Wild Bison in Montana: “The people speak”

There are thousands of inspirational quotes and stories about one person making a difference in the world. One of my personal favorites – by anthropologist and naturalist Loren Eiseley – is about a wise man who encounters a younger man on the beach, throwing starfish into the ocean.

The wise man asks, “What are you doing?” The young man replies, “The tide is going out, all these starfish will be stranded and will likely die, so I am returning them to the sea.” The wise man responds, “But there are thousands and thousands of starfish and this beach goes on for miles and miles! What difference can you possibly make?” The young man stoops and picks up another starfish, and flings it into the sea. “It made a difference to that one.”

We live in a time of such political polarization that it sometimes seems that we are not just stranded by the tide, but swimming against it. The political discourse of the day seems manipulated by murky, powerful interests. Too often, our nation’s bedrock conservation laws like the Endangered Species Act, which we passed forty-one years ago because we as a nation believed we have a responsibility to the plants and animals with whom we share the planet, is no match for the deep pockets of special interests and corporate forces.

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One of the most recent examples of this unfortunate power play between special interests and the protection of our nation’s rich natural heritage occurred this year. Pro-development forces planned to launch an all-out attack in the Montana legislature against the efforts of groups such as Defenders of Wildlife and our tribal allies to restore one of our nation’s most iconic species, the American bison, as they have tried to do in previous legislative sessions. The bison’s portrait is found everywhere from university mascots to the seal of the Department of Interior. Native Americans built an entire economy and social structure around this majestic species. To others, however, the great bison eradication of the late 1800s was symbolic of industrial progress. In other words, free roaming and wild bison had to go in order to break the vast prairies into plots of manageable land suitable for farming and ranching. Efforts to bring bison back to even just a portion of their historic home are seen by a powerful minority as an utter rejection of this “progress.”

Unfortunately, this minority has strong ties to many of Montana’s elected officials. So, going into this legislative session, we knew that we faced some killer threats to future bison restoration. For example, surprisingly, it is within the legislature’s power to decide whether bison are considered “wildlife” or not….regardless of the fact that these native animals roamed Montana thousands of years before Montana was even an idea! The stroke of a pen could have meant that no state agency could work to reintroduce or manage bison in the state! This is just one example of the type of damaging bills we expected to be introduced during the 2015 legislative session.

This year, in an effort to make more people aware of the legislature’s repeated and aggressive attacks on bison, Defenders and our conservation and tribal partners tried something different. We put the question to the people of Montana, not politicians representing special interests. We conducted a statewide poll to understand Montanan’s views on bison and the results were astounding. Overwhelmingly, Montanans support bison restoration. Seventy-six percent support bringing wild bison back to Montana public lands. Seventy-two percent want wild bison to be managed like wildlife, not livestock. And, seventy four percent think decisions about wild bison should be made by biologists and wildlife officials rather than county politicians. Further, the poll found that Montana voters overwhelmingly rejected proposals to reclassify all wild bison as livestock.

The voices of individual Montanans had risen to a collective roar. We publicized the results of this poll just as Montana’s representatives were starting to sort through the myriad anti-bison bills…11 in all. We also brought the actual voices of Montanans to the public over the radio. The message that these anti-bison bills run contrary to where most Montanans stand on bison restoration had a clear impact in the state legislature. The 11 anti-bison bills that had been in the works either withered away or were never introduced for a vote. In the end, a single negative bill worked its way to Governor Steve Bullock’s desk. At that point, we picked up the momentum by calling on our Montana members and supporters to ask the Governor to veto that bill. And the Governor not only listened, but acted to support the will of the people of Montana by vetoing that bill.

The lesson of the bison victory in Montana is that individuals do make a difference. The polling gave voice to Montanans who might not have participated in the debate otherwise. We can’t always rely on statisticians to make our case. Decision makers need to hear actual voices of their constituents, and they need to be loud enough to drown out the din and clamor of the corporate media machine. It’s absolutely clear that if we, as individuals, don’t act, the juggernaut of the high-financed will roll on and over the animals and places we work so hard to protect. But as we found in Montana this year, anyone can make a difference. And as President John F. Kennedy once said, “everyone should try.”