Park Prepares Stephens Creek Facility To Accept Bison
YELLOWSTONE - Yellowstone National Park is preparing the Interagency bison capture facility at Stephens Creek to temporarily hold bison the Montana Department of Livestock plans to capture outside the park's western boundary on Friday.
8 June 2007
2 minute read
A mixed group of approximately 50 bison have left the Cougar Meadows area and crossed the Yellowstone National Park boundary into the West Yellowstone area.
The National Park Service will accept bison at the facility near Gardiner, where they will be held, fed, and watered for a short period and then released into the northern section of park.
The transport and release strategy resulted from discussions late last week between Yellowstone National Park and the Montana Governor's Office. It is designed to address the unique circumstance of bison outside the park this late in the season. This adaptive management strategy will be used only this year.
The area around the Stephens Creek facility will be closed to the public when accepting, holding, and releasing bison for safety reasons. A map and information on the closure will be available for public review during normal business hours at the Chief Ranger's Office and the Albright Visitor Center in Mammoth Hot Springs.
The Stephens Creek facility is operated under the Interagency Bison Management Plan (IBMP). The IBMP is a cooperative plan designed to conserve a viable, wild bison population while protecting Montana's brucellosis-free status.
The five cooperating agencies operating under the IBMP are the National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, the Montana Department of Livestock, and the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks.
This is the seventh year the IBMP has been used to guide brucellosis risk management actions.
TheCattleSite News Desk
