American Bison - Buffalo Field Campaign

suitable landscapes for wild elk. TNC is another conservation
organisation that has worked effectively with private landowners
and government to protect biodiversity and establish protected
areas through the use of land purchase and easements. TNC has
incorporated bison on several of these landscapes as a means of
providing ecosystem services.
8.5.2.2 State/provincial and federal governance
It is vital that governments (both elected officials and
government agencies) be engaged in policymaking and
legislation that support bison conservation. Government
agencies typically establish processes within their statutory
authority to evaluate and approve appropriate policy changes,
and recommend congressional and legislative changes,
necessary to conduct conservation. It will be necessary to
employ all of the instruments and processes of governments
to modify policies or legal statutes affecting bison conservation
at state, provincial, and federal levels. Government agencies
can also direct public funding and staff resources to support
implementation of a restoration project, and develop the
necessary interagency agreements to achieve conservation
goals. It is necessary that elected officials, as representatives
of the people, approve relevant policies, and to develop
a legislative framework that supports bison restoration,
by empowering the appropriate agencies to implement
management strategies for conserving bison as publicly owned
wildlife. For example, opportunities for bison restoration could
be increased by linking them to existing policies for land use
planning for ecological integrity. This will require building public
support for policy changes and acceptance by respective
constituencies that these governments serve, by using, for
example, extensive outreach, public advocacy and education.
It will also require educating and influencing key politicians and
government officials with critical decision making roles.
8.5.2.3 The private sector
There is substantial evidence of a massive change in land
ownership and shifting economies taking place in the Great
Plains and West, as well as some multiple-generation ranchers
who are entrepreneurial and ready for change (Powers 2001).
This shift in land ownership, economies, and visions brings
opportunities to create a new paradigm for managing rangelands
of high conservation value. Private landowners could have a
strong voice influencing elected and agency officials of the
need for policy changes that provide incentives for, and remove
barriers to, bison conservation on private lands. Therefore, there
is currently a substantial opportunity to engage landowners to
petition government for change.
Privately owned bison managed on privately owned land
typically present fewer regulatory obstacles than encountered
78 American Bison: Status Survey and Conservation Guidelines 2010
in restoring wild bison. However, private herds are typically
managed under a private property decision framework, which
may not lead to a bison herd of conservation value. It is
difficult to blend private property rights with the public trust
framework for wildlife without negotiation and compromise.
For effective cooperation, private owners of bison, or bison
habitat, would have to be willing to sacrifice certain rights and
submit to public review and scrutiny of operations. Government
partners would also need to be sensitive to private property
rights and the economic value of those rights for individuals or
corporations willing to engage in bison conservation. Effective
cooperation should include creative incentives, financial or
other, to encourage the private entrepreneur to engage in
bison conservation. For example, conservation easements
compensate land-owners for transferring specific property
rights. As noted earlier, a system for certifying producers who
follow conservation guidelines in managing their bison herds
may also provide an incentive.
To increase opportunities for large-scale conservation of bison,
there is a need for federal and state policy programmes that
foster the creation of private (for-profit or non-profit) protected
areas (PPAs). PPAs are one of the fastest growing forms of
land and biodiversity conservation in the world (Mitchell 2005).
However, unlike Australia and many countries in southern
Africa, the U.S. and Canadian federal governments and state
and provincial governments do not generally have policies
specifically supporting the creation of PPAs. The IUCN has
developed guidelines for, and explored policies and programmes
that support, the creation of PPAs (Dudley 2008). The danger
is that private bison reserves may quickly shift away from a
conservation mission and devolve to “private game farms” for
privately owned wildlife, for which most states have policies
and regulations. In addition, private nature reserves may be
vulnerable to change of ownership and subsequent shifts in their
mission unless clear legal instruments are in place to protect
conservation values. Clear guidelines for management and
accountability for the long-term security of private protected
areas is essential (Dudley 2008).
8.5.2.4 Indigenous peoples
Many protected landscapes and seascapes would not exist
without the deeply rooted cultural and spiritual values held
by the people that originally inhabited these places and who
often continue to care for them (Mallarach 2008). Mallarach
(2008) points out that safeguarding the integrity of traditional
cultural and spiritual interactions with nature is vital to the
protection, maintenance, and evolution of protected areas.
Hence, protected landscapes and seascapes are the tangible
result of the interaction of people and nature over time. In
recent years there have been many important developments
in conservation and protection of important landscapes on