Crazy alice and the battle for the american west

On the sun-scorched Montana prairies, a clash is brewing between rugged ranchers, Republican leaders, and a majestic symbol of the Wild West: Crazy Alice, a half-ton bison. The Trump administration wants to evict Crazy Alice and hundreds of other bison from their ancestral home, replacing them with cattle. But ranchers and conservatives are pushing back, citing the Taylor Grazing Act of 1934 and claiming that bison no longer fit on the modern landscape.

Bison vs. cattle: the battle for the american west

At stake are 900 bison owned by the non-profit American Prairie, which has grazed them on federal lands since the early days of the Trump administration. The bison roam freely, enjoying their right to roam. But the cattle industry wants the land for their own purposes.

For ranchers like the Jacobs family, who have raised cows in northern Montana for nearly 110 years, the bison are an interloper on the landscape.