Groups Lock Horns Over Bison Range

...Thousands of conservationists and others have written or called the Interior Department to protest negotiations to transfer management of the National Bison Range to a tribal government.

Geographically, the dispute centers on 18,000 acres at Moiese, Mont., home not only to hundreds of bison but also to elk, black bears, coyotes, ground squirrels and more than 200 species of birds. Politically, it focuses on the Bush administration's environmental record and the rights and independence of Native Americans. And that cross section of interests has created strange bedfellows...