Once the dominant animal in the American west, bison were slaughtered in huge numbers as European settlers pushed across the continent 鈥� 31 million between 1868 and 1881 alone. Now moves are afoot to bring them back.
鈥淥ne hundred years from now wild bison will be an integral part of land use and management in the American west,鈥� says Steven Sanderson, head of the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), who this week hosted a meeting in Denver, Colorado, on the ecological future of the animal. At the meeting, the American Prairie Foundation, a conservationist land trust, announced that it has released 20 pure-bred bison onto its land in Montana. Most of the 350,000 individuals roaming the prairies are hybrids, the result of interbreeding between bison and cattle.
It makes ecological sense to restore giant herds of bison, says Kent Redford, a WCS biologist. 鈥淲ildfires burn less hot where bison have grazed, benefiting everything from seed propagation to invertebrates,鈥� he says. 鈥淲hy use cattle when you have bison?鈥�
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Kenneth Trospercq, of the Northern Arapaho tribe, agrees. He wants bison back on the tribe鈥檚 reservation in Wyoming. 鈥淭he bison were everything to us. We want them to be a part of our daily lives again,鈥� he says.
