A conservation-based land-trust group in north-central Montana may have to remove more than 900 head of bison from public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management after the Department of Interior targeted their long-standing grazing permits. If it goes through, the lease revocation could eliminate a rare public-land hunting opportunity for free-ranging bison in the Treasure State.
The Lewistown, Montana-based American Prairie has been acquiring land in central Montana since 2004 with the goal of establishing an intact prairie ecosystem across some 3.2 million acres of private and public lands. To date, the organization owns nearly 170,000 acres of private land and leases nearly 470,000 acres of BLM and state-managed ground.
They provide public access on the vast majority of their deeded acres and have enrolled some 80,000 acres of private land in Montana’s Block Management program for hunters. Their holdings also provide key public access points to BLM lands that would otherwise be landlocked and inaccessible to public land hunters. In addition to bison, American Prairie grazes approximately 8,000 head of cattle across their public leases and deeded acres.
In a May 8 press release, the BLM named American Prairie specifically and said the move came at the explicit direction of Secretary the Interior Doug Burgum. With its final decision, DOI said American Prairie must remove their bison from BLM lands in central Montana no later than September 30, 2026.
Too Much Focus on Conservation?
The release claims that American Prairie has violated the 1934 Taylor Grazing Act by running bison on their BLM allotments. “American Prairie has consistently been clear that its primary management focus is conservation and an effort to restore wild populations and reestablish natural ecological processes,” the release states. “Under federal law, only production‑oriented livestock operations qualify for BLM grazing permits, and the BLM lacks statutory authority to authorize the bison grazing previously permitted on these allotments.”
The assertion by the BLM that grazing must be reserved for production-oriented livestock raises questions about established grazing leases in southern Idaho, where wild horses roam more than 400,000 acres of BLM-managed land under the authority of the 1971 Free-Roaming Horses and Burro Act. According to a BLM factsheet, the grazing of “wild horses and burros [falls] among the many authorized uses of America’s system of public lands.”
According to Beth Saboe, Director of Public Affairs at American Prairie, the organization plans to fight DOI’s decision to remove their bison. “There are seven allotments, two of which we’ve had the grazing permission and have been successfully grazing bison on for 20 years,” Saboe tells Field & Stream. “The next steps are filing an appeal, which we will be doing in the coming weeks.” If that appeal doesn’t work, American Prairie could pursue legal action in the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, Saboe says.
A Unique Hunt in Jeoprady
If successful in evicting American Prairie’s bison from BLM lands on the Great Plains, the DIO will eliminate the organization’s annual bison hunt, which typically takes place in the fall and winter months. According to its website, American Prairie awards up to 17 bison permits to participating hunters each year. The pool includes local and indigenous hunters in the immediate area as well as applicants from across Montana. One permit is also reserved for hunters from anywhere in the world.
Saboe says more than 4,000 hunters apply each year, and this year, American Prairie was planning on issuing up to 25 bison permits. “This is definitely at risk now,” Saboe says, “and we’re trying to determine if we can move forward with it because it is such a unique and sought-after hunting experience.”
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American Prairie will be appealing the decision at a time of great uncertainty for the BLM. On Monday, May 18, the Senate voted to confirm Steve Pearce as the first permanent BLM Director during President’s Trump’s second term. While Pearce hasn’t weighed in publicly about his stance on American Prairie’s bison grazing leases, he has voiced past support for the sell off of both BLM and US Forest Service lands. Field & Stream will continue to cover the status of American Prairie’s public-land bison hunt as more details emerge.
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