For thousands of years, bison defined the American prairie. Then 19th-century settlers hunted them to near extinction. Tribes fought to bring them back. Conservationists spent decades buying land and grazing leases on federal grasslands in northern Montana to rebuild what was lost.

Now the Trump administration wants to tear it all down.

This winter, the Bureau of Land Management canceled American Prairie's bison grazing permits, effectively evicting 900 bison from the federal lands they have grazed for years under multiple administrations, including Trump's own first term. The agency cited the Taylor Grazing Act of 1934, ruling that federal grasslands should go to livestock raised for food, not bison. It declared the animals wildlife rather than livestock, reversing decades of successful land policy overnight.

The decision came after sustained pressure from Montana Governor Greg Gianforte and ranching industry groups who wanted the grasslands for cattle. Montana's state land board is also moving to kick bison off state trust lands.

Conservation groups condemned the decision. So did Native American tribes, who say the campaign against bison directly threatens their own efforts to restore herds nearly wiped out by colonial-era hunters. American Prairie sends live bison to help tribes expand their herds and donates meat to local food banks. Its animals are fenced, vaccinated, and tagged.

This is not about the Taylor Grazing Act or food production. It is about the Trump administration handing federal public lands to a politically connected industry at the expense of conservation, tribal sovereignty, and one of the most powerful symbols of the American West.

"This is a part of our country's heritage," said Alison Fox, executive director of American Prairie.

The bison came back from near extinction once. We cannot let politics send them away again.

Sign this petition to demand the Bureau of Land Management restore American Prairie's bison grazing permits, protect tribal bison restoration programs, and stop the political giveaway of America's public lands to ranching interests.