Adding Land To Wind River Reservation Is Part Of Bison Reintroduction Plan

A rancher embroiled in what he calls a “catch-22” of legal loopholes over tribal bison is urging Wyoming lawmakers to clarify who responds, and how, when the tribes’ buffalo trample their neighbors’ fences and hay fields.

Though the animals are technically “bison,” the locals call them “buffalo.”

Mitch Benson ranches near the Wind River Indian Reservation on his own, privately-held land.

Buffalo have trampled his fence and fields in recent months, according to his Wednesday testimony for the legislative Select Tribal Relations Committee, photographs and past interviews with Cowboy State Daily.

Benson said this has sparked a larger debate about the tribes classifying their local buffalo as “wildlife,” versus local ranchers’ expectations that animals be branded and traceable to their owners – based on state law calling buffalo “livestock.”