Note: I use bison and buffalo interchangeably. They are two different names for the same species, Bison bison. I grew up saying buffalo, but started using bison as I learned that some academics prefer to use bison.

I’ve always been fascinated by bison. I remember seeing them for the first time at the North Carolina Zoo, near where I grew up. I became enamored with the thick fur that covered their shoulders and head much like the blankets I would wrap around my head as I wandered around my parents’ house on cold, winter nights.

They seemed so other-worldly. I think that I was enthralled by them because they showed up as artistic symbols of a distant western prairie devoid of trees, fences, or buildings, but full of bison – so different from anything that I had ever seen. This imagined landscape was alien from my home in North Carolina. I could hardly picture the giant, fuzzy herds wandering through the mixed hickory-oak-pine forest and small, patchy southeastern grasslands. I gradually became more and more interested in them as I noticed their symbol everywhere: the National Park Service logo, the new buffalo nickel, the Wyoming state flag, and any western themed curio shop that I would find myself in.

I didn’t see my first wild buffalo until I drove across the country for a job opportunity studying the impacts of hydroelectric dams on various fish species at the U.S. Department of Energy in Washington state. My friend and I saw several sizable herds in the Badlands and Yellowstone National Parks where they sauntered across the roadway unperturbed by the line of traffic backed up behind them. Once, I even had to reverse away from one. A large truck in front of me honked at a bull bison to convince it to move out of the road. The truck quickly skirted around the bull, leaving just us in my small Honda and an annoyed bison on a lonely Wyoming roadway.

“These furry, horned giants that I assumed only roamed the sea of grasses that populate the middle of this continent had actually once lived in my home state of North Carolina! They of course covered all of the plains states and provinces of the U.S. and Canada, but their range also extended from western North Carolina down to northern Florida, throughout northern parts of Mexico, and the less forested parts of the western U.S.”  

This trip was when I started to learn the full history of the American bison (Bison bison), the immensity of their impact and connection to the ecology of this continent as well as their deep relationship to the Indigenous peoples of what is now called North America. What first drew me in was a map of the historic range of bison, which was massive! These furry, horned giants that I assumed only roamed the sea of grasses that populate the middle of this continent had once lived in my home state of North Carolina! They not only covered all of the plains states and provinces of the U.S. and Canada, but their range also extended from western North Carolina down to northern Florida, throughout northern parts of Mexico, and the less forested parts of the western U.S. To my surprise, they even once lived in western New York and in parts of the Alaskan interior. It turns out the vast majority of this continent was once inhabited by bison.

The second thing that caught my attention was when I learned about, and became disconcerted, about the decimation of the once abundant species. It is estimated that around 60 million bison roamed the continent, providing food, shelter, and much more through their deeply rooted relationship with Indigenous nations prior to the arrival of Europeans. Today the number of buffalo in the U.S. averages around 500,000, but just over a century ago they faced extinction with numbers in the low hundreds. The introduction of European cattle (Bos taurus) and European horses (Equus ferus caballus) competing for grazing resources stressed bison populations. Also, although some settlers shot bison for their pelts and meat, their eventual extirpation was a deliberate American government strategy. The government’s intention was to starve Indigenous peoples in the west and eliminate the foundation for many Indigenous nations’ economies since buffalo is used for housing, clothing, fuel, tools, and material for trade. The U.S. government would encourage unsustainable bison hunting through a few methods including handing out free ammunition to settlers and tourists. This strategy was used to make Indigenous tribes on the plains less able to fight encroaching U.S. armies and settlers and force acquiescence to worse treaty terms. The stark loss felt by the absence of the buffalo can be partially measured by the immense sense of reconnection experienced when buffalo are brought back to tribal land through the U.S. and Canada.

This decimation happened rapidly (within about a century) and the herds that once numbered in the tens of millions dwindled to a few hundred. The survivors were corralled into small areas by settlers wanting to save the last remaining buffalo. Under the reservation system several Indigenous individuals like ʔAtatíc̓eʔ (Falcon Robe) and his son Ɫatatí (Little Falcon Robe) brought buffalo back to their reservations for safe-keeping and breeding.

The herds of native bison that used to roam the continent were quickly replaced by non-native cattle and the endless prairie was tilled into farmland. Cattle, though they act similarly to bison, notably do not have the same impact on the environment. The third time my interest in bison was piqued just a few months ago when I picked up the book The Ecological Buffalo by Wes Olsen and Johane Janelle. This book, full of beautiful bison photos, explains the integral links between the American bison and the landscapes of the North American continent.

Olsen and Janelle posit that while wild prairie restoration has become seen as beneficial and necessary in many western U.S. states and Canadian provinces, it has become more and more apparent that successful restoration will require the recovery of the American bison in its native landscape. Bison, in tandem with other great prairie ecosystem shapers like fire, dramatically increase the biodiversity of the grasslands. Historically, Indigenous peoples would develop management plans where they would set fire to the prairies. The burned earth would encourage fresh, new plant growth. This new growth is a favorite treat of buffalo, and this new growth would attract buffalo herds where the Indigenous resource managers would hunt them. They are ruminants, like cows, (think grass-eating, cud chewing) and they graze on enormous amounts of native grasses which are hard for other animals to digest. Grasses grow quickly and are emblematic of the prairie ecosystem. But, if left unchecked, they outcompete all other plants. As bison graze, they allow for slower growing flowering plants to thrive and provide food for pollinating insects, birds, and small mammals as well as breath-taking spring meadows.

Once Bison arrive, how do they shape the environment? Bison will rub their furry coats against small trees in the spring and early summer to shed their thick winter layers. This often kills young trees which stops forest encroachment on prairie ecosystems as well as increases the diversity of the landscape and edge ecosystems, which opens up opportunities for a wide range of other species to thrive.

Bison will walk great distances together as giant herds trampling and trudging the ground. This is a slight but important difference to cattle, the native bison stray further from water sources and travel greater distances than cows. Their hooves churn the earth, breaking up roots and aerating the soil. As a result, plants grow better and new seeds plant themselves, allowing them to have a head start in the spring.

Bison will also roll in the mud and dirt. This is called wallowing. I too like to wallow, but bison definitely do it better. They leave deep impressions in the ground as they roll to itch their backs, remove fur, and give themself a good enough dust or mud bath to dissuade biting insects. These favored wallow pits are still present and visible in prairies that haven’t seen bison in over a century and are still used by other animal species. These pits increase biodiversity as they allow plants that need more shade, protection from the wind, or more water to thrive. The pits are also used as refuges for small and large mammals alike, and as watering holes, hide-outs, den sites, and of course wallow pits.

Finally, bison, like everybody else, poop. You can imagine the amount of nutrients that 60 million bison would have left behind as they grazed and defecated on their journey across the continent. Their scat acts as fertilizer, but also as a vehicle of seed dispersal. Seeds that were ingested would get deposited miles away from their parent plants. These bison patties also were and still are the food sources and nurseries of an unimaginable amount of insects and other arthropods. Studies have shown that one bison could support up to a quarter of its biomass in bugs. And you might think, ew, bugs! But as bison and their bug-supporting poop have dwindled, so did all the birds that depended on those bugs as food sources. The fertilizing effect of the bison scat also allows the iconic sagebrush (Artemisia sp.) to flourish wherever the bison defecates. This web of ecological effects is still only beginning to be understood by western science and the importance of recovering bison herds to the landscape is becoming a clear necessity for restoration of other native endangered species.

The future for bison looks bright but is not insured. From a few hundred to around 500,000, the plains bison are recovering. Ninety percent of that population is privately owned at ranches and is raised as livestock. The rest of the bison population is spread out in small herds that are managed by state, federal, and Tribal governments. The return of herds to Tribal lands is a huge achievement. Eighty-five Tribes now have bison back on their lands, totaling around 20,000 animals. Many of these bison came from U.S. federal agencies that had been working on increasing bison numbers for the past century. As the herds got too big, they were given to Tribal governments and agencies. This effort of cooperation was heavily supported and spearheaded by the InterTribal Buffalo Council which has been instrumental in bison recovery in the United States as well as in reconnecting Indigenous peoples and bison. In recent years, many Tribal nations have restarted bison hunts which promotes a resurgence in cultural practices and increases Tribal food sovereignty. The importance of reconnecting the sacred bison and Indigenous peoples in North America cannot be overstated, and as bison populations grow, this is becoming a reality. Tribal herds are in for expansion in the coming years. The U.S. Interior Secretary, Deb Haaland, allocated $25 million for a new restoration and resilience framework involving bison and Tribes, saying:

“The American bison is inextricably intertwined with Indigenous culture, grassland ecology and American history. While the overall recovery of bison over the last 130 years is a conservation success story, significant work remains to not only ensure that bison will remain a viable species but also to restore grassland ecosystems, strengthen rural economies dependent on grassland health and provide for the return of bison to Tribally owned and ancestral lands.”

However, as bison populations continue to recover, their need and ability to wander is becoming an ever more prominent point of contention. Bison naturally traverse large distances, which is difficult in a western landscape dominated by fenced ranches, highways, towns, and farms. Currently bison are rarely allowed to roam free. To keep their populations to a manageable size for the managed lands they occupy, hunts are being permitted once again. This has caused a massive contention over the hunt outside of Yellowstone National Park between private landowners, conservationists, ranchers, and Indigenous hunters. Many ranchers do not want free-roaming bison because they could transport diseases to cattle. Additionally, some leaders in Montana are also worried about increased safety risks as a result of interactions with bison and the public. Although, others in Montana are dreaming of a huge increase of bison in the state. The American Prairie Preserve wants to create a three million acre ecologically functional preserve with a herd of 10,000 bison that would be ecological functional and would involve public, private, and tribal lands.

“However, as bison populations continue to recover, their need and ability to wander is becoming an ever more prominent point of contention. Bison naturally traverse large distances, which is difficult in a western landscape dominated by fenced ranches, highways, towns, and farms.” 

Good news is even present in the recovery of the other North American subspecies of bison, the woodland bison (Bison bison athabascae). This bison inhabited interior Canada and Alaska and was hunted until its population was under 300 individuals. Recovery efforts by Canada in partnership with Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center, Alaska Department of Fish & Game, and Alaska Natives have reintroduced woodland bison back into Alaska. Their herd is growing with a population that is around 51% calves and yearlings, forecasting large future growth.

The American bison is a huge conservation and recovery success story, and one that could be used as a lesson for other large mammal restoration projects in North America. But the herds that exist are mostly contained in areas that are far smaller than their natural range. Their recovery and freedom to roam could be a huge boon to recover interior grassland ecosystems as well as many endangered prairie species that have deep connections with the bison. Their reintroduction has also only focused on a few of the habitats where they once roamed. Could they one day be reintroduced to the mountains of my home in North Carolina like elk have been? But will American society allow that? We don’t stop the movement of any other large mammalian species on the continent like deer, elk, moose, or bear. So, will we be okay waking up and seeing a herd of bison in our front yards or blocking our commutes to work? Or will we keep bison contained, only to remain as a captured icon of the American west?

I hope that we can find a safe compromise for bison to soon take up more and more of their native range on this continent. What a huge change that would be felt by the re-establishment of the herds. A change that would be a mirror to the decimation that happened just over a century ago; perhaps, one day accompanying the many white-tailed deer, wild turkey, and raccoons outside my parents’ house, there might be a few buffalo grazing.