Mike Mease

I first met Mike when he was giving a presentation to a small group in Gardiner. He expressed great admiration and respect for the bison- even to the point of becoming almost spiritual. It is a passion that he has had for over three decades now. In the mid 90's, Mike started Buffalo Field Campaign to help protect bison as a truly wild animal. The organization has expanded to informing the public about bison management, introducing legislation, participating in public meetings, and documenting bison hazing and hunting. Most of the people who work for BFC are volunteers who share the same vision that Mike has been pursuing.

When I had a chance to interview Mike I was fascinated by his ideas. The first thing that stood out to me was that he was a hunter himself and he wished “there were enough buffalo [that] we could all take a buffalo a year and live off them”. However, he was quick to point out that current management practices and the politics surrounding bison are so restrictive that any bison hunting is a threat to the species. Mike had a very in depth knowledge of different Native American cultures and showed as much respect to them as to the bison. While the Native Americans have full rights to hunt bison and truly cherish the animal, the hunting can be counter intuitive for bison range expansion. Mike had ideas for redistributing funds, new management practices and many other things to help bison. One of the traits that I most admire is his willingness to work with managers and have a reasonable conversation about bison. His management policies were not extremely radical, but more centered. Michael Keator told me that when he became District Ranger for West, Mike was willing to work with the Park Service and produce a healthy relationship that ended up benefiting both groups.