The vernal equinox is behind us, and spring has arrived in Montana.  Not literally, of course (a blizzard passed through here two days ago), but regarding bison, last week provided some positive change for the first time in a while.

Montana Senate Bill 337, the myopic bison quarantine bill, died a much-hoped-for death on Tuesday in the House Fish, Wildlife and Parks Committee.  Then on Thursday, the Department of Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) announced it had approved the translocation of 41 quarantined bison to the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming, and it published its Final Environmental Assessment and Decision Notice on the translocation.  Finally, approximately 50 bison, following a wild, native instinct honed over thousands of years, recently migrated outside the western border of Yellowstone National Park to Horse Butte in Montana. 

Is that a bluebird on my windowsill?  No, it's an ornithologically shaped melting snowball with a blue hue.  Well, actually, no, it's just my subconscious yearning for spring, but you get the idea.  Spring, the season of life, is here in some form.

Senate Bill 337 would have prevented the transfer of quarantined, disease-free Yellowstone buffalo - currently in pens near Gardiner, Montana - to any place in Montana other than the tiny National Bison Range.  At its core, SB 337 was about interference and obstruction.  It would have interfered with a program coordinated and supported by multiple federal and state agencies that has been at work for four years.  It would have obstructed the opportunity for Native American Tribes to restore wild bison herds from the invaluable, genetically pure Yellowstone bison herd.  Senate Bill 337 would have thwarted science and taken a blowtorch to all the taxpayer money that has gone into the quarantine program.   

The House committee hearing on SB 337, at which I testified for NRDC, was dominated by opponents of the bill.  Notwithstanding the overwhelming opposition, however, I was concerned it might pass; this was the same committee that voted down House Bill 253, which would have transferred bison management from the Department of Livestock to FWP - a no-brainer from every angle - in January.  As such, I was greatly relieved when I learned SB 337 died.  

(For more on SB 337, see this op-ed I wrote.  And let me extend a huge thank you to the dozens of NRDC members and online activists that responded to our member alert, called Helena, voiced their opposition, and helped defeat SB 337.  Thank you!)

According to FWP, which also opposed SB 337, some or all of the quarantined bison would "likely be slaughtered" if they are not relocated.  As such, more good news arrived last week when FWP announced that 41 quarantined bison would be translocated to the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming in early April.  This decision spares these bison from slaughter, and it allows the Northern Arapaho Tribe of Wyoming to reestablish a wild bison herd with animals from the genetically pure Yellowstone herd. 

Are those tulips I see poking through the snow?  Or are those brightly colored children's toys?  Oh, it looks like the latter, but surely some transition is underway.

And at the end of last week, the first report of bison migrating out of Yellowstone in search of spring forage surfaced.  Last spring, more than 1600 bison were slaughtered in Montana for leaving the Park, converting the season of birth, renewal, and life into a season of death.  With the adaptive management changes enacted in December 2008, there is reason to be hopeful.  But what happens this spring remains to be seen. 

And as for my imaginary visions of spring, I am happy to report that I saw two sandhill cranes in flight - no mistaken identity whatsoever - on my way home from the office last evening.  Spring is certainly around the corner in Montana; I hope it's a good one for bison.