American Bison Society

The Wildlife Conservation Society and the Ecological Future of Bison in North America

© Kent H. Redford/WCS

Conservation of the bison in North America will require a unique merging of cultural and natural history values. Culturally, stories and legends feature grand historic bison herds and pay homage to the physical and spiritual sustenance bison provided to Native Americans and European pioneers alike. As wildlife, the bison is our continent’s largest mammal and one of the last evolutionary links to the Pleistocene era, a period when larger mammals dominated the landscape (1.8 million to 11,550 years ago). The Wildlife Conservation Society has a long history with bison: WCS’ first director, William Hornaday, illustrated the species’ decline in his 1889 study which showed that only 1,091 bison remained in North America, reduced from the millions that once roamed the western plains. Over-hunting on slaughter-like scales pushed the species so close to extinction that only a major last ditch effort could save them. In 1905, Hornaday inspired Theodore Roosevelt and others to form the American Bison Society (ABS) with a mission of “the permanent preservation and increase of the American bison.” The ABS launched a national campaign to create reserves, stock them with bison from the Bronx Zoo, and educate the public about the bison’s endangered status. 

The near extinction of the bison offers a harsh warning, and its survival is a conservation success story--in part. While the bison remains a unique icon of North American cultures, what does the future hold for the species? The numerical recovery of bison, now approximately 400,000, has not restored the bison’s ecological role in the landscape. Bison herds once influenced landscape composition and interacted with other species, aspects of bison ecology that are almost forgotten and usually extinguished. Today, bison occur in spots throughout their historic range, yet they exist in vastly differing circumstances: Over 90% of bison are in private ownership, some for conservation, but most for meat production, which often puts unnatural selection pressure on those herds. The complex modern identity of the bison--icon, wildlife, and livestock--produces several obstacles to a secure and ecologically meaningful future for the species. 

In 2005, WCS revitalized the American Bison Society to explore these constraints and build partnerships to address them. The revitalized ABS is building a network of bison experts and managers and fostering opportunities for collaboration on important issues facing the species. In May 2006, a group of 28 bison experts from private and public bison management, including Native Americans, met at Ted Turner’s Vermejo Park Ranch, NM, to discuss the latest science on bison. They considered how to ensure an ecological future for bison and drafted a broad workplan to which stakeholder groups could contribute at varying degrees. 

In October 2006, WCS convened a larger meeting in Denver to bring together bison ranchers, state and provincial governments, Native American nations, scientists, and non-governmental organizations from western states, Mexico and Canada. Approximately 160 participants shared knowledge and perspectives on how ecologically functioning bison herds might exist and explored the economic and cultural value of the species. The Denver meeting, co-hosted by The Nature Conservancy and World Wildlife Fund-US, included perspectives from institutional leaders, such as Michael Soukup (National Park Service), Michael Fox (Intertribal Bison Cooperative), Dave Carter (National Bison Association), and Stephen Woodley (Parks Canada). The meeting included presentations on complex aspects of bison management that inform how we plan the future of bison in North America: Genetics (James Derr, Texas A&M University); IUCN bison conservation (John Gross, National Park Service), zoos and captive bison populations (Sharon Joseph, Houston Zoo); private lands (Tom Olson, Canadian Bison Association); economics of grasslands (Ray Rasker, Headwaters Economics); and ecological interactions (James Shaw, Oklahoma State University). Disease issues were covered (Keith Aune, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks) and issues related to Canada’s wood bison (B.b.althabascae) were presented (Nicholas Larter, Northwest Territories Department of Environment and Natural Resources).  Mexico’s wildlife management structure and transboundary migratory bison herd were presented (Rodrigo Medellin, Instituto de Ecologia, UNAM).  For a full agenda, please click here.

Next Steps
The Denver meeting reinforced the fact that a wide range of stakeholders in North America is committed to addressing the complex issues surrounding large-scale bison conservation and believe that collaboration can help the American Bison Society move forward. Next steps for the ABS will combine large-scale institutional coordination with small-scale projects toward the goal of bison ecological restoration over the next century. While the details of the next steps of  the ABS are currently being drafted, some priorities were suggested at the Denver meeting: namely, to work with all current stakeholders to create public awareness regarding bison, sponsor research on the bison’s ecological role, and assess the genetic situation of all herds. 

This work will start with information sharing: ABS aims to solidify an international network of 300 bison experts by creating a portal website to facilitate information-sharing and smaller workshops, and to foster collaboration on research and publications. You can visit the ABS portal at www.americanbisonsocietyonline.org.

Funding permitting, the ABS may facilitate small-scale seed grants for genetics work and reintroduction efforts. One small fund was already granted for genetics work on the Janos-Hidalgo bison herd, a wild bison herd that moves between Chihuahua, Mexico (where it is considered endangered), and Hidalgo County, New Mexico (where it is considered livestock). This herd represents the southernmost distribution of the species and exists in the driest habitat.

WCS’ North America Program is interested in working with collaborators to monitor the ecological effects of restoration in prairie and grassland ecosystems. Ecological restoration of bison involves wildlife elements and processes associated with a functioning prairie, including landscapes with prairie dogs, ground squirrels, and native grassland birds. WCS has a strong history of understanding wildlife’s trophic interactions and conservation implications with (and without) key species and processes (such as fire) on landscapes. Assessing songbird and native grass changes resulting from bison reintroduction on public and private lands will help to further promote understanding of ecological restoration.

For more information, email ABS@wcs.org. 

Please support the efforts of the American Bison Society.

This page was last updated on 09-18-2007.