Tell Secretary Burgum: Don’t Evict America’s National Mammal

As the United States prepares to celebrate its 250th anniversary, the Trump administration has revoked permits that allowed America’s national mammal to graze on public land.

Bison are not just a symbol on a seal or a name in a history book. They are living animals who once shaped the grasslands, sustained ecosystems, and held deep cultural and spiritual importance for Tribal Nations across this continent. Congress recognized that legacy when it named the bison the national mammal of the United States.

Now, instead of honoring that legacy, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and the Bureau of Land Management have canceled grazing permits that allowed bison restored by American Prairie, a conservation nonprofit, to roam on public land in Montana.

That is a disgrace.

Bison were nearly wiped out by slaughter, colonization, and government policies that devastated both the animals and the Indigenous communities connected to them. Their survival today is the result of generations of resistance, restoration, and conservation work.

The federal government should be helping bison return to healthy prairie habitat — not driving them off it.

Public lands belong to all of us. They should not be managed only for private cattle interests while native wildlife is treated as a problem to be removed. Bison help maintain grassland ecosystems, support biodiversity, and represent one of the most important conservation comeback stories in North America.

The United States cannot celebrate 250 years by praising bison as a national symbol while evicting them from the prairie.

If America’s 250th anniversary is going to mean anything for wildlife, it should be a moment to recommit to protecting the animals, lands, and ecosystems that make this country extraordinary.

The petition to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and the Bureau of Land Management reads: Reverse the cancellation of American Prairie’s bison grazing permits in Montana. Protect bison restoration on public lands, support Tribal and conservation-led recovery efforts, and honor America’s national mammal by giving bison room to roam.
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Source:

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/04/us/politics/trump-buffalos-montana.html