BILLINGS, Mont. - More bison from Yellowstone National Park died this winter and spring because of the actions of state and federal authorities than in any of the past nine years.

The increase has drawn renewed attention to how wandering bison are dealt with and prompted calls - notably from Montana's governor - for changes to the current management plan.

Officials captured and sent to slaughter 899 bison under the state-federal plan that is aimed at reducing the potential spread of the disease brucellosis from bison to cattle in Montana. At least 12 other bison died as a result of other management actions dating to January, park and state Department of Livestock show.

That is the most killed since the winter of 1996-97, in which authorities killed 1,084 bison, park spokesman Al Nash said.

The bison population heading into winter was at its highest documented level - 4,900. In early March, park officials estimated the population at 3,500, a figure they said took into account such factors as management activities and bison deaths because of winter conditions.

"I think it's very safe to say what happened this winter certainly has increased attention to the challenges we all face with brucellosis risk management and managing bison in the ecosystem," Nash said. "And it has again heightened the discussion about the problem, and is prompting people to look again at ways to move this forward. And that's good."

Gov. Brian Schweitzer intends to meet with state and federal officials soon to discuss potential management options, including greater tolerance of bison in Montana and the buy-out of grazing rights on lands near the park where cattle are run, his chief policy adviser, Hal Harper, said.

Schweitzer isn't convinced the current plan works well for the long-term protection of the state's prized brucellosis-free status or in conjunction with the state's hunt of bison that leave the park, Harper said. Last fall marked the first time in 15 years that Montana held such a hunt, and Schweitzer favors the continued use of hunting to help control the bison population.

"Both can be accomplished if we use common sense," Harper said of the hunt and preserving the state's brucellosis-free status.

Many of the details, including the source of the money and agency and landowner buy-in, have yet to be sorted out, Harper acknowledged.

It could be a hard sell: The current plan, signed in late 2000 and controversial as it is, took years to reach. And groups, such as the Montana Stockgrowers Association, continue to urge agencies involved to commit to eradicating brucellosis from the greater Yellowstone area, something many bison activists consider a fool's errand.

While brucellosis is found in the Yellowstone bison herd, it's also an issue for some elk in the region. The prospect of cattle getting the disease worries ranchers, because brucellosis can cause cows to abort and transmission could lead to costly trade sanctions. Activists argue transmission from bison to cattle has never been documented in the wild and that the management plan is flawed. Livestock industry leaders say the risk remains.

Brucellosis in the region around the park has emerged as a contentious issue. Idaho has lost its brucellosis-free status recently after cases of the disease were found in cattle herds, forcing ranchers to undergo additional state and federal scrutiny before shipping live animals out of the state.

Ensuring Montana's cattle industry was brucellosis-free was a long, expensive endeavor, said Errol Rice, executive vice president of the stockgrowers group.

"I apologize to a lot of people if the livestock industry is a little hypersensitive to this issue," he said, but added the industry will go to "great lengths" to protect that brucellosis-free status.

At times this past season, bison that were not tested for brucellosis were allowed outside the park, in areas not allowed under the plan, state veterinarian Tom Linfield said.

Officials this year also exceeded deadlines set in the plan for having bison off private property and back inside Yellowstone, he said.

The plan uses time and space to separate bison and cattle in the region and further limit what risk of transmission may exist.

Linfield considers the various things that occurred "a little risky. It's being done, really, without any scientific basis necessarily, and that is one of my concerns."

Brucellosis can be spread by direct contact with an infected animal or an area contaminated by such things as birthing materials or aborted fetuses from an infected animals, according to the Department of Livestock.

Stephany Seay, a spokeswoman for the activist Buffalo Field Campaign, reiterated her contention that this isn't a disease issue. She said bison were left alone for much of the winter and spring on certain lands near West Yellowstone. "I think, for the livestock industry, again, it's about the grass and who gets to eat it."

Linfield said it's too early to say, for sure, whether there will be an repercussions for the cattle industry.

He said his agency was directed by the governor's office not to do "active management" immediately after the bison hunt ended in February. He said he didn't believe the department had discussed its management plans with Schweitzer's predecessor to the extent it has with Schweitzer. When asked if he felt his hands were tied in managing bison, Linfield replied: "I think certainly we were not given the go-ahead to do some of the typical management, the way we had initially anticipated," he added.

Harper said Schweitzer was "seldom giving direct orders, but listening to what the department and other people were saying." He said the governor preferred not to see hazing during the hunt because he wanted to see as much of a fair-chase, "free-range" hunt as possible.