Bison have been revered and incorporated into many Native American cultures over millennia and hold a special place in our national heritage.

North American plains bison (Bison bison bison), numbered more than 25 million in the 17th century and occupied the continental United States, southern Canada and northern Mexico.  Due to overhunting and loss of habitat, the species was nearly extinct by the end of the 19th century, limited to fewer than 30 animals in Yellowstone National Park and individuals in zoos or private captivity.

Through the combined efforts of state, tribal and federal governments, conservation groups, and private ranchers and landowners, the plains bison had been brought back to relative abundance by the 21st century, with more than 500,000 animals now present in North America, mostly in private ownership.  The Department of the Interior also manages almost 7,000 bison in seven national wildlife refuges and five national parks.  There are 4,000 free-roaming wood bison (bison bison athabascae), a subspecies, in Canada.

On October 28, 2008, Secretary Kempthorne announced the Department of the Interior Bison Conservation Initiative to strategically manage wild bison on Interior’s lands for their ecological and cultural value.  The Bison Conservation Initiative provides a framework to address the conservation issues of Interior’s bison herds and to promote cooperative bison conservation through partnerships with states, Native American tribes, landowners, agricultural interests, conservationists and others interested in bison health and recovery.

The framework acknowledges the ecological and cultural role of bison on the American landscape and proposes specific actions to better manage and integrate bison populations on select Interior lands in future years.

The bison serves as a symbol for natural resource stewardship for the Department of the Interior and the National Park Service.

The Bison Conservation Initiative clearly recognizes the important role that the Department of Agriculture, States, Tribes, and conservation organizations play in bison conservation, and no effort for a Bison Conservation Initiative strategy can move forward without the collaborative efforts of all interested parties.

New Interior Actions for the Initiative

• Action Item 1: Prevent, control, or eliminate non-native diseases impacting Bison conservation.
• Action Item 2: Actively pursue improved efforts to strategically manage wild bison by building the bison working group, and pursue improved efforts  by the Department of the Interior to create bison metapopulations of herds with high levels of bison genetic integrity, diversity, and not impacted by non-native diseases.
• Action Item 3: Manage DOI herds through conservation of genetic variation and natural selection. 
• Action Item 4: Facilitate collaborative Bison conservation projects.

The image of vast herds of North American bison grazing on the western plains is an iconic symbol of the American frontier.

Bison Initiative Documents:

• DOI Bison Conservation Initiative Framework
• Interagency Bison Charter

Bison Conservation Links:

• American Bison Society
• IUCN Bison Specialist Group
• The Nature Conservancy
• Wildlife Conservation Society

Press Release: