Bison taking their first steps out onto the prairie.photo: Gib Myers
Like many of you, I’m looking forward to celebrating the Thanksgiving holiday with my family. It’s a wonderful opportunity to recreate the traditional American feast and celebrate life’s blessings and nature's bounty.
Perhaps no animal is more emblematic of the vast biological richness that was contained on this continent than the bison. The species once thundered across the land in herds numbering in the millions, through the Northern Great Plains, from Mexico north into Canada, and east as far as New York, Maryland, and Florida. By the late 1800s, however, hunting and the conversion of lands to cattle grazing and agriculture decimated the population. While the numbers have increased since then, small populations remain in parks, refuges, and private ranches in the Northern Great Plains.
Prairie land like this is the future home of the bison. photo: Dan Cox |
Last week, we joined with the American Prairie Foundation in releasing 16 genetically pure bison into 32,000 acres of its former natural habitat in northeast Montana. The release is a critical conservation milestone because recent research reveals that only about a half dozen genetically pure herds remain in North America. Most of these pure herds face problems that compromise their long-term conservation.
Enjoying a first meal in the wild. photo: Gib Myers |
On this Thanksgiving, I’m reminded of the Native American philosophy of planning for seven generations ahead. While we have an ambitious agenda to restore bison and other species to the region, with your continued support, we can take steps to ensure that in seven generations people will enjoy the wildlife spectacle that so dazzled our early settlers.
Happy Thanksgiving,
Carter S. Roberts
Happy Thanksgiving,
Carter S. Roberts
World Wildlife Fund
Buffalo People
Buffalos in Montana will be easy targets for newly licensed hunters.
Buffalos in Montana will be easy targets for newly licensed hunters.
MORE INFORMATION: The American bison once was found in most of Canada, the United States and parts of Mexico. Wild populations are now limited national parks and refuges. Bison can be found in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, National Bison Range in the Flathead Valley of Montana, the Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge in southwest Oklahoma, the Fort Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge in northern Nebraska, Sullys Hill National Wildlife Refuge in northwestern North Dakota, Walnut Creek National Wildlife Refuge in central Iowa and the Wood Buffalo National Park in Northwest Territory, Canada. http://www.nhptv.org/natureworks/americanbison.htm