Rob Galanis said he is personally frustrated with state and federal agencies' management of a portion of Yellowstone National Park's migrating bison that he hoped to give sanctuary.

Galanis and his wife, Janae, bought 800 acres on Horse Butte north of West Yellowstone in 2007.

"We had a home in the West Yellowstone area for the past 13 years," Galanis said. "We bought the (Horse Butte) property because we have an affinity for the area and we didn't want to see it developed."

Galanis, a Salt Lake City real estate investment banker, sold seven home sites on the property to fund the purchase and then put the rest of the property into a conservation easement, he said.

Since acquiring the property, however, Galanis has been frustrated by the spring hazing of bison back into the park by government agents. In 2007, Galanis wrote a letter to the Montana Department of Livestock, promising to file trespass charges against anyone who entered the property uninvited. In response, state veterinarian Marty Zaluski wrote a letter pointing out that the state has the right to trespass onto private property to haze bison for the purpose of disease control. Some bison are infected with brucellosis, which can cause pregnant cattle to abort.

State and federal agencies are bound by the intricate rules of the Interagency Bison Management Plan. Although the plan has been relaxed to allow bison to wander outside the park's west side in the spring, by mid-May they are to be returned to the park to lessen the chance of transmitting brucellosis. Bull bison not in family groups are also now allowed outside the park's western boundary year-round.

Zaluski did, however, promise to give the Galanis family adequate notice before taking any future action. On Wednesday night, Galanis said, a Livestock Department official left a message on the family's phone at Horse Butte saying the agency would start hazing bison on Thursday. By Thursday morning, a helicopter had flown over the property to push the bison back into Yellowstone.

"It's just frustrating," Galanis said. "I wish someone could tell me why they're hazing bison off the butte when there are no cattle there."

Horse Butte is geographically isolated, a peninsula jutting out into Hebgen Lake. No cattle are kept on any adjoining property.

"I understand they need an overall plan," Galanis said. "The environmentalists say, 'Let the bison roam.' But what happens when they saturate that area?"

Galanis also questioned why the Department of Livestock is in charge of managing wild game.

"The whole thing doesn't make any sense to me," he said. "We thought we took the controversy out by taking the cattle off. But they're ignoring that fact and going with the status quo policy."

Galanis said he hopes that if there's public pressure, the government agencies involved in managing bison might alter their plan and allow bison to remain on Horse Butte.

"I don't know the politics behind it all," he said. "I just know it doesn't make sense."