Project Profile: Enhance Operational Capacity to Further National Park Service Bison Conservation Efforts

Bison at Yellowstone National Park.

NPS / Jacob W Frank

Inflation Reduction Act
Restoration | FY23-31 $3,375,000

The Department of the Interior’s (DOI) Bison Working Group, chaired by the National Park Service, will implement actions guided by the 2020 Bison Conservation Initiative (BCI). Actions will include completing and implementing a metapopulation management plan to establish genetic connections among isolated herds and completing national Tribal consultation and state engagement to produce a Shared Stewardship Strategy. Additionally, the Bison Working Group will initiate a central database and genetic sample archiving strategy and capacity. As a result of this project DOI will engage in and support partnerships with federal agencies, Tribes, States, and NGOs to create new herds, improve genetic conservation, and advance ecological and cultural restoration of bison.

Why? Once numbering 30 million and ranging across the U.S. and in Canada and Mexico, bison were hunted to near extinction, with only several hundred remaining by the 1870’s. The Department of the Interior is committed to both leadership and partnership to ensure the conservation and restoration of our National Mammal.

What Else? This project advances all five BCI goals 1) Wild, Healthy Bison Herds 2) Genetic Conservation, (3) Shared Stewardship, (4) Ecological Restoration, and (5) Cultural Restoration.

About the Inflation Reduction Act

The Inflation Reduction Act provides the National Park Service with an historic opportunity to address critical ecosystem resilience, restoration, and environmental planning needs. Projects funded in national parks represent broad-scale and impactful resource investments across every corner of our nation—from Alaska to Florida to Maine.