“Where spurs are a jinglin' and the cowboy is singing,
His lonesome cattle call” (Now comes the yodeling part)

— “The Cattle Call," written by Tex Owens, 1934, variously sung by Eddy Arnold, Tex Ritter, Gene Autry and Elvis Presley, among others.

Preamble:

A large land rectangle in Northcentral Montana is the centerfold of an altruistic plan by American Prairie (AP) to “rewild” 3.5 million acres stitching together farms, cattle ranches and government-owned or -managed land utilizing grazing bison as its foundation. Opposing this effort is Save the Cowboy (STC), a group of Montana cattle ranchers bent on preserving their ranches, income, heritage and way of life.

Episode 2.0: Save the cowboy

With TV’s Paramount+ network’s monstrously successful series “Yellowstone,” the cowboy mystique has taken on new meaning and is now foreshadowed by a raucous, rebellious, rich, yet troubled cowboy family whose sole goal is to maintain its ranch ownership from those who wish to buy, “develop” and change it forevermore. If there ever was a more timely, provocative foretelling of Montana ranchlands beset by internal squabbles and outside forces, it is this TV series. Yellowstone a fictional story of the real world cowboy (STC) challenged by an altruistic and well-financed outside group (AP) trying to co-opt and forever change a large swath of Montana into a “new” wilderness.

While AP is relatively new, having been started in 2004, STC is composed of those who can trace their ranching heritage back numerous generations. They proudly proclaim that they know how to sustainably preserve the land and enhance the environment because they have been doing so for generations. STC is saying to AP, don’t parachute your tree-huggers into our neck of the woods, take our land and tell us how to do what we have successfully and sustainably always been doing.

This pitting of ranching heritage versus new-age altruism has set the stage for a battle that now involves government bureaus and officials at state and federal level. A central issue is animal grazing on public lands which is both sacrosanct to STC and fundamental to AP’s re-wilding plans. Because cattle are classified as “domestic livestock” by the Taylor Grazing Act of 1934, for a fee, they are eligible to graze on federally owned land, managed and protected by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

AP successfully petitioned the BLM for a “Change of Use” request to change the type of livestock grazing from cattle to bison. BLM agreed (“Notice of Final Decision,” US Dept. of the Interior, BLM, Malta Field Office, July 28, 2022) to allow privately owned bison so classified and within defined allotments to graze on BLM land. With many of the ranches AP is now buying having associated BLM grazing leases, such a definition change opens these lands up to bison grazing.

The difference between AP and STC goes much deeper than cattle or bison grazing definitions, however. It is a visceral issue for both and STC holds the trump card of land ownership. Within the proposed 3.5 million acre “nature preserve,” AP is buying Montana cattle ranches offering “market-based” prices. Many in Montana ranching communities feel this is deceitful and even dangerous given the bison’s ability to cross through fenced or unfenced lands and its predilection for brucellosis. AP counters that currently in the seven-county region where AP owns land, there are only 800 bison and more than 400,000 head of cattle. Thus, bison pose no threat.

STC feels that AP’s real motive is to inhibit production agriculture by forcing cattle ranchers out of business under the guise of setting up a “nature preserve.” AP, as you might imagine, vehemently disagrees and states categorically that “… the best outcome for AP is that conservation-minded, wildlife-tolerant ranches border our properties, and collaborate with us in perpetuity.”

The Ranchers Stewardship Alliance (RSA) is another Montana ranching group on the fringes of the battle. RSA is staying above the fray with its own altruistic goal of helping multi-generational and beginning ranchers to build collaborative, trusting relationships encouraging vibrant rural communities.

The rhetoric in this budding brouhaha is at times disingenuous and defiant. I see a “David and Goliath” confrontational storm brewing!

To be continued.

American Prairie versus Save the Cowboy: Episode 2.0

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