The environmentalists are promoting the Citizens' Alternative, a document that has the support of environmentalists, ranchers, tribal leaders and others. The environmentalists say that their alternative manages bison as wild animals, minimizes human intervention, accommodates bison that leave the park in winter and makes reasonable efforts to protect private property and livestock. The Citizens' Alternative is rooted in trying to prevent as much killing of bison as possible. One way that can be done is to transport bison that have strayed from the park to Native American tribes who are willing to accept them. From a tribal standpoint, both buffalo and tribes are at a critical point.
Buffalo have to be there for our culture to exist.
The preferred alternative of the National Park Service's plan does not facilitate such measures. The reason given to the National Wildlife Federation was that the winter roads in Montana near Yellowstone are too dangerous. The environmentalists are also concerned that the preferred alternative bodes ill for the future of wildlife management in the United States. As it stands today, the only known case of a bison transmitting brucellosis to cattle was when a cow was injected with fluids from an infected bison. There are no other scientifically documented cases, said DuBray.