The Count
American Prairie's bison herd reached 1,016, the first time the Montana nonprofit has held a thousand. A September injunction lets them stay on three federal allotments while a grazing lawsuit continues.
The calf count crossed a thousand. The lawsuit did not.
American Prairie's end-of-season calf count put its bison herd at 1,016. That is the first time the nonprofit has held a thousand. The animals had been gone from that restoration landscape for more than 120 years before a reintroduction in 2005.
The reserve is 603,657 acres: 167,070 deeded and 436,587 leased public acres, in north-central Montana. The stated land goal is 3.2 million acres. Organisers call a herd of 5,000 achievable. A thousand is not that herd. It is the herd they have.
On 4 September, U.S. District Judge Brian Morris blocked the Bureau of Land Management from enforcing a May order that would have removed the bison from three Phillips County allotments: Telegraph Creek, Box Elder, and Whiterock. The block lasts while a lawsuit continues. The court did not grant relief on three other allotments where the bison are not currently grazing.
Montana classifies the animals as livestock and taxes them per head. American Prairie has held federal grazing permits for bison since 2005. The Bureau's May decision treated them as something else. The judge, at this stage, disagreed. The injunction is not a final ruling on the permits.
Earthjustice described the animals at risk in September as more than 900. Montana Free Press, at the time of the injunction, described nearly 1,000 bison on the ranches and more than 300 that would have had to leave the three allotments by 30 September. The October count is the new number. The case is the unfinished sentence.
Key Facts
- Herd at 1,016 after the end-of-season calf count, reported 16 October 2026
- 603,657 acres now; 3.2 million acres is the land goal
- Reintroduced in 2005 after more than 120 years absent
- Preliminary injunction, 4 September 2026, Judge Brian Morris
- Three allotments protected for now: Telegraph Creek, Box Elder, Whiterock
- Not a final decision on the grazing permits
Why This Matters
A thousand animals is a count you can stand in front of. The count sits on a permit the government tried to pull. The comeback and the lawsuit are the same story.
What We Don't Know Yet
Whether the underlying case keeps the bison on those allotments. Whether 1,016 is a roundup total or a calculated herd size. The Good News Network piece does not print the method. The count is eleven days old. The injunction is older than that.