Feds plan another taxpayer funded giveaway to ranchers killing off America’s native Bison for cows
- Staci-lee Sherwood
- Jul 14
- 7 min read
By Staci-lee Sherwood
Once killed to near extinction it took decades to bring back the Bison, but their safety has always been under pressure by ranchers. They are the national mammal of the United States. Ranchers have claimed for years that Bison give their cows Brucellosis when in fact it’s the other way around. Back in 1917 it was first detected in a Yellowstone herd when the Bison were exposed to the bacteria by domestic cows allowed to graze in the park. Not a single case of Bison transmitting it to cows has ever happened. Yet ranchers and their paid sycophants in DC will lie and tell you otherwise. They know the public won’t bother to look for facts.
The media often distorts the truth in favor of those who pay or threaten them. Ranchers have been loud and vocal about killing all the wolves, coyotes, bears, cougars and bison in favor of capturing all the public land for essentially free grazing. You’ll never hear that on mass media. If you look at local hearings, regulatory changes made without public knowledge and listen to statements they make to politicians the truth shines through. It’s all out in the open yet hidden from an unknowing public that lacks the knowledge how to access information in the Federal Register or look up votes in Congress. Our wildlife on public land is in constant threat by ranchers and industry. The nonprofit American Prairie has a September 2026 deadline to remove its herds from federal land. Hundreds of Bison have to be removed, everyone assumes killed because that’s what always happens, to make way for grazing cows. The Bison had been grazing there for decades.
One Bison enjoys a nap while another uses branches to scratch. They’re unaware how much ranchers want them gone
Here are just a few of the many lies (in black) ranchers have used to sway government, media and the public with the truth (in red):
Wolves kill cows…..very few cows die from wolf or coyote attacks
Wild horses compete with cows…..the few thousand horses and burros couldn’t possibly compete with millions of cows
Bison make cows sick….it’s documented cows pass disease to bison
Predators need to be killed to save cows….more cows die from eating toxic wildflower Larkspur than from predators. According to USDA data, non-predator causes—such as poisonous weeds, disease, and weather—account for the vast majority (up to 95%) of livestock losses, making toxic plants far more lethal to cows than wolves
Ranchers don’t care about truth they won’t stop till all the wildlife are killed and all public land is theirs to exploit. They have people in place at the DOI and BLM to do that.
Who the players are
Our rabid anti conservation federal government has set its sights on ‘removing’ native Bison from public land so privately owned cows can graze. Livestock is the main reason our wild horses and burros are being driven from their homes in brutal roundups and for the most part shipped out of country to slaughterhouses. Not satisfied with removing them, ranchers have reignited their fight to remove bison. The Department of Interior (DOI) is headed by Doug Burgham, oil man who owns lands he leases in North Dakota to energy giant Continental Resources so they can pump oil and gas. No surprise he wants to exploit public land for private companies and ranchers because he would profit.
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is headed by Kyle Moorman. This agency handles the largest amount of public land. They’re responsible for the killing of our wild horses and burros, despite their having legal protection, in brutal roundups. They have a terrible track record protecting the public’s land. Their management style would get anyone else fired if not for the fact they work for the government. They also have their own ‘nonprofit’ like several other federal agencies which sounds illegal and certainly unethical. His resume included working for the Minerals Management Services (MMS).
In 2008 the public finally became aware of what many of us already knew, this tiny agency charged with giving out leases and permits for drilling on public lands was in bed with….literally…. oil and gas companies. Stories of drugs and sex parties made headlines, all true, but the real story was the cozy relationship between industry and the agency supposedly regulating them. The MMS is responsible for overseeing offshore drilling operations and ensuring safety regulations. Between 2009 – 2010, during the BP gulf oil catastrophe, Moorman was a program analyst in their leasing division.
If you have forgotten all the lies and cover-ups during the ‘spill’ just brief recap: the spill was much larger than ever reported and the government spent millions covering up the damage the oil and the spraying of Corexit did to the water, marine life and people exposed to it. After that fiasco, which happened while Moorman worked there, he went on to the Department of Energy until landing at the BLM as Chief, Division of Regulatory Affairs and Directives.
Click here to refresh your memory of the incompetence and corruption at the MMS
and here
Based on the private holdings and past jobs those making decisions about our native wildlife have a clear history of incompetence, corruption or stupidity. It can’t be anything else.
In 2024 the “Public Lands Rule” was finalized. This rule looked to elevate protection and restoration of wildlife habitat and clean water, which is urgently needed, to equal footing with extractive uses such as mining, drilling and grazing on federal land. Now it’s being repealed because God forbid the government does anything for any reason other than padding the bank accounts of industry who donate to them. Can we call it what we all know it is, a bribe.
Last year there was a rule change the public was allowed to comment on but only if they knew about it beforehand and where to find it. Buried in the Federal Register were the details of the Rescission of Conservation and Landscape Health Rule. It goes on to say its purpose is ‘removing any thumb on the scale in favor of conservation at the expense of productive use and development of the public lands and their many important resources.’ This is code for removing regulations that protect the public’s land and wildlife in favor of privately owned livestock to use the public’s land for pennies on the dollar.
Click here to read the repeal
Death of our wild west icon
The irony of the removal of native Bison off public land, paid for by taxpayers, is the Bison is the symbol for the National Park Service (NPS). The NPS used to be the jewel of federal agencies charged with protecting and preserving our national parks and monuments. In the last few years they have deteriorated down to the level of the Bureau of Land Management where conservation only exists on paper and public land is there for exploitation by industry. If we can’t even save our national mammal what can we save?
National Park Service logo
Native Bison enjoying the late afternoon
Socialism for ranchers
In 1978 the Public Rangelands Improvement Act passed and set up the grazing fee schedule. According to the Center for Biological Diversity more than $100,000,000 in direct subsidies go to ranchers every year. “In 2015 the Center commissioned resource economists to study the economic costs of livestock grazing on public lands. We found that the federal lands grazing program generated $125 million less than what the federal government spent on the program in 2014. Further, we found that federal grazing fees are 93 percent less than fees charged for non-irrigated western private grazing land, or just $1.69 per animal per month for each cow and calf that grazes the public land. It costs more to feed a house cat.” Ranchers are not the government and therefore should not be entitled to funds that keep them afloat when they would otherwise go out of business. In capitalism that would be the case but this is a taxpayer handout.
Things have gotten worse as ranchers strong arm government and Congress to go easy on them. The cost of grazing cows on public land is now at $1.35 per cow and calf. ‘The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has reported the federal government spends at least $144 million each year managing private livestock grazing on federal public lands, but collects only $21 million in grazing fees—for a net loss of at least $123 million per year.’ In 2022 scientific study estimated costs of the livestock grazing program exceeded 26 times what the grazing fees generate, averaging over $500 million dollars a year between 2010 and 2016. And we think native Bison and Horses are the problem?
Click here to read the study
Click here to read about the scam of the government grazing program that loses taxpayer $$
Click here to see the subsidies
Apparently socialism is fabulous for the friends and donors of the federal government. You’ll never hear a peep about THAT on the ‘news’ will you?
Damage done by cows to the ecosystem
The massive damage they leave behind appears to go unnoticed despite being well documented. There are huge swaths of land now turned to dust from their overgrazing. During a drought they out compete with native wildlife for precious water. In many areas our public land is so dead it looks like another dustbowl waiting to happen. The sheer volume of them walking destroys countless plants and flowers many of which are endangered. When they stampede they trample everything in their wake. They pull plants up by the roots destroying them. Our native wild horses and burros chomp on the vegetation leaving the roots to regrow.
Click here to read how much damage cows do VS native Bison
Cows grazing early morning makes a pretty picture, but fails to show the damage done by grazing cows
The reality. Cow damaged riparian area. TNC Red Canyon Ranch Wyoming. Photo credit: George Wuerthner
Cow trashed lands Sonoran Desert, NM-Arizona. Photo credit: George Wuerthner
Go England
At a time when the federal government under Trump wants to kill our native Bison to make room for cows, England is restoring their wild population. After a long absence from their native landscape they’re slowly being reintroduced as a way to restore the ecosystem to what nature intended. What a concept. Conservation in action, not just on paper. What started with just 4 Bison has grown, transforming a dying forest to a thriving one as the result. At a time when many fear the 6th and final mass extinction is caused by our over population and killing off species to where wild mammals make up just 4% of the total mammal population we should mimic these types of policies not shun them.
Learn more
In June the nonprofits American Prairie and Western Watershed filed appeals to halt the removal of Bison. No decision has been made yet.
Click here to learn more about Bison conservation and the appeals filed in June
This article explains exactly why we need more transparency about how our public lands are managed. Native bison belong on these lands, and decisions should be based on science and the public’s interest , not just private industry. J.N.