COWBOYS VS NATURALISTS

There is no documented case of brucellosis transmission in the wild from bison to cattle, and most of the animals killed this winter were not tested for the disease. Elk in the Yellowstone area also carry brucellosis, but the popular game animal has not evoked the same ire in Montana's $1 billion livestock industry.

Ranchers want to see bison confined within Yellowstone's unfenced boundaries whatever the cost.

"We need to do whatever it takes in the state of Montana to make sure those (brucellosis) transmissions don't occur," said Jay Bodner of the Montana Stockgrowers Association.

By contrast, the activist Buffalo Field Campaign says Yellowstone's bison herd has already suffered "carnage."

"People should be very disturbed when the government comes in and starts executing wildlife," said Buffalo Field Campaign board member Scott Frazier.

The debate in America is mirrored in Canada, where officials are toying with killing off the 4,500 free-ranging bison at Wood Buffalo National Park because of the beef industry's fears about brucellosis.

Underlying the dispute about the Yellowstone herd is a perennial debate in the American West about public lands, pitting its cowboy culture against nature lovers.

The conflict is heightening even as tourism is eclipsing ranching as a leading economic engine and newcomers are flocking to the Big Sky State for its scenic beauty and abundant wildlife.

Cattle graze near Yellowstone mostly on federal acreage and Montana's ranchers fear the push to protect the park's bison is a thinly veiled attempt to drive them from that land.

"Some advocacy groups would like to see cattle off public lands and have it only used for wildlife," said Montana Department of Livestock Director Marc Bridges.

Bison advocates say the country's last wild herd cannot afford to be lost.

"But maybe the public would rather have snowmobiles in the park rather than bison," said wildlife biologist Mary Meagher, a critic of the bison-management plan who worked with the Yellowstone herd for 35 years.