AMERICAN PRAIRIE ASKS FEDERAL COURT TO HALT BLM’S UNPRECEDENTED REVOCATION OF BISON GRAZING PERMITS

Non-profit seeks emergency court order; September 30 deadline threatens irreparable harm to conservation organization

American Prairie today filed suit in the U.S. District Court in Great Falls, Montana, seeking a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to suspend the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) May 8 decision revoking six federal grazing permits used to manage the organization’s bison herd in Phillips County.

The filing asks the court to preserve the status quo while it considers the legality of the agency’s unprecedented decision, which reversed decades of settled federal practice recognizing bison as eligible livestock under federal grazing law.

“For more than 20 years, we’ve demonstrated that bison can be responsibly managed on public lands while improving the health of Montana’s prairie,” said Alison Fox, CEO of American Prairie. “Our record is clear. This case isn’t about whether we’ve been good stewards—we have. It’s about whether the federal government can abandon decades of settled law and change the rules to reach a different political outcome. We are confident in our legal position, and we’re asking the court to uphold the rule of law.”

American Prairie has grazed bison on BLM lands since 2005 without a single grazing violation. The federal agency’s own administrative record contains objective evidence that rangeland conditions have improved during that time.

In 2022, following years of environmental review, BLM authorized American Prairie to graze bison on approximately 63,000 acres of public land. The agency defended that decision through multiple administrative appeals before reversing course earlier this year.

“This case is about far more than six grazing permits,” said Mary Cochenour, attorney for Helena-based Cochenour Law, which represents American Prairie. “The federal government changed its interpretation of well-settled law and effectively rewrote the rules to reach a predetermined result. That is not how the rule of law is supposed to work.”

The complaint argues that the BLM’s May 8, 2026, decision to cancel the permits rests on a newly invented “production-oriented” requirement that appears nowhere in the Taylor Grazing Act of 1934, the law under which BLM has authorized American Prairie’s bison grazing since 2005.

“For more than 40 years, BLM has treated bison as eligible livestock under federal grazing law,” Cochenour continued. “When the government could not prevail under the longstanding rules, it adopted new interpretations to justify rescinding permits that had existed for decades. If agencies can change settled legal interpretations to target one permittee despite a spotless compliance record, every public lands permit holder should take notice.”

American Prairie argues that the agency’s reversal relies on the organization’s public statements about its conservation mission while disregarding unrebutted evidence that its bison are used for meat production, sold commercially, and supplied to other livestock operators, tribes, and food-sovereignty programs.

Since first getting approval to graze bison on BLM allotments in 2005, it has grown its herds to nearly 1,000 animals, a scale researchers say is needed for long-term genetic viability.

American Prairie says BLM’s own field assessments have credited the bison with improving rangeland conditions, including increased ground cover and riparian health, and that state and federal regulators have repeatedly found no evidence the grazing harms the land, other ranchers, or the public.

Absent an injunction, American Prairie says it would need to cull or relocate roughly 300 bison by the September 30 deadline. The organization estimates the forced removal would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost animal value, replacement fencing, and abandoned infrastructure investments while cutting off bison supplies to tribal partners, food banks, and community harvest programs.

The decision has drawn concern from Tribal governments, conservation organizations, and others who warn that reversing decades of precedent could undermine bison restoration efforts across the West and create uncertainty for future public land management decisions.

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About American Prairie

American Prairie’s vision is to create a vast and collaboratively-managed prairie destination that serves as a fully functioning ecosystem for wildlife, and offers visitors permanent access to the landscape that shaped our nation’s character. Already open to the public for recreation including camping and hunting, American Prairie offers visitors an opportunity to connect with nature on a truly grand scale. Learn more at americanprairie.org.