President Donald Trump’s administration is planning to axe protections for one of the most iconic symbols of the West: the American Bison.
Bison were once slaughtered to near extinction in the 19th century as part of a campaign of genocide against tribal groups that relied on the wild herds for their way of life. And now, under Trump, the very agency that helped their populations recover is turning on them.
According to Mother Jones, “Acceding to anti-bison grumbling from cattle ranchers and Republican politicians in Montana, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum in January proposed canceling leases for buffalo grazing on federal land managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The BLM is part of the Department of the Interior, which, for more than a century, has celebrated its role in heading off the extinction of buffalo, which were killed by the tens of millions during white settlement in the West. The Interior Department still sports a buffalo on its official seal.”
“Now, in the MAGA era, with Interior reversing the Biden administration’s determination that conservation is a use of BLMland on par with grazing and resource extraction, Burgum has ruled that since bison here in north-central Montana are not being raised for ‘production-oriented purposes,’ they have no legal right to roam, wallow, or munch grass on land leased from the bureau,” said the report. The ruling, if enacted, would force around 950 bison off the pastures they are currently allowed to graze.
Ranchers are celebrating this decision, along with Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte, who pushed hard for it — but other experts are warning this could spell disaster.
“Interior’s proposed ruling would put a chokehold on us being able to increase our buffalo herds,” OJ Semans Sr. of the South Dakota Rosebud Sioux told Mother Jones. “We should not have the federal government saying only cattle get affordable BLM leases. It is just so stupid the way they are doing this. It is DEI for cows.”
This comes as the Interior Department under Trump has pushed a number of other anti-environmental policies, including burdensome new restrictions on wind and solar power on public lands and offshore, which even some in Trump’s inner circle are starting to fear will kneecap Trump’s energy dominance promises.
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