Editor's note: It's good to see that the attorney for the cattle industry that Yellowstone bison will one day roam tribal lands. Montana's governor also is determined to see genetically pure and disease-free Yellowstone bison relocated to appropriate landscapes. It appears the battle over Yellowstone bison will be mostly about moving them to public lands.

The legal battle continues over the fate of a herd of wild bison that are roaming the plains of northern Montana for the first time in more than a century.

In March, 63 bison from Yellowstone National Park were relocated to the Fort Peck reservation in northern Montana by federal, state and tribal officials with help from environmentalists. The animals were received with great fanfare by members of the Assiniboine and Sioux tribes, and witnesses described it as an emotional event. “It’s something I’ll never forget,” said Jonathan Proctor, an official with with the group Defenders of Wildlife, which helped arrange the transfer. “I’ve worked on a lot of issues, prairie dogs to grizzly bears. But never before have I seen an animal that’s so important to people.”

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