The state Department of Fish and Game has trucked 53 wood bison into Alaska from a national park in Canada.

It's part of a bid to bring back the species after it died out in the state.

The bison are being held in pens at the Alaska Conservation Wildlife Center south of Anchorage.

They will remain under quarantine for at least two years to ensure they are free of disease before being released into the wild.

The first group of wood bison will be released in the Minto Flats northwest of Fairbanks in 2010.

That's if all goes according to plan, says state wildlife biologist Bob Stephenson in Fairbanks.

He's been working on the bison restoration plan since the early 1990s.