Project Profile: Facilitate Planning for Wood Bison Recovery in Eastern Alaska

The wood bison differs from the plains bison in several ways. The animals are larger and darker in color, with a taller, square hump, smaller, more pointed beard, and long, straight hair on the forehead (as opposed to frizzy hair).

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service / Laura Whitehouse

Inflation Reduction Act
Restoration | FY23 $525,000

The National Park Service (NPS) is partnering with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) to explore the potential for wood bison recovery actions in the Upper Tanana River area of Wrangell St. Elias National Park and Preserve. WCS is working with the NPS, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the US. Geological Survey (USGS), the State of Alaska, Alaska Native regional and village corporations, and academic institutions to lead community partnership and outreach, evaluate bison habitat suitability in the Upper Tanana River area of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve and assist the federal agencies with materials to inform tribal consultation and information sharing with Canada.

Why? There are two subspecies of American bison: the well-known plains bison and a more northerly subspecies, the wood bison. Wood bison once occurred throughout western Canada and across interior Alaska. They were extirpated from Alaska, likely as a result of over harvest and changing habitat and are listed as Threatened under the Endangered Species Act. In 2015, wood bison from Canada were released in the Lower Innoko/Yukon River area of western Alaska and currently number around 72 animals. This herd has struggled to establish at the periphery of viable wood bison range in Alaska. Consequently, there has been interest in understanding the potential for alternate, more productive, wood bison restoration sites. The Upper Tanana River area, which has a strong nexus with WRST and the Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge, holds potential as an additional site. The NPS and WCS are working to better understand the ecological and social suitability of this site to inform future wood bison recovery actions.

What Else? The Department of the Interior (DOI) is committed to both leadership and partnership to ensure the conservation and restoration of wild American bison. This project supports DOI’s 2020 Bison Conservation Initiative and the Secretarial Order 3410 on the Restoration of American Bison and the Prairie Grasslands.

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.