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GUEST COLUMN
In order to reach the result demanded by the Gianforte administration, the BLM acted without meaningful tribal consultation or public input
BY TYSON RUNNING WOLF & TOM FRANCE
February 19, 2026
One hundred and forty years ago, in 1886, the last wild buffalo on the Great Plains was shot in the rough breaks of central Montana – the final remnant of the tens of millions that once roamed across these vast prairies. The great slaughter of the buffalo and the near extinction of the species was not merely an ecological catastrophe; it was an almost unspeakable tragedy for the western Indian tribes, including every tribe in Montana. The cultural, spiritual, nutritional, and economic importance of buffalo to Native peoples cannot be overstated. Their destruction was inseparable from the federal campaign to subdue and dispossess tribal nations.
Before the gun smoke cleared, however, Native visionaries acted. A Salish man known as Attice trailed a few bison across the Continental Divide to the Flathead Valley, preserving a small herd that would become critical seed stock for rebuilding bison herds in both the United States and Canada. Conservation leaders such as Theodore Roosevelt later recognized the extermination of the buffalo as a national disgrace and helped launch the modern wildlife conservation movement in response.
Yet today, when only a few thousand truly wild, wide-ranging buffalo occupy a tiny fraction of their former range, their persecution continues.
Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte’s administration has been unwavering in its opposition to expanding wild bison in Montana and has relentlessly pressured the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) into reversing earlier, positive bison decisions. Under this pressure, the BLM has not only denied a request by American Prairie, a private conservation organization, to convert existing federal grazing permits from cattle to bison, it has also terminated other bison grazing permits the organization had lawfully held for years.
The Coalition of Large Tribes (COLT) – representing more than 50 tribal nations, including the Blackfeet Nation and the Fort Belknap Indian Community – has filed a formal protest of the BLM’s unprecedented and unlawful decision. In doing so, COLT builds upon decades of restoration work led by Montana’s tribes, where every reservation now sustains a buffalo herd. These efforts are not symbolic. They are foundational to cultural revitalization, food sovereignty, youth engagement, and ecological restoration.
As tribal restoration initiatives have advanced, tribes have benefited from partnerships with conservation organizations that share a vision of larger, healthier bison herds grazing across broader landscapes. Chief among these partners is American Prairie, which is working to restore a more intact grassland ecosystem on public and private lands adjacent to the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge. American Prairie has provided both bison and technical expertise to tribal nations rebuilding their herds, strengthening genetic diversity and intertribal cooperation.
The consequences of the BLM’s action are immediate and profound. Terminating these permits disrupts herd genetics, intertribal gifting traditions, treaty territories, and longstanding cooperative relationships. It also establishes a dangerous precedent for other federal agencies engaged in tribal co-stewardship and wildlife restoration. If conservation-managed bison can be categorically excluded from federal grazing eligibility, decades of collaborative progress are jeopardized.
Perhaps most alarming, this decision amounts to rulemaking by fiat. In order to reach the result demanded by the Gianforte administration, the BLM acted without meaningful tribal consultation or public input. Federal law is clear: statutes affecting tribes must be interpreted in their favor, and ambiguities resolved to protect tribal rights. Sidestepping consultation not only violates legal obligations; it erodes trust and undermines the federal government’s commitment to nation-to-nation relationships.
Montana and the federal government now face a defining choice. We can cling to outdated policies that ignore history, science, and treaty obligations – or we can honor tribal leadership, uphold the law, and restore a species that once defined this land.
The future of Montana’s prairies – and our integrity as governments – depends on that choice.
Representative Tyson Running Wolf, D-Browning, is a member of the Blackfeet Nation and chair of the Montana Native American Caucus in the state legislature. In addition to his legislative duties, Representative Tom France, D-Missoula, works with the Rocky Mountain Tribal Leaders Council on buffalo conservation issues.