Yellowstone National Park: Preliminary Observations on the Implementation of the Interagency Bison Management Plan

Yellowstone National Park: Preliminary Observations on the
Implementation of the Interagency Bison Management Plan
(20-MAR-07, GAO-07-638T).

Yellowstone National Park, in northwest Wyoming, is home to a
herd of about 3,600 free-roaming bison. Some of these bison
routinely attempt to migrate from the park in the winter.
Livestock owners and public officials in states bordering the
park have concerns about the bison leaving the park because many
are infected with brucellosis--a contagious bacterial disease
that some fear could be transmitted to cattle, thus potentially
threatening the economic health of the states' livestock
industry. Other interested groups believe that the bison should
be allowed to roam freely both within and outside the park. In an
effort to address these concerns, five federal and Montana state
agencies agreed to an Interagency Bison Management Plan (IBMP) in
December 2000 that includes three main steps to "maintain a wild,
free-ranging population of bison and address the risk of
brucellosis transmission to protect the economic interest and
viability of the livestock industry in Montana." This testimony
discusses GAO's preliminary observations on the progress that has
been made in implementing the IBMP and the extent to which bison
have access to lands and an easement acquired for $13 million in
federal funds. It is based on GAO's visit to the greater
Yellowstone area, interviews with federal and state officials and
other interested stakeholders, and review of related documents.
-------------------------Indexing Terms-------------------------
REPORTNUM: GAO-07-638T
ACCNO: A67026
TITLE: Yellowstone National Park: Preliminary Observations on
the Implementation of the Interagency Bison Management Plan
DATE: 03/20/2007
SUBJECT: Animal diseases
Cattle
Conservation easements
Disease control
Federal/state relations
Grazing rights
Land management
Livestock
National parks
Program evaluation
Public lands
Wildlife
Wildlife conservation
Wildlife management
Disease transmission
Program implementation
Interagency Bison Management Plan
Montana
Yellowstone National Park (WY)

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GAO-07-638T

* [1]Summary
* [2]Background
* [3]Implementation of the IBMP Remains in Step One Because Cattl
* [4]Federal Land and Easement Acquisitions Sought to Provide Cri
* [5]GAO Contacts and Staff Acknowledgments
* [6]GAO's Mission
* [7]Obtaining Copies of GAO Reports and Testimony

* [8]Order by Mail or Phone

* [9]To Report Fraud, Waste, and Abuse in Federal Programs
* [10]Congressional Relations
* [11]Public Affairs

Testimony

Before the Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands,
Committee on Natural Resources, U.S. House of Representatives

United States Government Accountability Office

GAO

For Release on Delivery Expected at 10:00 a.m. EDT
Tuesday, March 20, 2007

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK

Preliminary Observations on the Implementation of the Interagency Bison
Management Plan

Statement of Robin M. Nazzaro, Director
Natural Resources and Environment

GAO-07-638T

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee:

I am pleased to be here today to discuss our preliminary work on issues
related to managing bison in the Yellowstone National Park area. Bison
lived in this area long before the park was established in 1872, and have
been under some form of human management since the early 1900s. In 1901,
after years of hunting and poaching, the Yellowstone herd had been reduced
to about 25 bison. For nearly the next six decades, bison management in
the park emphasized reestablishing the bison herd and controlling the size
of the population. Through a policy of natural regulation adopted by the
park in the 1960s, the bison population has increased, and about 3,600
bison roam the park and surrounding areas today.

Brucellosis--a contagious bacterial disease that can infect domestic
animals, wildlife, and humans--was first found in the Yellowstone bison
herd in 1917 and is believed to have been transmitted from livestock.
Livestock owners and public officials in the states bordering the park are
concerned about brucellosis in the bison herd because of the risk of bison
transmitting the disease back to cattle and the economic impact such an
occurrence could have on the livestock industry. The state of Montana and
its livestock industry, in particular, have been active in protecting the
brucellosis-free status that the state has held since 1985 by advocating
for limits on bison migration. These efforts have been opposed by advocacy
groups working to expand bison habitat and protect the wild free-roaming
character of the bison, and who assert that there has never been a
documented case of brucellosis transmission from bison to cattle in the
wild. Many years of public controversy over the management of bison in the
Yellowstone National Park area have ensued as a result of these competing
concerns.

In an effort to address these concerns in the early 1990s, the Department
of the Interior's (Interior's) National Park Service, the Department of
Agriculture's (USDA's) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and
Forest Service, and Montana's Departments of Livestock and Fish, Wildlife
and Parks agreed to develop a joint long-term bison management strategy.
This joint planning effort ultimately resulted in a three-step,
Interagency Bison Management Plan (IBMP) that was agreed upon by the five
federal and state partner agencies in December 2000. Concurrent with the
development of a bison management strategy, the Forest Service was also
pursuing the acquisition of certain private lands and conservation
easements near the northern boundary of the park to expand critical
migration and winter range habitat for a variety of wildlife species,
protect geothermal resources, and improve recreational access.

My testimony today summarizes work performed to date that GAO began in
mid-January 2007 at the request of the Chairman of the House Committee on
Natural Resources and Congressman Maurice D. Hinchey. GAO previously
reported on the bison management issue and development of the IBMP in the
1990s. A list of related GAO products is provided in appendix I. Our
current work is focused on determining: (1) the progress that has been
made in implementing the IBMP and the associated costs and challenges; (2)
what lands and easements north of Yellowstone National Park, acquired for
$13 million in federal funds, have been made available to bison and other
wildlife; and (3) what advances have been made in developing a brucellosis
vaccine and remote delivery method for bison. To begin addressing these
objectives, we visited the Yellowstone National Park area to attend an
interagency sponsored public meeting on the IBMP, tour the bison
management areas near Yellowstone National Park, interview federal and
state agency officials as well as members of interested stakeholder
groups, and review relevant documentation. We have conducted our work to
date in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards.

Over the next several weeks, we will continue to collect and analyze
information to refine our approach for completing the review. To date, our
efforts have focused mostly on the first two broad objectives. Thus, my
remarks today will provide our preliminary findings on the first two
objectives.

Summary

In summary, more than 6 years after approving the IBMP, the five federal
and state partnering agencies remain in step one of the three-step plan
because cattle continue to graze on certain private lands. A key condition
for the partner agencies progressing further under the plan requires that
cattle no longer graze in the winter on certain private lands adjacent to
the north boundary of Yellowstone National Park and west of the
Yellowstone River to minimize the risk of brucellosis transmission from
bison to cattle. The agencies anticipated meeting this condition by the
winter of 2002/2003. Until this condition is met, bison will not be
allowed to roam freely beyond the park's northern border, west of the
Yellowstone River. The Forest Service has been successful in purchasing
certain private lands and continues its vacancy of national forest grazing
allotments in the area; however, the partner agencies have yet to acquire
cattle grazing rights on other private lands adjacent to the north
boundary of Yellowstone National Park and west of the Yellowstone River.
While a prior attempt by Interior was unsuccessful, Montana's Department
of Fish, Wildlife and Parks is currently negotiating with the private land
owner to acquire these grazing rights.

Yellowstone bison have limited access to the lands and conservation
easement that federal agencies acquired north of the park. In 1998 and
1999, as part of a larger conservation effort to provide habitat for a
variety of wildlife species, protect geothermal resources, and improve
recreational access, federal agencies spent nearly $13 million to acquire
5,263 acres and a conservation easement on 1,508 acres of private lands
north of the park's border, lands towards which bison frequently attempt
to migrate for suitable winter range. While the conservation easement
prohibits development, such as the construction of commercial facilities
and roads, on the private land, the land owner retained cattle grazing
rights. The Yellowstone bison's access to these lands will remain limited
until cattle no longer graze on the easement and other private lands in
the area.

Background

Yellowstone National Park is at the center of about 20 million acres of
publicly and privately owned land, overlapping three states--Idaho,
Montana, and Wyoming. This area is commonly called the greater Yellowstone
area or ecosystem and is home to numerous species of wildlife, including
the largest concentration of free-roaming bison in the United States.
Bison are considered an essential component of this ecosystem because they
contribute to the biological, ecological, cultural, and aesthetic purposes
of the park. However, because the bison are naturally migratory animals,
they seasonally attempt to migrate out of the park in search of suitable
winter range.

The rate of exposure to brucellosis in Yellowstone bison is currently
estimated at about 50 percent. Transmission of brucellosis from bison to
cattle has been documented under experimental conditions, but not in the
wild. Scientists and researchers disagree about the factors that influence
the risk of wild bison transmitting brucellosis to domestic cattle and are
unable to quantify the risk. Consequently, the IBMP partner agencies are
working to identify risk factors that affect the likelihood of
transmission, such as the persistence of the brucellosis-causing bacteria
in the environment and the proximity of bison to cattle, and are
attempting to limit these risk factors using various management actions.

The National Park Service first proposed a program to control bison at the
boundary of Yellowstone National Park in response to livestock industry
concerns over the potential transmission of brucellosis to cattle in 1968.
Over the next two decades, concerns continued over bison leaving the park
boundaries, particularly after Montana's livestock industry was certified
brucellosis-free in 1985. In July 1990, the National Park Service, Forest
Service, and Montana's Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks formed an
interagency team to examine various alternatives for the long-term
management of the Yellowstone bison herd. Later, the interagency team was
expanded to include USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and
the Montana Department of Livestock. In 1998, USDA and Interior jointly
released a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) analyzing several
proposed alternatives for long-term bison management and issued a final
EIS in August 2000. In December 2000, the interagency team agreed upon
federal and state records of decision detailing the long-term management
approach for the Yellowstone bison herd, commonly referred to as the IBMP.

The IBMP is a three-step plan for managing bison on the northern and
western sides of Yellowstone National Park, areas to which bison typically
attempt to migrate for suitable winter range. The stated purpose of the
IBMP is to:

"maintain a wild, free-ranging population of bison and address the risk of
brucellosis transmission to protect the economic interest and viability of
the livestock industry in Montana."

Although managing the risk of brucellosis transmission from bison to
cattle is at the heart of the IBMP, the plan does not seek to eliminate
brucellosis in bison. The plan instead aims to create and maintain a
spatial and temporal separation between bison and cattle sufficient to
minimize the risk of brucellosis transmission. In addition, the plan
allows for the partner agencies to make adaptive management changes as
better information becomes available through scientific research and
operational experience.

Under step one of the plan, bison are generally restricted to areas within
or just beyond the park's northern and western boundaries. Bison
attempting to leave the park are herded back to the park. When attempts to
herd the bison back to the park are repeatedly unsuccessful, the bison are
captured or lethally removed. Generally, captured bison are tested for
brucellosis exposure.1 Those that test positive are sent to slaughter, and
eligible bison--calves and yearlings that test negative for brucellosis
exposure--are vaccinated. Regardless of vaccination-eligibility, partner
agency officials may take a variety of actions with captured bison that
test negative including, temporarily holding them in the capture facility
for release back into the park or removing them for research. In order to
progress to step two, cattle can no longer graze in the winter on certain
private lands north of Yellowstone National Park and west of the
Yellowstone River. Step two, which the partner agencies expected to reach
by the winter of 2002/2003, would use the same management methods on bison
attempting to leave the park as in step one, with one exception--a limited
number of bison, up to a maximum of 100, that test negative for
brucellosis exposure would be allowed to roam in specific areas outside
the park. Finally, step three would allow a limited number of untested
bison, up to a maximum of 100, to roam in specific areas outside the park
when certain conditions are met. These conditions include determining an
adequate temporal separation period, gaining sufficient experience in
managing bison in the bison management areas, and initiating an effective
vaccination program using a remote delivery system for eligible bison
inside the park. The partner agencies anticipated reaching this step on
the northern boundary in the winter of 2005/2006 and the western boundary
in the winter of 2003/2004.

In 1997, as part of a larger land conservation effort in the greater
Yellowstone area, the Forest Service partnered with the Rocky Mountain Elk
Foundation--a nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring the future of
elk, other wildlife and their habitat--to develop a Royal Teton Ranch
(RTR) land conservation project. The ranch is owned by and serves as the
international headquarters for the Church Universal and Triumphant, Inc.
(the Church)--a multi-faceted spiritual organization. It is adjacent to
the northern boundary of Yellowstone National Park and is almost
completely surrounded by Gallatin National Forest lands. The overall
purpose of the conservation project was to preserve critical wildlife
migration and winter range habitat for a variety of species, protect
geothermal resources, and improve recreational access. The project
included several acquisitions from the Church, including the purchase of
land and a wildlife conservation easement, a land-for-land exchange, and
other special provisions such as a long-term right of first refusal for
the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation to purchase remaining RTR lands. The
project was funded using fiscal years 1998 and 1999 Land and Water
Conservation Fund appropriations totaling $13 million.2

1If the Yellowstone bison herd exceeds a target population size of 3,000
bison as set forth in the IBMP, other management actions, such as removing
the captured bison to quarantine or slaughter, may be taken to reduce the
size of the herd.

Implementation of the IBMP Remains in Step One Because Cattle Continue to Graze
on RTR Lands

Implementation of the IBMP remains in step one because cattle continue to
graze on RTR lands north of Yellowstone National Park and west of the
Yellowstone River. All Forest Service cattle grazing allotments on its
lands near the park are held vacant, and neither these lands nor those
acquired from the Church are occupied by cattle. The one remaining step to
achieve the condition of cattle no longer grazing in this area is for the
partner agencies to acquire livestock grazing rights on the remaining
private RTR lands. Until cattle no longer graze on these lands, no bison
will be allowed to roam beyond the park's northern border, and the
agencies will not be able to proceed further under the IBMP.

Although unsuccessful, Interior attempted to acquire livestock grazing
rights on the remaining RTR lands in August 1999. The Church and Interior
had signed an agreement giving Interior the option to purchase the
livestock grazing rights, contingent upon a federally approved appraisal
of the value of the grazing rights and fair compensation to the Church for
forfeiture of this right. The appraisal was completed and submitted for
federal review in November 1999. In a March 2000 letter to the Church,
Interior stated that the federal process for reviewing the appraisal was
incomplete and terminated the option to purchase the rights. As a result,
the Church continues to exercise its right to graze cattle on the RTR
lands adjacent to the north boundary of the park, and the agencies
continue operating under step one of the IBMP.

More recently, the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks has
re-engaged Church officials in discussions regarding a lease arrangement
for Church-owned livestock grazing rights on the private RTR lands. Given
the confidential and evolving nature of these negotiations, specific
details about funding sources or the provisions being discussed, including
the length of the lease and other potential conditions related to bison
management, are not yet available.

2The Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 was enacted to help
preserve, develop, and assure access to outdoor recreation resources.
Among other purposes, appropriations from the fund may be used for federal
acquisition of land and waters and interests therein. Pub. L. No. 88-578,
78 Stat. 897. 16 U.S.C. S460l-4, et seq.

Although the agencies continue to operate under step one of the plan, they
reported several accomplishments in their September 2005 Status Revewof
Adaptve Management Elements for 2000-2005. These accomplishments included
updating interagency field operating procedures, vacating national forest
cattle allotments within the bison management areas, and conducting
initial scientific studies regarding the persistence of the
brucellosis-causing bacteria in the environment.

Federal Land and Easement Acquisitions Sought to Provide Critical Habitat for
Many Species, But Bison Access to These Lands Remains Limited

The lands and conservation easement acquired by the federal government
through the RTR land conservation project sought to provide critical
habitat for a variety of wildlife species including bighorn sheep,
antelope, elk, mule deer, bison, grizzly bear, and Yellowstone cutthroat
trout; however, the value of this acquisition for the Yellowstone bison
herd is minimal because bison access to these lands remains limited. The
Forest Service viewed the land conservation project as a logical extension
of past wildlife habitat acquisitions in the northern Yellowstone region.
While the Forest Service recognized bison as one of the migrating species
that might use the habitat and noted that these acquisitions could improve
the flexibility of future bison management, the project was not
principally directed at addressing bison management issues.

Through the RTR land conservation project, the federal government acquired
from the Church a total of 5,263 acres of land and a 1,508-acre
conservation easement using $13 million in Land and Water Conservation
Fund appropriations.3 As funding became available and as detailed
agreements could be reached with the Church, the following two phases were
completed. In Phase I, the Forest Service used $6.5 million of its fiscal
year 1999 Land and Water Conservation Fund appropriation to purchase
Church-owned lands totaling 3,107 acres in June and December 1998 and
February 1999. Of these lands, 2,316 acres were RTR lands, 640 acres were
lands that provided strategic public access to other Gallatin National
Forest lands, and 151 acres were an in-holding in the Absaroka Beartooth
Wilderness area.

3The Forest Service and the Church chose not to complete the land-for-land
exchanges proposed in the conservation project.

In Phase II, BLM provided $6.3 million of its fiscal year 1998 Land and
Water Conservation Fund appropriations for the purchase of an additional
2,156 acres of RTR lands and a 1,508-acre conservation easement on the
Devil's Slide area of the RTR property in August 1999. In a December 1998
letter to the Secretary of the Interior from the Chairs and Ranking
Minority Members of the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations,
certain conditions were placed on the use of these funds. The letter
stated that "the funds for phase two should only be allocated by the
agencies when the records of decision for the `Environmental Impact
Statement for the Interagency Bison Management Plan for the State of
Montana and Yellowstone National Park' are signed and implemented." The
letter also stated that the Forest Service and Interior were to continue
to consult with and gain the written approval of the governor of Montana
regarding the terms of the conservation easement. Under the easement,
numerous development activities, including the construction of commercial
facilities and road, are prohibited. However, the Church specifically
retained the right to graze domestic cattle in accordance with a grazing
management plan that was to be reviewed and approved by the Church and the
Forest Service. The Church's grazing management plan was completed in
December 2002, and the Forest Service determined in February 2003 that it
was consistent with the terms of the conservation easement. The Church
currently grazes cattle throughout the year on portions of its remaining
6,000 acres; however, as stipulated in the conservation easement and
incorporated in the grazing management plan, no livestock can use any of
the 1,508 acres covered by the easement between October 15 and June 1 of
each calendar year, the time of year that bison would typically be
migrating through the area.

While purchased for wildlife habitat, geothermal resources, and
recreational access purposes, the federally acquired lands and
conservation easement have been of limited benefit to the Yellowstone
bison. As previously noted, under the IBMP, until cattle no longer graze
on private RTR lands north of the park and west of the Yellowstone River,
no bison are allowed to migrate onto these private lands and the partner
agencies are responsible for assuring that the bison remain within the
park boundary.

Mr. Chairman, this concludes my prepared statement. Because we are in the
very early stages of our work, we have no conclusions to offer at this
time regarding these bison management issues. We will continue our review
and plan to issue a report near the end of this year. I would be pleased
to answer any questions that you or other Members of the Subcommittee may
have at this time.

GAO Contacts and Staff Acknowledgments

For further information on this testimony, please contact me at (202)
512-3841 or [email protected] . Contact points for our Offices of
Congressional Relations and Public Affairs may be found on the last page
of this statement. David P. Bixler, Assistant Director; Sandra Kerr; Diane
Lund; and Jamie Meuwissen made key contributions to this statement.

Related GAO Products

WidfeManagement: Negotaons on a LongTerm Plan or Managing Yellowstone Bson
Still Ongoing. [13]GAO/RCED-00-7 . Washington, D.C.: November 1999.

WidfeManagement: Issues Concernng the Management of Bson and Elk Herds n
Yeowstone Natonal Park. [14]GAO/T-RCED-97-200 . Washington, D.C.: July
1997.

WidfeManagement: Many Issues Unresolved in Yelowsone Bison-Cate
Brucellosis Conflict. [15]GAO/RCED-93-2 . Washington, D.C.: October 1992.

(360813)

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Highlights of [23]GAO-07-638T , a testimony before the Subcommittee on
National Parks, Forests and Public Lands, Committee on Natural Resources,
U.S. House of Representatives

March 20, 2007

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK

Preliminary Observations on the Implementation of the Interagency Bison
Management Plan

In an effort to address these concerns, five federal and Montana state
agencies agreed to an Interagency Bison Management Plan (IBMP) in December
2000 that includes three main steps to "maintain a wild, free-ranging
population of bison and address the risk of brucellosis transmission to
protect the economic interest and viability of the livestock industry in
Montana."

This testimony discusses GAO's preliminary observations on the progress
that has been made in implementing the IBMP and the extent to which bison
have access to lands and an easement acquired for $13 million in federal
funds. It is based on GAO's visit to the greater Yellowstone area,
interviews with federal and state officials and other interested
stakeholders, and review of related documents.

More than 6 years after approving the IBMP, the five federal and state
partnering agencies--the federal Department of the Interior's National
Park Service and Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health
Inspection Service and Forest Service, and the state of Montana's
Departments of Livestock and of Fish, Wildlife and Parks--remain in step
one of the three-step plan primarily because cattle continue to graze on
certain private lands. A key condition for the partner agencies to
progress further under the plan requires that cattle no longer graze in
the winter on certain private lands north of Yellowstone National Park and
west of the Yellowstone River to minimize the risk of brucellosis
transmission from bison to cattle; the agencies anticipated meeting this
condition by the winter of 2002/2003. Until this condition is met, bison
will not be allowed to roam beyond the park's northern border in this
area. While a prior attempt to acquire grazing rights on these private
lands was unsuccessful, Montana's Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks
is currently negotiating with the private land owner to acquire grazing
rights on these lands.

Yellowstone bison have limited access to the lands and conservation
easement that federal agencies acquired north of the park. In 1998 and
1999, as part of a larger conservation effort to provide habitat for a
variety of wildlife species, protect geothermal resources, and improve
recreational access, federal agencies spent nearly $13 million to acquire
5,263 acres and a conservation easement on 1,508 acres of private lands
north of the park's border--lands towards which bison frequently attempt
to migrate in the winter. The conservation easement prohibits development,
such as the construction of commercial facilities and roads, on the
private land; cattle grazing rights were retained by the land owner. The
Yellowstone bison`s access to these lands will remain limited until cattle
no longer graze on the easement and certain other private lands in the
area.

Bison in Yellowstone National Park

References

Visible links
13. file:///home/webmaster/infomgt/d07638t.htm#http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO/RCED-00-7
14. file:///home/webmaster/infomgt/d07638t.htm#http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO/T-RCED-97-200
15. file:///home/webmaster/infomgt/d07638t.htm#http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO/RCED-93-2
23. file:///home/webmaster/infomgt/d07638t.htm#http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-07-638T
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