American Bison - Buffalo Field Campaign

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NBA National Bison Association, U.S.A NBMB Northern Buffalo Management Board, Canada NBR National Bison Range, Montana NCC Nature Conservancy of Canada Ne Effective population size NEP Nonessential experimental population NEPA National Environmental Policy Act, U.S.A NER National Elk Refuge, Wyoming NGO Non-governmental organisation NPS U.S. National Park Service NRCS Natural Resource Conservation Service, U.S.A NWT Northwest Territories, Canada NTENR Northwest Territories Environment and Natural Resources OIE World Organization for Animal Health PANP Prince Albert National Park, Saskatchewan PCA Parks Canada Agency PES Pay-for-Environmental Services PHVA Population and Habitat Viability Assessment PPAs Private protected areas PVA Population viability analysis RAC Research Advisory Committee for bison disease research in WBNP RDR Reportable Diseases Regulations ˆr Observed exponential rate of population increase r m Maximum exponential rate of population increase RMEF Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation SAGARPA Secretary of Agriculture, Livestock Production, Rural Development, Fishery and Food, Mexico SCBD Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity SDGFP South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks SEMARNAT Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales, México SENASICA Servicio Nacional de Sanidad, Inocuidad y Calidad Agroalimentaria, Mexico xiv American Bison: Status Survey and Conservation Guidelines 2010 SERI Society for Ecological Restoration International SERS Society for Ecological Restoration Science SHNGP Sully’s Hill National Game Preserve, North Dakota SRL Slave River Lowlands, Northwest Territories, Canada SNMNH Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History SWAP State Wildlife Action Plan (name varies by state) TB Tuberculosis TGPP Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, Oklahoma TNC The Nature Conservancy TRNP Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota TSE Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies TESF Turner Endangered Species Fund USNARA U.S. National Archives and Records Administration USDA U.S. Department of Agriculture USDOI U.S. Department of the Interior USFS U.S. Forest Service USFWS U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service USGSBRD U.S. Geological Survey Biological Resources Division VJDHSP Voluntary Johne’s Disease Herd Status Programme (for cattle) WBNP Wood Buffalo National Park, Alberta and Northwest Territories WBP Wainwright Buffalo Park, Alberta WCNP Wind Cave National Park, South Dakota WCS Wildlife Conservation Society WHO World Health Organization WMNWR Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma WWF World Wildlife Fund YDOE Yukon Department of the Environment YNP Yellowstone National Park, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming YT Yukon Territory, Canada
The publication of this IUCN American Bison Status Survey and Conservation Guidelines is timely owing to a recent convergence of factors: new research findings on bison genetics and ecology, assessment and awareness of the precarious status of many bison conservation herds, new initiatives by government and non-profit institutions to improve management of existing herds and to establish conservation herds, growing interest among Native Americans in restoring bison as part of their cultural heritage, and an increasing awareness by the commercial bison industry that conservation of wild-type bison is in the long- term interest of the industry. There is also a growing body of evidence that the biodiversity of ecosystems within the original range of bison can benefit from bison restoration, from the desert grasslands of northern Mexico, through the Great Plains, to the lowland meadow systems of interior Alaska. The ten chapters of this book examine these and other aspects of the biology and conservation of the species, and offer guidelines for what we anticipate will be a new era of bison conservation in North America. Under the auspices of the IUCN American Bison Specialist Group, twenty-nine chapter coordinators and contributors share their knowledge and ideas in this comprehensive review of the diverse topics that need to be considered by researchers, managers, policy makers and others interested in restoring and conserving this magnificent animal. In the introductory chapter, C. Gates and P. Gogan explain the overall purpose of the IUCN American Bison Specialist Group and this document. The Specialist Group is composed of more than 60 registered members and numerous collaborators from the three nations comprising North America and ranging from Chihuahua State in Mexico to the State of Alaska. The Group operates under the aegis of the IUCN Species Survival Commission. The authors note that the purpose of this volume is to contribute to the development of strategies and actions that, where feasible, will conserve and ecologically restore bison as wildlife throughout their original range. Gates and Gogan acknowledge that large-scale restoration of bison is an ambitious and complex undertaking, perhaps unparalleled in species conservation efforts in North America. Their introduction briefly reviews the major issues facing bison conservation and the strong influence that bison historically exerted on ecosystems across much of the continent. Apart from the ecological importance of bison, the social and cultural significance of bison restoration is recognised when they state, “no other wildlife species has exercised such a profound influence on the human history of a continent.” Executive Summary Curtis H. Freese and C. Cormack Gates In Chapter 2, B. Potter and co-authors trace the evolutionary and recent history of bison, beginning with the earliest fossil records showing bison in Asia at least two million years ago, and continuing with their expansion, much later, into North America across the Bering Land Bridge during the middle Pleistocene. The evolution and distribution of various bison species and subspecies in North America present a complex story shaped, in large part, by bison habitat and ranges that shifted widely with advancing and retreating continental ice sheets. The result of this evolutionary history today is two species, the European bison and American bison, and two subspecies of American bison, wood bison and plains bison. Five hundred years ago, tens of millions of plains bison probably inhabited North America, from southern Canada to northern Mexico, and from nearly the west coast to the east coast, with the Great Plains as their centre of abundance. Wood bison, because of a more restricted boreal forest habitat, were much less numerous. For many native peoples of North America, thousands of years of coexistence had led to bison being central to their survival and cultures, a history that Potter et al. explore in some detail. European colonisation of North America brought rapid change to both bison and Native Americans. Commercial hunting, competition with livestock, killing of bison as government policy to subjugate Indian tribes, and other causes led to the precipitous decline of both plains and wood bison. By the end of the 19th Century a few hundred bison survived in various small captive and wild herds across North America. Fortunately, conservation efforts quickly emerged in both Canada and the United States (U.S.) and, once protected, bison numbers began to recover. Their iconic status now seems to be recovering also. Potter et al. echo what other authors of this volume have expressed when they note that no other North American species holds such great cultural and political significance. In Chapter 3, D. Boyd and co-authors review the confusing and disputed evidence for, and diverse opinions about, bison taxonomy. Agreement seems to end with the consensus that bison belong to the family Bovidae. Much of the debate centres on whether bison belong to the genus Bos, the genus of cattle, guar, yak, and oxen, or to their own genus, Bison. Both names are currently used in the scientific literature. Differences of opinion are largely based on the importance of morphological (phenetic) versus molecular (phylogenetic) lines of evidence, and on historical precedence and usage. Within Bison, there are also some people who question the designation of European bison and American bison as separate species. Boyd et al. conclude American Bison: Status Survey and Conservation Guidelines 2010 xv
Page 1 and 2: American Bison Status Survey and Co
Page 3 and 4: American Bison Status Survey and Co
Page 5 and 6: Table of Contents Acknowledgements
Page 7 and 8: 6.3 Demographics ..................
Page 9 and 10: 9.6 Active Management: Handling, He
Page 11 and 12: This manuscript is the product of m
Page 13: ABS American Bison Society ABSG Ame
Page 17 and 18: and foothills. Bison have a profoun
Page 19 and 20: Chapter 1 Introduction: The Context
Page 21 and 22: composition and function, as well a
Page 23 and 24: Chapter 2 History of Bison in North
Page 25 and 26: Figure 2.1 Original ranges of plain
Page 27 and 28: Charles Alloway (Manitoba), Charles
Page 29 and 30: nomadic “Plains Indian Culture”
Page 31 and 32: Chapter 3 Taxonomy and Nomenclature
Page 33 and 34: demonstrate that Bison and Bos were
Page 35 and 36: from their original habitat near th
Page 37 and 38: Chapter 4 Genetics As a science, po
Page 39 and 40: Selection for diversity in one syst
Page 41 and 42: cross, however, the latter is more
Page 43 and 44: the conservation of the wild specie
Page 45 and 46: Chapter 5 Reportable or Notifiable
Page 47 and 48: one) followed by its widespread dis
Page 49 and 50: cattle at similar levels to S19 (Ch
Page 51 and 52: long as 156 days post-infection. So
Page 53 and 54: and elk herds migrate across severa
Page 55 and 56: These concepts are being developed
Page 57 and 58: Chapter 6 General Biology, Ecology
Page 59 and 60: leave the herd prior to calving or
Page 61 and 62: historically dependent on a combina
Page 63 and 64: 6.2.1.2.1 Northern mixed grasslands
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woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus
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season: Wolfe and Kimball (1989) re
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Table 6.4 Age-specific reproductive
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6.3.4 Population growth rates The r
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Chapter 7 Numerical and Geographic
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Sixty-two plains bison and 11 wood
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Figure 7.4 Representation of plains
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Plate 7.3 Male plains bison sparrin
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Chapter 8 Legal Status, Policy Issu
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administrations, and the increasing
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Table 8.1 Current legal status of p
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Table 8.1 (continued) Country/ Stat
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8.4 Legal and Policy Obstacles Hind
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8.5 Overcoming Obstacles to the Eco
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indigenous peoples’ land (Dudley
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3) Develop outreach to state and fe
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8.5.5.3 Mexico Since the original r
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Chapter 9 Conservation Guidelines f
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animals are proportionately removed
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6. Maintenance number and growth ra
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4. Health and disease All attempts
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Table 9.4 Important considerations
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northern bison herds, managers shou
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may not have been validated. Testin
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2) A tendency to flee if approached
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2. Determine the required scope of
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Chapter 10 Guidelines for Ecologica
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• Creating education, awareness a
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10.3 The “Ecosystem Approach” f
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anywhere without engaging stakehold
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Interventions (e.g., supplemental f
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Agabriel, J. and Petit, M. 1996. Qu
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Byerly, R.M., Cooper, J.R., Meltzer
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Dragon D.C. and Rennie, R.P. 1995.
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Gilpin, M.E. and Soulé, M.E. 1986.
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Joern, A. 2005. Disturbance by fire
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Matthews, S.B. 1991. An assessment
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Possingham, H.P., Davies, I., Noble
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Shaw, J.H. 1995. How many bison ori
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van Zyll de Jong, C.G. 1986. A Syst
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Appendix A North American conservat
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Plains bison (continued) State/Prov
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INTERNATIONAL UNION FOR CONSERVATIO
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