Bison Range talks underway

By Karen Peterson - Leader Staff

MOIESE — National Bison Range manager Bill West has a fervent interest in history, which he says is currently in the making as negotiations begin again between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes as to the Tribes' involvement at the range.

"It's time to get back in the room and talk," West said. "I am concerned but also excited to see what could happen. This is a new chapter in history. We would like to work on mending past relationships during the negotiations that start [this] week," West said.

Building a trusting relationship is the pivotal first step towards creating a productive agreement, West said.

"These negotiations are also about relationship building. I believe that we can create a relationship despite the lawyers," he said. "To do that, we need interest based negotiations that throw out old baggage and leave room for excellent stewardship for the next 100 years."

The two sides are sitting down in Missoula on Wednesday and Thursday this week to re-start negotiations. Most notably, the Interior Department's assistant secretary Lyle Laverty will be in attendance, West said.

"He is one of the top four people of the Department of Interior and he will be here for two days. Him being here shows how important this is," West said." "He wrote in a letter that he would like the negotiations to be settled by March 28. With his own personal energy, things should be able to move a lot faster."

The Bison Range is celebrating its centennial this year after being appointed as the first wildlife refuge on May 23, 1908, and with 100 years behind them, making decisions that affect the future of the range is a tough job, West said.

"There is a lot of history here," he said. "It's not that we don't want to make an agreement with the tribes but we have to make a good one for everyone, for all Americans. The decisions we make today can greatly affect the future."

As the project leader, West is responsible for the Bison Range Complex, which encompasses the Lost Trail Refuge, Ninepipe Refuge, the Swan Refuge and also the Northwest Montana Wetlands of the Mountain-Prairie Region of the National Refuge systems. Before accepting the position as project leader last year, he served as the deputy manager of the complex for 19 years.

"People ask why have I stayed here so long. Why didn't I go to Washington D.C?' And I say, 'The politics aren't as interesting there as they are here.' This is the first government appointed land for wildlife and this could be the first place where the laws of the United States meet the history and culture of the Indian people and do a better job than we did in the past 100 years," he said.

And it is going to take a lot of work to settle the next round of negotiations, he said.

"It's not easy when you think it's 'them and us' as in 'Whose team are you on?' Thinking that way, it's hard to go anywhere. We need interest based negotiations. We need a trusting relationship where we both work together," he said.

Besides the politics keeping him here, this is the best place on earth, he says.

"I go out and work with the bison or mess with the bugs. Those are part of the job but they are also stress relief. And I'm proud of some of the things we've accomplished like the success of the weed work we've done," West said. "I've also had a hand in protecting purchased conservation easements, I'm proud of that. And I'm proud of having been a part of the protection of the wetlands," he said. "And moving bison on a horse, that is a golden moment. I understand why the Salish-Kootenai people want to participate."