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Trump Administration Rescinds Biden-Era Bison Grazing Leases on Montana Federal Land
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum revoked seven leases on 63,000 acres of federal land awarded to the conservation group in 2022. The decision targets American Prairie's 950 bison while assuring more than 50 Native American tribes that their herds will not necessarily face similar restrictions. Tribes offered mixed reactions to the move, which coincided with repeal of the Public Lands Rule.
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The Trump administration released its final decision banning bison grazing on public land earlier this month. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum issued the order rescinding seven grazing leases on 63,000 acres of federal land in northeastern Montana that the Biden administration had awarded to American Prairie in 2022.
American Prairie grazes about 950 bison on federal land in Phillips County, Montana.
The nonprofit has acquired about 600,000 acres in northeast Montana, purchasing private farms and ranches while leasing adjacent federal parcels where its bison are separated by strong fences from thousands of cattle. The Interior Department described its ban as responsible stewardship.
Burgum's decision argues that American Prairie’s bison are not legally eligible for Bureau of Land Management grazing because they are intended for conservation rather than primarily for meat, milk or other animal products.
"It is a textbook example of the government moving the goalposts and changing the rules in the middle of the game to reach a predetermined outcome," Mary Cochenour, a lawyer for American Prairie, said in a statement. American Prairie threatened legal action and described the decision as a politically motivated reversal that threatens decades of established public land management.
The decision was released a few days before Interior repealed the Public Lands Rule.
That rule had put conservation of federal land on an equal footing with mining, oil drilling and logging. While ordering American Prairie to remove its bison from BLM land, the decision assures more than 50 Native American tribes that the Trump administration is not necessarily looking to restrict their herds from federal land.
