’ll get straight to the point here: The bison that were released are actually back with the Blackfeet Nation’s herd on a ranch outside of Browning. So they’re not hiding out in the wilderness at all. I talked to the head of Blackfeet Fish and Game, Buzz Cobell, last summer about the initial release. He said the animals started to move to the east and got into some conflicts with local landowners.
Buzz Cobell: So as they came out of the Chief Mountain area, we moved them back where they were, and we've been holding them there until we do get adequate fencing in place so that when we release them the second go around that things will go smoother.
Austin Amestoy: Cobell said they need adequate fencing. Are they trying to fence them into the park?
Aaron Bolton: Sort of. They want this to be a free-roaming herd, but that can be hard with the checkerboard of tribal, public and private land ownership in this part of the state. Cobell’s staff are working to fence the bison off from private land. But the idea is that they will be able to roam from tribal lands into both Glacier and Waterton Lakes National Park on the Canadian side of the border.
Austin Amestoy: You said the idea is for these animals to freely roam between tribal and public lands in both Glacier and Waterton. But, are these animals actually free-roaming if there are places they can’t go?
Aaron Bolton: In a modern day context, I think that’s kind of subjective. For decades, the tribe has been talking about restoring its bison herds that were killed off by the U.S. government in the 1800s. But there are fights over whether these animals pose a risk to cattle via spreading disease, and many ranchers don’t want more wild animals grazing on their lands.
So, the tribe’s goal really is to have them as free roaming as they possibly can while still avoiding conflicts on private land, mostly to the east.
Austin Amestoy: Well Aaron, it seems like we’ve already answered our listener’s question here. The bison are back behind a fence. But I want to go a little deeper. You said the animals are expected to go into Glacier and Waterton national parks on both sides of the border. How do park officials feel about what will happen when the bison are released?
Aaron Bolton: Both parks are supportive. I also talked to Glacier Superintendent Dave Roemer last year. He was there when that first release happened.
Dave Roemer: I was standing by the side of the road and looking at the bison chewing up some young aspen trees, and we were like, ‘Yeah, this is what’s going to happen.’ They’re going to help to restore grasslands in the park. Our partners are doing some research to get some baseline conditions right now, because we can hypothesize there will be changes in the grassland community — vegetation and birds, insects — that come along with bison having a real viable presence, a real ecological presence, in the park again.
Austin Amestoy: So, these bison will literally change the landscape and what animals we might see?
Aaron Bolton: That’s the expectation. Bison, much like grizzly bears, are an umbrella species. How they interact with the land really does carve out space for other animals. Roemer says as the bison graze, cutting back smaller trees like aspen, there will be more habitat for other animals like antelope, which also used to live in the area.
Austin Amestoy: That is amazing! Are researchers going to be tracking what happens?
Aaron Bolton: Staff from both national parks and the tribe have a lot of plans to study the changes that come along with restoring bison to this land. One of the things people are excited about is tracking the herd with GPS collars to see where they go.
Christina Mormorunni is a Blackfeet tribal member and co-leads Indigenous Led, a nonprofit focused on bison restoration. She says this work will help them learn more about historical bison migrations that her ancestors used to follow.
Christina Mormorunni: Obviously, they’ve been gone from the land for over 100 years, so there’s a little bit of guesswork. We’ve been looking at cultural migration, seasonal rounds, there’s some data out there, and that sort of demonstrates how Blackfoot followed the buffalo, so that gives us a pretty good sense of where these buffalo might go.
Austin Amestoy: We’ve been talking a lot about the ecological significance of bison returning, but Mormorunni seems to be also talking about cultural significance. How big of a deal is this?
Aaron Bolton: This really is the culmination of decades of work from the tribe. Cobell, who we heard from earlier, said he first approached Glacier Park officials about the idea back in the 1970s, and they were not receptive. That’s obviously changed. But Cobell says these releases are a sign of survival for the tribe and buffalo.
Buzz Cobell: Our ancestors in the late 1800s had to experience the loss of buffalo and it was so important to our livelihood and our lifestyle and our culture, that to me, our ancestors would be proud of what we’re doing here today, because they did everything they could to survive those hard times. Same thing with the bison themselves. They had to survive in these little pockets.
Austin Amestoy: Now that the tribe is fencing off private lands, when might we expect to see another release?
Aaron Bolton: Blackfeet officials hope to have the fencing project complete this summer. They’re tentatively planning the second release in June. That could change as the tribe is trying to make sure Glacier National Park staff that were set to help manage the herd are still on the job after massive federal layoffs.
Austin Amestoy: What does our listener think about this?
Aaron Bolton: Batlz is happy the tribe is continuing to work on restoring bison to the land. He thinks it's really interesting.
David Baltz: I think it’d be really nice to go hiking back there and see them.
Aaron Bolton: It might be a while before there are enough animals to be easily spotted, but that doesn't mean people like Baltz won’t be on the lookout.
Austin Amestoy: Well Aaron, thank you for checking back in on this story for us. We appreciate it.
Aaron Bolton: No problem.
Austin Amestoy: Now we want to know what makes you curious about Montana. Submit your questions below, or leave a message at 406-640-8933. Let's see what we can discover together!
Find us wherever you listen to podcasts and help others find the show by sharing it and leaving a review.
-
If you've ever seen or experienced a pickup pull alongside or in front of you and then belch out a huge cloud of black or gray exhaust — well, you've just been coal-rolled. But why? -
In the '90s, whirling disease hit trout populations hard in Montana, at one point leading to a 95% decline in rainbow trout in the Madison River. It sparked concern among biologists, anger in tourist towns and even played a role in a murder mystery novel. It also inspired this week's question: What's happening with whirling disease and other threats to trout? -
When voters authorized the Montana Lottery in 1986, the promise was that lottery revenues would be used for education funding. Now, with schools facing budget woes and lawmakers debating funding bills, one listener wants to know if this gamble is paying off.
