American Prairie, a billionaire-backed conservation group, has won federal approval for domesticated bison grazing on 63,500 acres of land in northern Montana.
The group has acquired roughly 453,188 acres of land in Montana over the last 20 years intending to assemble the largest complex of public and private lands devoted to wildlife in the continental U.S.
They plan to connect scattered federal land by buying former livestock grazing land from private owners. The acreage breakdown consists of 334,000 acres leased from the federal government and 118,000 acres outright purchased by the organization.
Many Montana residents are concerned by the land acquisition, which takes acreage out of agriculture. Bison and elk also carry diseases that can spread to cattle.
“It’s really concerning that we have such an amount of foreign money coming into [American Prairie] to buy up our ag land. For the future of food security of this country, we need to take a close look at that,” Chuck Denowh of the United Property Owners of Montana told Fox News.
In a public protest comment on the Bureau of Land Management’s decision to allow domesticated bison grazing on the 63,500 Phillips County, Montana, which borders Canada, some questioned giving public land to a private organization.
“The issue at hand is not about bison grazing permits; it’s about acceding millions of acres of public land for use by a private organization to fulfill its agenda for the region,” wrote members of the Missouri River Stewards.
Montana officials also expressed their concerns about American Prairie.
Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen said public input had been ignored, and that it wasn’t surprising that the Bureau of Land Management would “rubber-stamp this radical proposal that is another step toward displacing northeast Montana’s livestock industry and replacing it with a large outdoor zoo.”
American Prairie said in a statement that the decision will “will facilitate the sustainable growth of their private conservation herd of bison from approximately 800 animals to 1,000 animals by 2025. … The majority of American Prairie’s land base is leased out to local cattle ranchers and supports over 10,000 head of cattle,” according to the Billings Gazette.
American Prairie sees the maintenance of the ecosystem as equally productive as commercial livestock.
Pete Geddes, American Prairie’s vice president, told Fox News, “It’s absolutely true [that bison are] not a commercial livestock production, but they’re productive in the sense of what they do for that prairie ecosystem.”
• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.
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