Where the Bison Roam: The Status of Bison in North America

North American bison (Bison bison) once roamed the plains of North America from northern Mexico to Alaska in numbers of tens of millions. Today, there are about 430,000 bison roaming throughout the US, with the vast majority in private ownership and around 20,000 in conservation herds managed by federal and state agencies. Though they are not in danger of extinction, there are indications that the present populations are threaten by both genetic hybridization with domestic cattle – a result of efforts to breed a more robust “beefalo” breed in the early 1900s – and exposure to livestock diseases. To investigate the diverse topics that need to be considered by researchers, managers, policy makers and others interested in restoring and conserving this magnificent animal, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) American Bison Specialist Group, which includes NOROCK scientist Pete Gogan, brought together the expertise of over thirty scientists to share their knowledge and ideas in a comprehensive review of the American bison status – American Bison: Status Survey and Conservation Guidelines 2010.

The publication of this IUCN American Bison Status Survey and Conservation Guidelines is timely owing to a recent convergence of factors: new research findings on bison genetics and ecology, assessment and awareness of the precarious status of many bison conservation herds, new initiatives by government and non-profit institutions to improve management of existing herds and to establish conservation herds, growing interest among Native Americans in restoring bison as part of their cultural heritage, and an increasing awareness by the commercial bison industry that conservation of wild-type bison is in the longterm interest of the industry. There is also a growing body of evidence that the biodiversity of ecosystems within the original range of bison can benefit from bison restoration, from the desert grasslands of northern Mexico, through the Great Plains, to the lowland meadow systems of interior Alaska. The ten chapters of this book examine these and other aspects of the biology and conservation of the species, and offer guidelines for what we anticipate will be a new era of bison conservation in North America.

Resources

American Bison: Status Survey and Conservation Guidelines 2010

Podcast featuring NOROCK scientist Pete Gogan