Crow Rancher Sues Feds Over Buffalo Herd

Bureau of Indian Affairs agents rounded up 175 bison belonging to a Crow rancher and impounded them until she paid more than $16,000 to get them back, the rancher claims in Federal Court. She says the government had awarded her tribal leases to another member of the tribe without telling her. Nelvette Siemion says she's owned and operated the White Buffalo Ranch with her husband, George Siemion, for more than 39 years. The Siemions say they leased more than 25 parcels of tribal land to raise American bison and other livestock. In mid-May 2008, the BIA allegedly notified ranchers that it planned to impound about 200 buffalo of "undetermined ownership/no brands" in the Fort Smith area...CourthouseNews