Beyond boundaries: Learning from bison management in Greater Yellowstone (Wyoming, Montana, Idaho)

Bison stir controversy by doing what made them a legend in American folk songs: roaming. Migrations over Park boundaries make for complicated decision-making. When bison enter state, federal, or private land surrounding the Park they wander unwittingly into overlapping jurisdictions of the U.S. Forest Service, state livestock departments, and state wildlife and game agencies. The presence of the disease brucellosis in bison also leave them subject to the scrutiny of the U.S. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), which has worked decades to eradicate brucellosis from U.S. cattle herds.; Flaws in current policy result largely from fragmented structures of governance; conflicting values and myths; and the failure of scientific management to resolve problems that are fundamentally social and political. The numerous agencies involved operate with conflicting goals, laws, jurisdictions, and expectations: some follow mandates to protect livestock, others to protect wildlife. Conflicts over these mandates have led to at least twelve lawsuits between 1985 and 1998 over policies affecting bison management or brucellosis. Decisions also increasingly involve officials removed from the scene of action. Such fragmentation in decision making can exclude those directly affected by decisions from working with agency officials and other participants. Fragmentation also complicates the task of managing resources in the common interest.; The outcome of bison management may tell us as much about the social and political reality of Western politics, Park management, and the ability of current structures of governance to meet the common interest as it does about bison, brucellosis, or cattle. The dissertation describes the history of the conflict, discusses openly the political nature of the decision-making process in bison management and assesses the process using common interest as a criteria for effectiveness. Common interest processes and decisions should be inclusive in their participation, should meet the valid expectations of participants, and should remain adaptable to achieve goals in a changing context when put to a practical test. The dissertation concludes with recommendations for improvements in the decision-making process.