; (ii) starting with just a few bison calves, the animals grew into a large herd under the stewardship of members of the Tribes, who later included Michel Pablo and Charles Allard; and (iii) the Reservation was the home of that free-ranging herd of bison for decades before the establishment of the National Bison Range; (G) when the Reservation was opened for homesteading, a free-ranging bison herd was no longer feasible, resulting in Michel Pablo selling the herd to off-Reservation interests; (H) many of the bison, or their descendants, from the Tribal member-managed herd were repurchased and brought back to the Reservation to form the original herd for the National Bison Range; (I) the bison herd at the National Bison Range descends largely from a herd started and managed as described in subparagraph (F); (J) the Tribes— (i) have played a substantive role as conservation leaders, often in partnership with the National Bison Range; (ii) have demonstrated a long-term commitment to responsible management of the land and resources surrounding the National Bison Range; and (iii) desire to carry out the purposes for which the National Bison Range was established; (K) the Tribes have extensive experience in wildlife and natural resources management, including— (i) the establishment and management of the 91,000-acre Mission Mountains Tribal Wilderness, the first tribally designated wilderness area in the United States; (ii) special management districts for large animals, such as the Little Money Bighorn Sheep Management Area and the Ferry Basin Elk Management Area; and (iii) the restoration and management of bighorn sheep populations, peregrine falcons, and trumpeter swans on the Reservation; (L) the Tribes have an extensive history of successful partnerships with Federal agencies with respect to issues such as— (i) threatened and endangered species management; (ii) migratory waterfowl management; and (iii) wetland habitat management