Bison management operations begin at Yellowstone

MAMMOTH HOT SPRINGS, Wyo. (KIFI/KIDK)-Bison management plan operations began at the Stephens Creek administrative area in Yellowstone National Park Sunday.

When bison begin to migrate from the interior of the park into the Gardiner, Montana basin, the park institutes capture and shipping operations to avoid impact with domestic livestock. The activity usually continues through late March.

In December, federal, state, and tribal groups agreed on an operations plan, which recommends removing somewhere between 600 to 900 animals from the park's estimated population of 4,900.

That population will be reduced in one of three ways. Those include public and tribal hunting outside the park, capturing bison near the boundary, then transporting them to Native American tribes or a quarantine program that results in brucellosis-free bison being moved to tribal lands.

The Stephens Creek area includes park corrals, equipment storage, a native plant nursery, and bison capture and quarantine facilities.