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Posted: 9:43 AM- BOZEMAN, Mont. - An effort to force hundreds of bison back into Yellowstone National Park, from land around the park's western edge, has prompted intense opposition from half a dozen environmental groups.
State and federal officials on Wednesday began hazing 370 bison grazing on and around Horse Butte, an isolated peninsula on Hebgen Lake. The hazing is part of an Interagency Bison Management plan, adopted in 2000, designed to protect cattle from the potential spread of the bacterial disease brucellosis.
Six environmental groups sent a joint letter to Gov. Brian Schweitzer on Wednesday, demanding the hazing cease immediately. They said the plan should be amended to allow the animals to range on lands outside the park that are not used for cattle grazing.
