BOZEMAN — The Montana Farm Bureau has dropped out of a lawsuit that seeks to block bison from roaming outside Yellowstone National Park.
The Bozeman Daily Chronicle reports that the Montana Supreme Court dismissed the Farm Bureau from the case Wednesday.
The move leaves Park County as the only remaining plaintiff in a 2011 lawsuit that sought to keep bison out of the 70,000-acre Gardiner Basin.
A pending appeal in the case challenges a January ruling by state District Judge E. Wayne Phillips. He sided with state officials who lifted restrictions on bison movements that had been in place for decades.
That’s helped curb the periodic slaughter of hundreds of migrating bison.
The plaintiffs have argued bison outside the park are a public safety threat and could spread disease to livestock.