Gianforte Scraps Plan For Free-Roaming Bison Montana officials are butting heads over the future of the national mammal. At stake is whether bison should be treated as livestock or as wildlife. New legislation and policy changes under the Gianforte administration are derailing hopes of establishing the first free-roaming bison herds in the state. It’s baby bison season in Yellowstone National Park. Tourists are pulled off on the side of the road, marveling at newborns a couple hundred yards away. One tourist, Kathie King, is from Butte. "Oh, the babies,” she laughs. “That’s why we like this time of year. To see the babies.”