BILLINGS — A Montana legislative committee says American Indian tribes should be allowed to hunt bison inside Yellowstone National Park.
Supporters say such hunts would better control herds of the animals that migrate into Montana during winter.
The Environmental Quality Council issued a letter on Thursday to Yellowstone Superintendent Dan Wenk asking him to honor hunting requests from tribes. Democrats on the council objected, saying no tribes have asked to hunt inside the park.
Several tribes with longstanding treaty rights hold annual bison hunts just outside Yellowstone’s boundary.
Many Yellowstone bison carry a disease that can be harmful to livestock. However, no bison-to-cattle transmissions of the disease brucellosis have been recorded.
Yellowstone rejected prior requests from former Gov. Brian Schweitzer to allow public hunting inside the park.