Wood bison, a northern relative of the plains bison once common in lower latitudes of North America, were hunted into oblivion in Alaska more than 100 years ago, but a new decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) will allow a program to reintroduce them in parts of the Interior.
Last week, the USFWS downgraded the conservation status of wood bison from "endangered" to "threatened."
Courthouse News reports that the government based its downgrade in part on a finding that the number of bison in disease-free herds in Canada far exceeds the baseline goal for population sustainability identified in the recovery plan.
There are no independent, wild herds in the United States, but the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center (AWCC), at the head of Turnagain Arm south of Anchorage, keeps a captive herd, the nation's largest.
In collaboration with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) for nearly a decade, the center has been conducting a breeding program, starting with 13 wood bison from Canada. The resulting herd numbers 105 animals today, which includes additional Canadian imports.
The center and Fish and Game aim to reintroduce the animals into the wild and maintain a population strong enough to allow hunting. The restoration program had been put on hold several years, most recently in 2011, pending a reevaluation of the bison's Endangered Species Act status in light of success in Canada's bison restoration plan.
Read more from AWCC's Jordan Schaul, writing for National Geographic, here, and a brief from Courthouse News, here.