REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT OX THE 



FOUNDING OF THE MONTANA NATIONAL 



BISON HERD. 



IT is a great satisfaction to he a])le to report the found- 

 ing of the ^Montana Bison Herd as a practically-accom- 

 phshed fact. The details remaining to complete the task 

 are merely matters of routine, the cost of which is fully 

 provided for, and before this Society issues another annual 

 report, the finishing touches to the work will have been 

 given. As a comjJensation for labor performed, we have 

 the privilege of writing this history. 



I. The Bison Range in Congress. 



It will be remembered that at the first annual meeting 

 of the Bison Society, in Jarmary, 1907, the president called 

 attention to the impending opening to settlement of the 

 Flathead Indian Reservation, and stated that the time 

 seemed auspicious for the founding of a national bison 

 herd somewhere in that area. He requested authority and 

 funds for the making of a careful examination of the 

 Flathead Reservation, b^^ Professor Morton J. Elrod, with 

 a full report on conditions, and a recommendation regard- 

 ing the range most suita])le for a national herd. The au- 

 thority and the appropriation were both granted, and ac- 

 tive M^ork immediately began. 



In January, 1908, Professor Elrod's report was re- 

 ceived, and as soon as possible thereafter was printed in 

 full in the first annual report of the Society. It recom- 

 mended a site at Ravalli, consisting of a minimum of 20 

 square miles, and a maximum ideal range of 28 square 

 miles. The area selected contained fine grazing grounds, 

 well supplied with grass, w^ater and shelter, on wdiich a 

 bison herd could be self-supporting all the year round. 



The success achie^Td by the New York Zoological 

 Societ}^ in the founding of the Wichita National Bison 

 Herd seemed to ])()int out the way by which a similar result 

 might be secured in ^lontana. Congress had been found 

 quickly responsive to a proposal that private individuals 



