Billings Bison Talk Next Week

Heads will be turning towards Billings on July 14-15 as discussion on a bison conservation and management plan for Montana take place.

A public meeting was cancelled a few months ago in Lewistown, not long after ranchers pledged to turn out to the meeting in large numbers in opposition. This would be the second meeting where Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) will be gathering community leaders and groups of interest to discus the issue.

The meeting is open to the public and will be at the Big Horn Resort starting at 10 a.m. and ending at 4 p.m. each day. The previous meeting that did take place in September 2013 will be reviewed. Transportation from Malta will be available. For details, call 654-2543 during the daytime.

This comes only a few weeks after wildlife officials released a list of five entities that are in the running to receive bison from Yellowstone National Park for an experimental program to establish the new herds of animals. Currently on the list is the Fort Peck Indian Reservation Assiniboine and Sioux tribes, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, the Wildlife Conservation Society, the Cherokee Nation and the American Prairie Reservation.