The American Prairie Foundation bison grazing dispute on public federal lands has moved into federal district court. This week, both American Prairie and the Western Watersheds Project filed lawsuits against the U.S. Department of Interior and the Bureau of Land Management in the United States District Court for the State of Montana.
The dispute stems from the BLM’s decision in May to revoke six grazing permits for American Prairie bison in Phillips County, Montana. The decision means, unless an injunction is issued by the judge, by the end of September they’ll need to move hundreds of animals to another property.
“Unfortunately, we anticipate it would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars if we do have to comply with the September 30th deadline,” explained Beth Saboe, Director of Public Affairs for American Prairie. “And those costs are from just the physically moving the animals to another American prairie property but also the abandonment of infrastructure and investments we’ve made in the past 20 years on our Sun Prairie property where we have bison grazing.”
American Prairie had initially filed a request for preliminary injunction in the Interior Board of Land Appeals, but that administrative court did not take action on their request. Their new filing in federal district court is asking to continue to use the federal lands as they had in the past, and have a temporary restraining order issued while the case plays out.
The federal government said their reason for revoking the permits was because American Prairie manages their herd as wildlife rather than traditional livestock. Pointing to the Taylor Grazing Act of 1934, the Department of the Interior argues that public land grazing is limited to “production-oriented” livestock.
However, the current language in United States Code doesn’t directly say “production-oriented” but rather “domestic” livestock. That is something American Prairie and Western Watersheds Project have pointed to in their complaints.
“BLM’s new interpretation has no basis in law and contradicts its own findings,” said Pete Frost in a press release, an attorney at the Western Environmental Law Center representing Western Watersheds Project. “BLM reversed itself due to politics, not the law, nor the need to restore prairie grasslands.”
American Prairie states on their website that bison play an important role for the ecosystem and restoration is a high priority for wildlife conservation. However, Saboe says their bison have been managed as livestock as required by state law.
“We do an annual handling to do the disease testing and the vaccination, we put ear tags on so that we can always monitor the herd,” Saboe explained. “Over the years we’ve had hundreds of bison harvests by mostly people in Montana that has contributed to tens of thousands of pounds of meet production.”
American Prairie bison have been grazing on BLM land since 2005, and in 2022 BLM authorized American Prairie to graze on more than 60,000 acres of public land.
So, what changed?
Bison management in the United States has long been politicised, and there are some big players fueling the debate.
Conservation and environmental groups have argued that Bison are a keystone species, with numerous lawsuits over the decades.
The cattle industry has long opposed bison growth, citing concerns over grazing land competition and disease transmission.
In 2022, BLM was under the Biden Administration. They are now under the Trump administration again, with Secretary of Interior Doug Burgum stepping into the position in January of 2025.
Governor Greg Gianforte, R-Mont., is a close political ally of Bergum, and has strongly opposed bison grazing on federal land.
American Prairie is in a separate lawsuit with the state of Montana right now. In February 2026, the Republican controlled State Land Board – which is comprised of the governor, attorney general, secretary of state, superintendent of public instruction and state auditor – put a moratorium on all new bison grazing permits.
A hearing for American Prairie’s federal lawsuit is currently scheduled for Aug. 25 in Great Falls.
Requests for comment by BLM were not immediately returned.