Mixed feelings over restoring wild bison in Montana

Restoring bison to the Montana plains drew a diverse mix of 50 ranchers, conservation groups and tribal officials to a meeting in Great Falls on Wednesday. "Bison management is an experiment that could easily go as wrong as the wolves," said Steve Hedstrom, a Raynesford rancher who is chairman of the governor's Rangeland Resource Committee. But Ervin Carlson, a Blackfeet rancher who also runs the tribe's buffalo herd, countered that bison and cattle can coexist. "Buffalo are wildlife and they should be managed on a same level as other wildlife," Carlson said. In 2010, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks began evaluating establishing a wild plains bison population in the state and the meeting in Great Falls was the seventh of eight to gather comments...more