As the 19th Century became the 20th, managers were counting Yellowstone's bison on their fingers. Most everywhere else, commercial hunting and extermination efforts had eliminated the once-innumerable herds of North America. Yellowstone clung to its own subspecies for more than two decades, then introduced remnant plains bison to help with the breeding.
"Bison represent one of the great American conservation success stories," said John Varley, director of the Yellowstone Center for Resources. "In a winter like this, obviously it was a little too successful, because those bison are not welcome outside the park."
Extreme winter conditions have killed some bison and pushed many more to lower ground outside the park, possibly reducing the herd from 3,500 to 1,000. Those that left the park were shot or corralled and sent to slaughter to keep them from spreading disease to domestic stock. Varley maintains that a large bison herd always will be controversial even if disease is eradicated, because bison moving outside the park compete with livestock for grass and space on the national forests.
Though there has never been a winter as hard on the bison as this one, it's not the first time bison control raised a ruckus. That would be in the 1950s, when park managers decided to kill or remove bison and elk to preserve the habitat for those that remained.
On Oct. 20, 1955, The Park County News of Livingston, Mont., reported that sportsmen were protesting the removal of bison and elk because it could limit the number of animals that spill outside during hunting season.
"Considerable controversy has come forth in recent weeks concerning the killing of elk and buffalo in Yellowstone National Park, but the National Park Service announced Saturday it will continue its program to reduce the number," the article started.
The subject of wildlife control remained controversial into the next decade, when the National Park Service decided wild animals would be left more or less to their own devices. Now the question is arising again, with some groups calling for a transplant of bison from Yellowstone to other historic ranges, after testing to ensure they are healthy.
As the 20th Century becomes the 21st, the problem of restoring bison from near extinction shifts to figuring out where to put all of them.