The American Buffalo

A series of significant recent events have combined to get me thinking about buffalo (hereinafter I will use the scientific term, bison, despite the fact that they will always retain my boyhood name for them). Recently my daughter Sara became involved in an ambitious project, the 2020 DOI Bison Conservation Initiative; her participation in it has spiced up many of our frequent telephone call visits. Last month PBS presented an excellent two-part series on “The American Buffalo”, produced by everyone’s favorite documentarian, Ken Burns. And this month, of course, the celebration of Native American Heritage month in Bridgeville has renewed interest in the bison in all of us.

Sara has worked for the U. S. Geologic Survey (USGS) since earning her Ph. D. in Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology at Colorado State University in 1991. Currently she manages the Molecular Ecology Laboratory at their Fort Collins, Colorado, Science Center. Three years ago, the Department of Interior announced the DOI Bison Conservative Initiative. Its primary goal was “to conserve bison as healthy wildlife”. The current DOI Secretary, Native American (Pueblo) Deb Haaland, has supported this initiative aggressively. At this time there are 11,000 bison in nineteen herds in twelve states on 4.6 million acres managed by the National Park Service, U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Bureau of Land Management. 

To achieve this overall goal, the DOI has four commitments. First, they are committed to an intra-agency science-based approach to promoting genetic diversity in the bison they control. A major problem with the overall bison population is interbreeding with cattle; maintaining nearly pure bison for the future is important. A second commitment is shared stewardship, open cooperation with other jurisdictions (primarily states) and private organizations, including Native American tribes and nations, that maintain their own herds. These amount to an additional 9,000 bison in conservation herds. The task force is also committed to the matching of large free-ranging herds and large landscapes where they can function as ecosystem shapers. And finally there is a commitment to cultural restoration, honoring the bison as a national icon.

The key to promoting genetic diversity is the “DOI Bison Metapopulation Management Strategy”, which requires genetic analysis of all the herds involved in the federally controlled lands, synthesis of that data into a master management plan, and implementation by selectively transferring bison from herd to herd. This is where Sara’s expertise comes in; she is the genetic expert on the task force charged with developing this strategy. In addition, the data base storing and managing this information is being developed in the Fort Collins Science Center, with her as liaison. It has been fascinating to get a first-hand report on the development of the strategy during its early stages.

The largest herd on federal land is also the most famous one, the 4,200 bison occupying the full 2.2 million acres of Yellowstone National Park. The density of one bison per 525 acres may be deceptive, but in reality the bison do have full run of the entire park. Second biggest herd is 900 bison on 64,000 acres in Badlands National Park (one per seventy-one acres). Smallest is the ten-bison “display” herd at Chickasaw National Recreation Area on 84 acres (one per 8.4 acres). This is a satellite herd of the 576-bison herd on 59,000 acres in the Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge (one per 102 acres). The small pasture for the Chickasaw herd is insufficient forage; the herd survives on supplemental feeding.

Reading about the Chickasaw herd immediately reminded me of our captive herd at South Park. It would be overwhelmed by an 84-acre pasture; its “stomping ground” of seven acres for nine to eleven bison is barely big enough for a morning stroll. The herd was originally established in 1927 and apparently has done a good job of maintaining genetic diversity by regularly trading stock with other herds. It would be interesting to compare their DNA information with that of the large federal herds Sara is monitoring.

The 11,000 bison on federal land is a small portion of the total herd nationally. It is believed that there were tens of millions of bison on the Great Plains in the mid-nineteenth century and that Bill Cody and his cohorts reduced that total to fewer than one thousand until a handful of people, with varying motivations, set out to preserve the breed. Today there are perhaps 20,000 “wild” bison in conservation herds and several hundred thousand domesticated “cousins” being raised for slaughter.  

An important facet of the DOI Initiative is its cooperation with Native American tribes who want to maintain their own herds, seeded by wild bison from the federal herds. Sara visited the Flathead Reservation in Montana and met representatives of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes to discuss their participation in the Metapopulation project. By coincidence, Ken Burns was there at the same time, and she had the pleasure of meeting him. The motivation for many of these tribes is cultural, a desire to reincorporate the bison into the spiritual life of the Native Americans. In many cases the bison was more than a valuable source of meat, furs, and horns; it was revered for the massive contribution it made to their lives.

One of the major focal points of the Native American Exhibit at the Bridgeville Area History Center is a magnificent Ken Schwartz miniature of two Native Americans attempting to bring down a buffalo. Both braves are partially disguised by wolf heads and skins. Mr. Schwartz noted on the base of the sculpture, “Before the advent of horses, the Indians hunted buffalo on foot”. The opportunity to see this piece close-up warrants a visit to the Center.

There was a time when the buffalo seemed destined to be only a memory, memorialized on the “Buffalo Nickel”. I’m delighted at this initiative to conserve bison, and proud of Sara’s role in it.