NWF Members Give Bison Room to Roam

Right now, NWF members can help achieve important wins for wild bison.

In the West, conflict sometimes arise between livestock grazing on National Forests and bison. Domestic livestock graze on public lands that ranchers lease. Wildlife try to roam their natural habitat on many of those same public lands. It’s a formula for trouble.

NWF members are the solution. By making an incredible difference through the Adopt a Wildlife Acre program, members can give bison and other wildlife—including grizzlies, wolves and bighorn sheep—conflict-free land to roam freely.

Over a decade ago, we came up with a win-win solution for the bison and the ranchers: Adopt a Wildlife Acre. NWF members help provide ranchers a fair price in exchange for their agreement to give up their livestock-grazing leases on public lands where bison (and other wildlife) roam. Ranchers receive money they need to relocate their livestock, and wildlife gain secure habitat.

Since our Adopt a Wildlife Acre program began, NWF members helped retire over 685,000 acres , allowing bison and other wildlife to freely roam on protected lands. Area adopted cover all sides of Yellowstone National Park. This incredible effort has left state decision makers with no other decision than to allow bison to roam on these adopted lands.

When bison graze as wildlife (not penned in like livestock), they naturally bring our ailing prairies back to life. Other wildlife and plant species come back, including some species haven’t been seen for decades. Wild bison, roaming in their natural habitat, are the key to restoring the healthy, resilient prairie ecosystems that thrived for hundreds of years.

While we have made great strides for bison so far, there’s still more to do.

In a positive step for wild bison, Governor Steve Bullock of Montana recently vetoed a bill that would have undermined restoration efforts by allowing counties to decide the fate of Montana bison. Wild bison are one step closer to being restored to prime habitat surrounding Yellowstone Park and elsewhere. But it will take the voices of supporters like you to ensure that the governor moves forward with bringing wild bison back to their historic lands across Montana.

Right now, we also have an important opportunity to give bison more room to roam. We’ve located four high-priority parcels of land to retire, amounting to 102,000 acres of crucial wildlife habitat. You can play an important role in this next step with your gift of conflict-free habitat for bison, bighorn sheep and more wildlife in the West.

Your gift today to NWF’s Adopt a Wildlife Acre program will help create a 102,000-acre safe haven for wildlife like bison.