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The Movement to Bring Back the Bison

Advocacy and federal rule changes are helping restore an animal vital to the Plains
By Gina Carey,  Newser Staff
Posted May 4, 2024 2:37 PM CDT
The Movement to Bring Back the Bison
A bison grazes in Theodore Roosevelt National Park in western North Dakota.   (AP Photo/Blake Nicholson, File)

Before European colonization, an estimated 30 million bison roamed North America's Great Plains. By 1884, Modern Farmer writes that only 325 remained due to a systematic effort to expand territories and push Native communities dependent on them west. They take a look at efforts, which are now being boosted by federal grants, to bring back grazing bison.

  • What's the status: Per PBS, the Plains bison population has reached about 45,000, with 20,000 managed by conservationists and on federal land (like Yellowstone National Park), and 25,000 by Native Nations. A much larger amount of bison are being raised as livestock, about 350,000 according to the New York Times, but are confined like cattle on feedlots.

  • Bison's importance: Bison have great cultural significance to Native communities, help fight food insecurity, and have a big impact on restoring grasslands and fighting climate change. Modern Farmer notes that a recent study found that deep-rooted native grass systems that are dependent on bison can sequester carbon even better than forests.
  • A strong advocate: Native nonprofit the InterTribal Buffalo Council (ITBC) formed in 1992 and is made up of 83 member Nations. Their advocacy has helped shift USDA policy toward more inclusive initiatives that promote the restoration of Plains buffalo. The American Rescue Plan of 2021 expanded food programs to include wild salmon and bison, and adopted policies like state inspection, which have helped bolster Plains bison as a food source.
  • Restoring tradition: One innovation highlighted by Modern Farmer allows the traditional slaughtering of bison on the open prairie. It involves a vehicle called the Cultural Harvest Trailer that can handle immediate processing of the meat by federal standards. "We can slaughter, skin, and quarter an animal in the open, with grass still in his mouth and have him in a cool trailer in 90 minutes," says ITBC executive director Troy Heinert. This processing timeframe is half of what's allowed for meat by the USDA, making the vehicle a game-changer. (More bison stories.)

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