REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT ON THE 



FOUNDING OF THE MONTANA NATIONAL 



BISON HERD. 



IT is a great satisfaction to be able to report the found- 

 ing of the Montana Bison Herd as a praeticall5^-accom- 

 plished 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 compensation 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 January, 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, by Professor Morton J. Eh'od, with 

 a full report on conditions, and a recommendation regard- 

 ing the range most suitable for a national herd. The au- 

 thority and the appropriation were both granted, and ac- 

 tive work 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, water and shelter, on which a 

 l)ison herd could be self-supporting all the year round. 



The success achieved by the New York Zoological 

 Society in the founding of the Wichita National Bison 

 Herd seemed to point out the way b}' which a similar result 

 might be secured in Montana. Congress had been found 

 quickly responsive to a proposal that private individuals 



