News Release

Area closure instituted around Stephens Creek in Yellowstone 2019

Date: March 7, 2019
Contact: Morgan Warthin, [phone]

MAMMOTH HOT SPRINGS, WY - Beginning Thursday, March 7, a temporary area closure around the Stephens Creek administrative area will go into effect. 

Located in the northern section of the park near Gardiner, Montana, the Stephens Creek administrative area includes corral operations, equipment storage, a native plant nursery, a firing range, and, during the winter, the facility that is used to capture, sort, test, and temporarily hold bison. The administrative area is closed to the public year-round. During bison operations, the park enacts an additional temporary area closure around the facility for safety. 

Bison operations at Stephens Creek happen on behalf of all Interagency Bison Management Plan (IBMP) partners which include federal, state, and tribal groups. On December 31, 2018, the IBMP partners agreed to a 2019 winter operations plan that calls for a reduction of Yellowstone’s current population of 4,500 bison.

The population will be reduced using three methods: 1) public and tribal hunting outside the park, and 2) capturing bison near the park boundary and then transferring them to Native American tribes for processing and distribution of meat and hides to their members, and 3) a quarantine program in its initial stages that moves brucellosis-free bison to tribal lands. 

Unmanned aircraft (drones) are prohibited in Yellowstone National Park. 

A map of the area closure: Temporary Closure at Stephens Creek 2019.

For information about bison management, visit Bison Management.