Attorney General Knudsen’s statement on BLM’s bison grazing permit cancellation

HELENA – Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen today issued the following statement regarding the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) final decision to cancel the American Prairie Reserve’s (APR) bison grazing leases.

“The decision by the Trump Administration to cancel the American Prairie Reserve’s bison grazing permit is a huge victory for Montana farmers and ranchers. As someone who grew up farming and ranching in Northeast Montana, I know how important this decision is to protect the hardworking livestock and ranching communities in that region and keep the elitists from destroying their livelihood. For more than four years, my office has been working tirelessly to cancel APR’s permit, and it’s great to see that hard work pay off. In Montana, farmers and ranchers will always be supported as long as I’m your Attorney General.”

Since 2021, Attorney General Knudsen has been asking the BLM to scrap the APR’s radical grazing change of use permit proposal, which could have fundamentally transformed northeastern Montana. When making the decision, the Biden administration shut out public input from local communities that were impacted. The decision also violated the Taylor Grazing Act, Federal Land Policy, and Management Act, Public Rangelands Improvement Act, which all aim to improve public range lands and uplift ranching communities. Attorney General Knudsen submitted formal comments, hosted a public listening session in Malta with more than 250 Montanans, and has been fighting the decision in court since 2022. In January, Attorney General Knudsen issued a statement on BLM’s proposed decision to cancel APR’s permit.