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vations in the state after the animals were held in quarantine for years to make sure they were disease-free.
• Efforts to relocate another group of about 145 bison that went through the quarantine have stalled. Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks officials in June said they were considering new requests to take the animals from tribes, private conservation groups and the state of Utah.
• If the park service were to revive the quarantine program and make it permanent, federal officials said it could be five years to a decade before more animals were relocated.
• "If we were to do this, where would you place these bison? This report gives us a head-start on that question," said Jorge Silva-Banuelos, a U.S. Interior Department official.
• Some of the 20 sites listed Monday already have bison. However, most bison outside Yellowstone are bison-cattle hybrids that lack the pure genetics of the park's herds.
• Yellowstone's chief scientist, Dave Hallac, said planning for a bison quarantine program is expected to begin in late summer or early fall. Public input will be part of that process.
• "Within a five-year-period there may be the possibility of moving some brucellosis-free bison," Hallac said.
• Conservation groups that have pushed for alternatives to Yellowstone bison slaughters welcomed Monday's report. But Defenders of Wildlife said it fell short of a clear plan of action, and the National Wildlife Federation said it did not include enough collaboration with American Indian tribes.
• Silva-Banuelos responded that the Interior Department had helped with the prior relocation of bison to the tribes of Montana's Fort Peck and Fort Belknap reservations. He said Monday's report would be a "foundation for future collaboration and consultation" with tribes.
• Then-Interior Secretary Ken Salazar first issued a directive for his agency to come up with a relocation plan for Yellowstone bison in May 2012.
• The states and locations identified Monday as potentially suitable for relocated bison were:
• -- Arizona: Grand Canyon National Park
• -- Colorado: Baca National Wildlife Refuge, Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve
• -- Iowa: Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge
• -- Kansas: Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve
• -- Montana: Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge, National Bison Range

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