[OKC] From Science Daily: Bringing Bison Back to North American Landscapes

[Miles, Karen]

Bringing Bison Back to North American Landscapes


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<http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/2010/03/100302093330-large.jpg> 

  <http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/2010/03/100302093330-large.jpg>
Bison herd at Grand Teton. (Credit: Photo by Steve Zack, Wildlife
Conservation Society)

ScienceDaily (Mar. 3, 2010) - The next 10 to 20 years could be extremely
significant for restoring wild populations of American bison to their
original roaming grounds. But for this to happen, more land must be made
available for herds to roam free, government policies must be updated
and the public must change its attitude towards bison, a new report
says.

A new publication by the International Union for Conservation of Nature
(IUCN), American Bison: Status Survey and Conservation Guidelines 2010,
reports on the current status of American bison, in the wild and in
conservation herds, and makes recommendations on how to ensure that the
species is conserved for the future.

"Although the effort to restore bison to the plains of North America is
considered to be one of the most ambitious and complex undertakings in
species conservation efforts in North America, it will only succeed if
legislation is introduced at a local and national level, with
significant funding and a shift in attitude towards the animal," says Dr
Simon Stuart, Chair of IUCN's Species Survival Commission.

Five hundred years ago, tens of millions of American bison roamed free
on the plains of North America, from Alaska to northern Mexico. Now the
American bison -- which includes both plains and wood bison -- is listed
as Near Threatened on IUCN's Red List of Threatened Species(tm). As of
2008, there were approximately 400,000 bison in commercial herds in
North America, some 93 percent of the continental population. But little
progress has been made in recent decades to increase the number of
animals in conservation herds, which are managed carefully for their
genetic diversity and ecological roles. In 2008, there were 61 plains
bison conservation herds in North America containing about 20,500
animals, and 11 conservation herds of wood bison, containing nearly
11,000 animals.

Article continues at: 
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100302093330.htm

 

 

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