TOM MANGELSEN TOM AMERICAN BISON A SPECIES OF CONSERVATION CONCERN JULIA DAVIS JULIA CONTENTS SIGNATORY LETTER BUFFALO FIELD Ken Cole, executive director CAMPAIGN REPORT Buffalo Field Campaign DESIGNER Steven King EXECUTIVE SUMMARY creative direction + designer Executive summary supporting an evaluation www.krop.com/steven-king/ and listing of American Bison as a species of email: [email protected] conservation concern in Region 1. REPORT AND RATIONALE Chapter 1 1-6 Chapter 7 16-17 Chapter 2 7-8 Chapter 8 18-19 Chapter 3 9-10 Chapter 9 20-21 Chapter 4 11-12 Chapter 10 22-24 Chapter 5 13 Chapter 11 25-27 Chapter 6 14-15 Chapter 12 28-29 SOURCES Detailed source pages 30-38 Leanne M. Marten, Regional Forester Mary C. Erickson, Forest Supervisor Region 1, U.S. Forest Service Custer Gallatin National Forest 26 Fort Missoula Road., Missoula, MT 59804 10 E. Babcock Avenue, Bozeman, MT 59771 (406) 329-3315 phone - (406) 329-3411 fax (406) 587-6949 phone - (406) 587-6758 fax [email protected] [email protected] Re: Comment draft plan - CGNF We are asking the Regional Forester and the Custer Gallatin National Forest to continue evaluating and Dear Regional Forester Leanne M. Marten and list wild bison as a species of conservation concern Forest Supervisor Mary C. Erickson, in Region 1. We, the undersigned, are writing you to present our In evaluating whether bison meet the criteria of a case that American bison meet the National Forest species of conservation concern, the National Forest planning rule criteria of and should be listed as a planning rule requires the Custer Gallatin to rely species of conservation concern in Region 1. upon the most accurate, reliable, and relevant information, and make your decision based on the There is broad tribal, public, and local support for best available science that is transparent to the the Custer Gallatin to use your National Forest public. The Custer Gallatin has not done so. planning rule to benefit wild bison, and provide habitat to meet the long-term viability concerns the The presumptive decision already made rests on an public has raised for this iconic keystone species. uninformed assessment and falls short of National The Custer Gallatin must also heed the U.S. Con- Forest planning rule requirements for landscape gress’s mandate to provide native bison diversity in linkages, habitat connectivity, wild bison diversity the new forest plan. and persistence. If adaptive management is guiding forest planning, then a new decision can and should The Custer Gallatin’s proposed action for bison is be made based on substantial information that the unreasonable and unacceptable. Human threats action is warranted. and stressors continue to jeopardize the viability of America’s only intact population of wild The Custer Gallatin has acknowledged receiving American bison to continuously inhabit their hundreds of letters in support of evaluating and original range in the lower 48 states. We call upon listing migratory bison as a species of conservation the Custer Gallatin to uphold your trust obligation concern. More than twelve hundred people to American Indian Nations and the American submitted their support online. Based on what people, and use your legal authority to ensure the we heard during the Custer Gallatin’s planning future legacy of wild migratory bison persists within meetings, there is a broad section of people who the plan area. want to see wild bison persist as a viable native species within the plan area. The best available scientific information does not support the conclusions made in the Custer Please consider the best available scientific information Gallatin’s final draft assessment, and Supervisor presented in our report and rationale in support Mary Erickson’s decision, to stop evaluating of continuing the public process for evaluating wild bison as a potential species of conservation and listing wild bison as a species of conservation concern and remove the native species from concern in Region 1. further consideration. Sincerely, Managing for the removal of wild bison genetic diversity is codified in Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho law, and there is no regulatory mechanism in place to ensure wild bison persist within the Ken Cole, executive director plan area in Region 1 or on National Forests in Buffalo Field Campaign Region 2 and Region 4. PO Box 957 West Yellowstone, MT 59758 ORGANIZATION SIGNATURES INDIVIDUAL SIGNATURES STEPHANY SEAY STEPHANY EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Executive summary supporting an evaluation and listing of American Bison as a species of conservation concern in Region 1. 1. Wild bison meet the National Forest planning rule 8. The Custer Gallatin has erected or permitted barriers to criteria for a species of conservation concern. impede wild bison’s natural migrations within the plan area. These barriers disrupt habitat connectivity the 2. The best available scientific information indicates National Forest planning rule requires be maintained substantial concern about wild bison’s capability to or restored. persist over the long term in the plan area. 9. Human development is accelerating and threatens natural 3. Wild bison are extinct or extirpated in four out of habitats and wildlife corridors for migratory species five landscapes in the Custer Gallatin plan area. including wild bison within the plan area. The loss of Bison viability and diversity is being depleted in corridors and connectivity to habitat decreases viability the remaining landscape. and increases the risk of extinction for wild bison. 4. Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks and the Montana 10. The U.S. Forest Service’s livestock grazing program is a Natural Heritage Program list wild bison as a species leading source of conflicts with grizzly bears resulting in of concern in Montana. dead bears, and displaces wild bison, a native species and key grizzly bear food source including within the plan area. 5. Wild bison are a critically imperiled species in the state of Idaho. Under Idaho law, wild bison are 11. The National Forest planning rule supports listing wild eradicated. bison as a species of conservation concern because the migratory species provides for diversity of plant and 6. The state of Wyoming manages for the removal of animal communities the National Forest Management Act low numbers of bison in restricted areas. Wyoming requires be protected. These key characteristics make law effectively reduces wild bison genetic diversity bison an ideal focal species to monitor ecosystem to virtually zero. integrity. 7. The condition and status of wild bison now 12. The Custer Gallatin’s proposed action for bison is and for the foreseeable future is not secure unreasonable and unacceptable. An alternative is offered within the plan area in Region 1 or on any other in counterbalance to the regulatory threats and stressors National Forest in Region 2 and Region 4. American bison are confronted with in the plan area and beyond. CHAPTER [ 1 ] Report and rationale supporting an evaluation and listing of American Bison as a species of conservation concern in Region 1. 1. Wild bison meet the National Forest planning rule criteria for a species of conservation concern. We begin our analysis by recognizing that federal land agencies have an obligation, and not just the discretion, to manage and conserve fish and wildlife on federal lands. Before explaining, it is important to first dispel the common myth that “the states manage wildlife, federal land agencies only manage wild life habitat.” We found this mantra repeated throughout our study and it was commonly invoked by state and federal agencies in multiple cases and contexts. Just because the federal government has traditionally deferred to the states in establishing regulations pertaining to hunting, fishing and trapping does not mean “the states manage wildlife and federal land agencies manage wildlife habitat.” We suspect that this non sequitur explains why the mantra has been so rarely questioned in the past. The mantra is wrong from a legal standpoint, limited from a biological one, and problematically simplifies the complexity of wildlife-habitat relationships. Nie et al. 2017 at 95 (emphasis in the original). Species of conservation concern are those plant and animal species whose long-term persistence within the plan area is of known conservation concern. The rule requires that species of conservation concern must be ‘‘known to occur in the plan area’’ and that the regional forester identify the species of conservation concern for which ‘‘the best available scientific information indicates substantial concern about the species’ capability to persist over the long term in the plan area.’’ National Forest System Land Management Planning, Final Rule and Record of Decision, 77 Fed. Reg. 21162, 21175 (Apr. 9, 2012) (hereinafter, National Forest planning rule). Habitat on the Custer Gallatin is key to the survival of the only American bison population that still roams wild in their native range. Custer Gallatin Final Terrestrial Wildlife Report 2017 at 125, 138. The plan area is unique in having native wild bison that have continuously ranged the Yellowstone ecosystem since shortly after the re- cession of the last glaciers 10,000 to 12,000 years ago. Gates et al. 2005 at vi. It is vital to note the best available science uniquely identifies two genetically distinct subpopulations within the Yellowstone bison population. Halbert et al. 2012 at 9. Yellowstone National Park bison biologists dispute the finding as an artifact of human intervention, but offer no scientific data to refute observed population genetic subdivision. White & Wallen 2012 at 751-753; Halbert et al. 2012 at 754-755. In addition to Yellowstone bison’s genetically distinct subpopulation structure, scientists have also found oth- er distinctions including different tooth wear patterns (Christianson et al. 2005 at 674), parturition timing and synchrony (Gogan et al. 2005 at 1716), longitudinal differences in migration patterns (Halbert 2012 et al.