The restoration of healthy herds of an iconic yet "functionally extinct" species and the prairies it once thrived on is the focus of a newly formed working group, the U.S. Department of the Interior announced recently.
The DOI is using the Secretary of the Interior's Order 3410: Restoration of American Bison and the Prairie Grasslands and $25 million in funding from the Inflation Reduction Act to "empower its bureaus and partners to use the best available science and Indigenous Knowledge to help restore bison across the country," the agency announced March 3.
"While the security of the species is a conservation success worth celebration, bison remain functionally extinct to both grassland systems and the human cultures with which they coevolved," the DOI states in the announcement. "Today’s announcement will help advance bison restoration efforts to grasslands, which can enhance soil development, restore native plants and wildlife, and promote carbon sequestration, providing benefits for agriculture, outdoor recreation, and Tribes."
Order 3410 established the Bison Working Group (BWG), which includes representatives from the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), National Park Service (NPS), and U.S. Geological Survey.
The BWG is tasked with creating the Bison Shared Stewardship Plan, a "comprehensive framework for American bison restoration," the announcement states. Strengthening long-term partnerships in bison conservation and working closely with Tribes to prioritize their efforts to develop bison herds owned and managed by the Tribes are to be cornerstones of the stewardship plan, the DOI reports.
The Order also instructed the BIA to collaborate with the BWG, FWS and NPS to form a Bison Management Apprenticeship program, the announcement reports, "to ensure that Tribes that manage bison herds on their own lands or through co-stewardship agreements will benefit from training and knowledge sharing to support talent and capacity in their communities, including opportunities for hands-on experience supported by national parks and national wildlife refuges."
The DOI is directing $25 million from the Inflation Reduction Act to conserving bison and other native animal and plant species and their grassland ecosystems. The investments will support establishing new bison herds, transferring bison to Tribes and collaborating with Tribes on co-stewardship agreements for bison management, according to the DOI.
“The American bison is inextricably intertwined with Indigenous culture, grassland ecology and American history,” Interior Sec. Deb Haaland said in the announcement. “While the overall recovery of bison over the last 130 years is a conservation success story, significant work remains to not only ensure that bison will remain a viable species but also to restore grassland ecosystems, strengthen rural economies dependent on grassland health and provide for the return of bison to Tribally owned and ancestral lands.”
More than 60 million American bison once roamed North America, primarily in the central part of the what is now the United States, the DOI reports. The animal was vital to many Indigenous cultures, which relied on bison for food and shelter, as well as cultural and religious practices. Uncontrolled hunting and U.S. policies of eradication and "intentional harm against and control of Tribes" nearly drove the bison to extinction, and only a few hundred remained in 1889, according to the DOI report.
"The persecution of bison contributed to the decline of healthy grassland ecosystems and, eventually, to the Dust Bowl in the 1930s," the report states." The loss of the keystone species, coupled with land conversion, led to declines of other important grassland wildlife, such as migratory birds and pollinators."
Support from President Theodore Roosevelt in the early 20th century and efforts by conservationists and scientists helped to restore bison populations; in the century since, conservation and restoration programs have allowed bison populations to reach approximately 15,000. The DOI manages 11,000 herds on 4.6 million acres of public lands in 12 states, the agency reports.
