SEATTLE—Tribal bison were on an extraordinary roll before the second term of President Donald J. Trump.
Herds were expanding across Indian Country, as was Native consumption of bison meat, which is less fatty than beef. Science has confirmed that bison are better for prairie ecosystems than cattle. Most importantly to the tribes, public grazing land was opening up under an expansive federal Biden-era order to “restore wild and healthy populations of American bison.”
The 2023 order, by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the first Native American to hold the office, said federal agencies will “prioritize Tribally led opportunities to establish new, large herds” and “advance shared stewardship with Tribes on Federal land.”
That order, though, has become a dead letter. The Interior Department last month proposed new grazing rules that appear to deny tribal bison access to federal land in favor of “production-oriented livestock.” Since tribally managed bison are raised for many purposes, including land conservation, they don’t meet that commodity-producing requirement.
That language is “code for anything but indigenously managed bison,” according to the Coalition of Large Tribes (COLT), which represents more than 50 tribes managing 25,000 bison on land that accounts for about 95 percent of Indian Country. The coalition objects to the proposed rules, which it describes as “DEI for cows” and which were published without prior consultation with tribes.
