I
104TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 2136
To provide for the management, containment, and elimination of brucellosis
from the Yellowstone area, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JULY 27, 1995
Mr. WILLIAMS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Agriculture,
for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case
for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the
committee concerned
A BILL
To provide for the management, containment, and elimi-
nation of brucellosis from the Yellowstone area, and for
other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Bison Management
Improvement Act of 1995’’.
SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS.
The Congress finds that:
(1) The natural resources of Yellowstone Na-
tional Park are unique to the world, and the free-
ranging wildlife found within and adjacent to the
park, including bison and elk, are of significant eco-
nomic, recreational, and esthetic value to the Amer-
ican people.
(2) The livestock industry is vital to the econ-
omy, culture, and lifestyle of the Yellowstone area.
(3) The ability of livestock producers in Mon-
tana, Wyoming, and Idaho to freely market cattle is
jeopardized by uncertainty concerning the applica-
tion of the Uniform Methods and Rules of the Na-
tional Brucellosis Eradication Program and by ac-
tions of other States.
(4) The containment and eventual elimination
of the disease brucellosis in the Yellowstone area is
important to the maintenance of State livestock-de-
pendent economies.
(5) Better scientific information is needed re-
garding the etiology of Brucella abortus in wildlife,
the potential for containment and eventual elimi-
nation of the disease, and the potential for trans-
mission between wildlife and domestic livestock.
(6) Bison are of significant cultural and spir-
itual value to Native Americans, and preservation
and restoration of buffalo to tribal lands is impor-
tant.
SEC. 3. PURPOSES.
The purposes of this Act are to—
(1) provide a comprehensive framework to ad-
dress plans for the containment and eventual elimi-
nation of brucellosis from the Yellowstone area by
the year 2010;
(2) recognize the cultural, spiritual, and eco-
nomic value of bison to Native Americans and to
promote the restoration of these animals to tribal
lands;
(3) to support, promote, and coordinate sci-
entific research related to the management necessary
to achieve containment and eventual elimination of
brucellosis from the Yellowstone area;
(4) to provide economic stability to the livestock
producers in Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming by es-
tablishing criteria and regulatory guidelines for such
management;
(5) assure that brucellosis related management
recommendations and decisions are based on defen-
sible and factual scientific information; and
(6) to ensure that Yellowstone wildlife are man-
aged in a manner that allows bison and other
ungulates to range across jurisdictional boundaries
on public lands in the Yellowstone area.
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.
As used in this Act:
(1) The term ‘‘Yellowstone area’’ means the
area consisting of the lands, water, and interests
therein within the area generally depicted on the
map 
entitled 
‘‘Boundary 
Map’’, 
numbered
, and dated 
. The map
shall be on file and available for public inspection in
the offices of the Animal Plant Health Inspection
Service, United States Department of Agriculture
and the National Park Service, Department of the
Interior. The Secretaries may from time to time
make minor revisions in the boundary of the natural
area to promote management effectiveness and effi-
ciency in the furtherance of this Act.
(2) The term ‘‘brucellosis’’ means a disease
which causes abortion in cattle and some other
ungulates as a result of infection by Brucella abor-
tus.
(3) The term ‘‘Yellowstone Interagency Brucel-
losis Committee’’ means the committee established
by States of Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana, and the
United States Department of Agriculture and the
United States Department of the Interior, signato-
ries to a Memorandum of Understanding.
(4) The term ‘‘surplus bison’’ means popu-
lations, subpopulations, or individual bison that are
located on or may enter on to private property
against the wishes of the landowner, come into con-
tract with or intermingle with the lawfully present
livestock on public lands, or that have exceeded the
numbers allowed under planning documents for dis-
crete geographic areas.
(5) The term ‘‘Secretaries’’ means the Sec-
retary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the Inte-
rior.
SEC. 5. YELLOWSTONE BRUCELLOSIS FREE MANAGEMENT
AREA.
For the purposes of protecting exceptional wildlife
and agricultural values, providing for better management
of Yellowstone National Park bison herds, and providing
a comprehensive approach to the management, contain-
ment, and eventual elimination of brucellosis from the Yel-
lowstone area, there is hereby established the Yellowstone
Brucellosis Free Management Area. This area is defined
in section 4 as ‘‘Yellowstone area’’.
SEC. 6. POWERS AND DUTIES OF SECRETARIES.
(a) WITHIN YELLOWSTONE BRUCELLOSIS FREE
MANAGEMENT AREA.—Within the Yellowstone Brucellosis
Free Management Area, the Secretaries are authorized
and directed to develop joint bison and elk management
plans with the respective States of Montana, Wyoming,
and Idaho. Such plans shall provide for temporal and spa-
tial separation of bison from lawfully present cattle on
public lands unless the Secretary of Agriculture deter-
mines that currently available vaccination programs pro-
vide sufficient protection from Brucella abortus and that
cattle and bison can be present on the same lands concur-
rently. These plans shall allow for the seasonal migration
of elk and bison populations.
(b) TRANSPORT OF BISON TO TRIBAL LANDS.—The
Secretary of Agriculture shall develop plans and protocols
that will allow quarantine of surplus bison and following
quarantine transportation of such bison to tribal lands.
(c) WILDLIFE POPULATIONS.—The Secretary of Ag-
riculture shall develop and implement plans in cooperation
with the respective States for the elimination of Brucella
abortus from the wildlife populations of the Yellowstone
area. Such plans shall recognize the high public value as-
sociated with free-ranging ungulate herds.
(d) USE OF YELLOWSTONE INTERAGENCY BRUCEL-
LOSIS COMMITTEE.—Notwithstanding the Federal Advi-
sory Committee Act, the Secretaries may use the Yellow-
stone Interagency Brucellosis Committee, or any of its
subcommittees, to develop the plans and recommendations
necessary to achieve the purposes of this Act.
SEC. 7. ADMINISTRATION.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Based on the best scientific infor-
mation available, the Secretary of Agriculture is author-
ized, with the concurrence of the Secretary of the Interior,
to prescribe regulations necessary to carry out the pur-
poses and objectives of this Act.
(b) FACTORS.—In prescribing such regulations, the
Secretaries shall give full consideration to all factors which
affect the important ecological relationships of wildlife in
the Yellowstone area and the need to provide market sta-
bility for cattle producers, including but not limited to—
(1) providing reasonable and achievable trans-
portation protocols for the transportation, quar-
antine, and restoration of bison to Native American
lands;
(2) the need to provide the States of Montana,
Idaho, and Wyoming reasonable assurances regard-
ing their Class-Free Brucellosis Status and reduce
any unfair market barriers imposed by other States
as a result of free-ranging bison; and
(3) provide special rules under the National
Brucellosis Eradication Program that preserves the
Class-Free Brucellosis Status for Montana, Idaho,
and Wyoming outside of the Yellowstone area while
recognizing the special needs and considerations
within the Yellowstone Brucellosis Free Management
Area.
SEC. 8. RESEARCH AUTHORIZATION.
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Agriculture shall
undertake a program of research through the Agricultural
Research Service to understand the etiology of Brucella
abortus in wild ungulate populations, brucellosis trans-
mission from wild ungulates to domestic livestock, and to
develop safe, effective vaccines and delivery systems that
will prevent the transmission of the disease between
ungulate species and ultimately eliminate the organism
from the Yellowstone area.
(b) GRANTS AND FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE.—The Sec-
retary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the Interior are
authorized to make grants, or to provide financial assist-
ance in such other form as they deem appropriate, to any
Federal or State agency, public or private institution, or
other person for the purpose of assisting such agency, in-
stitution, or person to undertake research in subjects
which are relevant to the management and elimination of
the disease brucellosis from the Yellowstone area.
SEC. 9. DISPOSITION OF SURPLUS BISON.
(a) GENERAL
AUTHORIZATION.—The Secretaries
shall work with the States and Indian tribes in the man-
agement and disposition of bison determined by the Sec-
retary of the Interior to be surplus bison.
(b) FACILITIES.—The Secretaries are authorized to
construct temporary or permanent handling, capture,
quarantine, or testing facilities on or adjacent to Federal
lands. Such facilities shall be subject to full compliance
under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, the
Endangered Species Act of 1973, and applicable State
laws.
(c) DONATION, SALE, OR DISPOSAL OF BISON.—
(1)(A) The Secretary of the Interior is authorized in his
discretion under such conditions as he may prescribe to
give bison to Federal, State, county, and municipal au-
thorities for zoos, parks, or equivalent public purposes.
The Secretary may provide surplus bison to Native Amer-
ican tribes, tribal cooperatives, or other tribal organiza-
tions as he may prescribe.
(B) The transportation costs associated with receiv-
ing elk or bison under subparagraph (A) shall be recovered
from the benefiting organization.
(2) The Secretary may sell or otherwise dispose of
bison under such conditions as he may prescribe and all
monies received from the sale of any such surplus bison
shall be credited to the appropriation current at the time
to offset management costs.
SEC. 10. USE AND ACQUISITION OF LANDS.
Within the Yellowstone area, the Secretaries may ac-
quire lands or interest in lands for the purpose of carrying
out the provisions of this Act, including lands for han-
dling, capturing, testing, quarantining, or transporting.
Acquisition or use is authorized by lease, cooperative
agreement, donation, purchase with donated, or appro-
priated funds.
SEC. 11. LIMITATION ON FEDERAL ACTION.
The Secretary of Agriculture shall take no action to
downgrade the Class-Free Brucellosis Status of the states
of Montana, Wyoming, or Idaho under the rules of the
National Brucellosis Eradication Program as long as the
Interim Bison Management Plan currently in effect and
bison and elk management plans currently under develop-
ment continue to provide adequate temporary and spatial
separation between bison, elk, and livestock.
SEC. 12. LIMITATION ON STATE ACTION.
No State shall impose requirements on livestock origi-
nating from Montana, Wyoming, or Idaho, that it does