With news that wildlife officials will likely make changes in the way Yellowstone National Park's bison herds are managed, there has been an interesting shift to the tone of the debate recently.

Sure, it is still chock-full of emotional bombast coming from both sides...

But an excellent discussion of the best available science related to the buffalo-cattle conflict in today's Bozeman Daily Chronicle illustrates the more thoughtful tenor things have shifted to of late...

What? Science?

Yup. The paper does not publish opinion pieces online, so I have pasted it below:

Brucella Persistence in Bison Habitat - Bison Range Safe for Cattle June 15

The most likely possibility of transmitting brucellosis from bison to cattle would occur if a cow contacts an aborted bison fetus or afterbirth.  Recent claims by cattlemen that Brucella bacter ia survive 2-3 months on the ground exaggerate the risk of Brucella transmission to livestock.

Laboratory studies indicate that Brucella survives best in cold, moist environments without sunlight, perhaps 2-3 months under ideal conditions.  However, with warmth, aridity or sunlight, the bacteria will survive only hours to a few days.

More importantly, studies conducted in Montana and Wyoming, within the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, show that most aborted fetuses and afterbirths disappear within a few days to a week due to scavenging animals, mostly coyotes.

Considering unscavenged materials, fetuses protected from scavengers, and the soil where scavenged carcasses had been, Brucella survived 2 months for fetuses set out during February - April, but only 25 days for those set out during May.  (Most bison are born before mid-May.)  In no case, did Brucella survive on the ground beyond June 15.

The best available science indicates that cattle may be safely brought onto range used by bison for wintering or even for calving, if the cattle are held back until June 15.

Jim Bailey

Belgrade

The author is a retired biologist and college professor well-known in the state. He points to some pretty simple fixes to the ongoing fights over how our public lands can and should be used in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.

It is the sort of argument that might help us all get past the hard feelings and rising tempers to help get to a mutually acceptable solution that will take the needs of all parties involved into account...

Photo by by ailatan via Flickr