BLM cancels bison grazing permits tied to Lewis and Clark County lands
BLM stripped American Prairie’s bison permits from seven Phillips County allotments, setting a Sept. 30 deadline and escalating the fight over Montana public land.
The Bureau of Land Management’s cancellation of American Prairie’s bison grazing permits forces a deadline on a long-running Montana land fight that has reached Helena, where state officials and Helena-based lawyers have spent years contesting how federal grazing law treats bison. The final decision, issued May 8, means the nonprofit must remove bison from seven Phillips County allotments on public land by Sept. 30, 2026.
BLM said the permits covered about 63,000 to 63,500 acres and were issued under a program that, by law, applies to production-oriented domestic livestock. The agency said American Prairie manages its herd as wildlife for conservation and ecological restoration, not as a livestock operation under the Taylor Grazing Act. BLM also said the ruling affects only those seven allotments and does not change other permit holders, treaty rights, tribal grazing authorizations or tribal bison herds.
The canceled allotments are Telegraph Creek, Box Elder, Flat Creek, Whiterock Coulee, East Dry Fork, French Coulee and Garey Coulee. In the 2022 proposal, BLM said the seven allotments carried 7,969 animal unit months of permitted use. The agency’s 2022 final decision authorized bison grazing on six of the seven allotments and cattle-only use on the seventh. After years of appeals, the Secretary of the Interior assumed jurisdiction over the case in January 2026, following a December 15, 2025 remand without vacatur of the earlier decision.
Gov. Greg Gianforte praised the reversal as a win for ranchers and the rule of law, saying the permits had authorized non-production bison on more than 63,000 acres of federal land. State officials and livestock interests have argued that the bison should not be treated as wildlife under federal grazing rules and that the arrangement threatened fencing, containment and nearby state trust lands that are fenced in common with BLM property.
American Prairie condemned the decision as a politically driven reversal and said it had lawfully grazed bison on BLM lands for more than 20 years. The group, which says its conservation herd exceeds 900 bison and its preserve base tops 603,000 acres, said the ruling threatens bison restoration, conservation partnerships and tribal buffalo efforts. The organization said it is preparing contingency plans to move the herd from public land onto its private acres if needed, but the permits do not prevent the bison from remaining on American Prairie’s private land.
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