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Interior Secretary Deb Haaland has issued an order calling on the federal government to center Indigenous knowledge in its efforts to grow the number of bison in the West and improve the health of the prairie grassland ecosystem. Haaland also announced $25 million in federal funding from the Inflation Reduction Act will go toward bison conservation. The money will be used to build new herds, transfer bison from federal to Tribal lands, and build new management agreements with Tribes, according to the Associated Press.
“While the overall recovery of bison over the last 130 years is a conservation success story, significant work remains to not only ensure that bison will remain a viable species but also to restore grassland ecosystems, strengthen rural economies dependent on grassland health and provide for the return of bison to Tribally owned and ancestral lands,” Haaland said.
The secretary's order formally establishes a Bison Working Group, which will include representatives from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, and U.S. Geological Survey. The working group will develop a Bison Shared Stewardship Plan, which will establish a framework for bison restoration, including strengthening long-term bison conservation partnerships. The plan will be developed with input from Tribes and will prioritize Tribally-led opportunities to establish new large herds owned or managed by Tribes and Tribally-led organizations.
Bill to protect Dolores River reintroduced
U.S. Senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper of Colorado have reintroduced legislation that would help protect the Lower Dolores River Canyon in southwest Colorado. The Dolores River National Conservation Act would protect more than 68,000 acres of federal lands on the river canyon.
The bipartisan bill was introduced in the previous Congress by Bennet in the Senate and by U.S. Representative Lauren Boebert of Colorado in the House. 90 percent of Coloradans support protecting public lands surrounding the Dolores River Canyon, according to the 2023 Colorado College State of the Rockies Conservation in the West poll.
To learn more about the Dolores River Canyon, watch this short film produced by the Center for Western Priorities.
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They started putting tailings right on the ground 68 years ago... In my heart of hearts, I don’t think it will get cleaned up. It has become a landscape feature, like an ocean is a landscape feature. We must learn to live with it as safely as possible.”
