After 100+ Years, Buffalo Will Roam Beyond Yellowstone NP In Gallatin National Forest

[hatrack]

(Reuters) - For the first time in more than a century, wild buffalo from the nation's last purebred herd will be permitted to roam free in Montana outside the bounds of Yellowstone National Park. Government scientists plan on Wednesday to drive 25 buffalo, or bison, through ranchlands north of the park and into the wide-open valleys of the Gallatin National Forest in south-central Montana.

The move marks a ceasefire in an age-old dispute among wildlife managers, livestock producers and conservation groups over the animal that symbolizes the wild American West.

Until now, any of the 3,900 buffalo fleeing the deep snows of Yellowstone for food in Montana's lowlands were chased back into the park, quarantined or killed to prevent them from infecting cattle with brucellosis, a disease that causes spontaneous abortions in cows.

The bison that will spend the winter months in the Gallatin Forest are free of the disease. They represent the beginning of what biologists hope will become a 100-strong herd allowed to migrate annually between the park and the national forest.

EDIT

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE70E29E20110116?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29

[gateley]

1. K&R Nature as it was meant to be. WE'RE the interlopers, let the buffalo roam! nt

[Richard D]

2. 100 doesn't sound like a very strong herd to me n/t