The plan to send 14 bison to Guernsey State Park was denied by the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Department earlier this week, leaving the Wyoming State Parks department to figure out the next step in its bison conservation plans.

Wyoming State Parks Administrator Domenic Bravo said the plan for the bison repopulation was denied after his team had not finished an environmental assessment for the move. The environmental assessment was required for the transfer of the bison to take place, and the lack of an environmental assessment at Guernsey delayed the transfer of bison to Ted Turner’s Montana ranch. Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks announced Tuesday Turner would receive 88 bison from the Yellowstone quarantine – the 14 animals that would have been given to Guernsey were included in that number.

Bravo said while the denial for the bison was a blow to his efforts to bring them to the park, he is still working on completing an environmental assessment for the move and is looking at future proposals that could allow bison to be moved into Guernsey. He noted a second round of bison could be potentially available from the Yellowstone quarantine next fall.

“I still think it’s a good idea, and I think the public will be happier if we can look into some of the things they suggested,” Bravo said.

The proposed move drew the ire of many local ranchers who expressed concerns over the threat of the cattle disease brucellosis and project funding. Many ranchers suggested at a January meeting in Guernsey the animals could be moved to one of the state parks already containing bison. Bravo said this was a possibility his department was considering, however he added his team had evaluated Guernsey State Park and found it to be an ideal place for a bison herd.

“Some of the folks at the meeting had good ideas about how we could populate bison in parks where we already have them, so we have some things we are looking at,” he said.

Based on range assessments, Bravo said the 1,200 acres arranged for the bison at Guernsey would be sufficient to feed the herd with no supplemental feeding.

Wyoming State Representative Matt Teeters was one of the ranchers who spoke out against the plan to move the bison to Guernsey. Teeters, a member of the Agriculture, State and Public Lands and Water Resources Committee, said funding for the project was a major concern.

“I think it’s a good decision. It makes a lot more sense to try to move those buffalo to one of those other state parks where they already have buffalo, that was my opinion,” he said. “They just didn’t have their ducks in order, they didn’t have the funding for it figured out. I’m glad to hear they are going to think this over.”

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