List of bison conservation herds in North America

Conservation of American bison is heavily tied with conservation herds and the protected areas they roam. American bison occupy less than one percent of their historical range with fewer than 20,000 bison in conservation herds on public, tribal or private protected lands. The roughly 500,000 animals that are raised for commercial purposes are not included unless the entity is engaged in conservation efforts.^[1]^[2]


Name	Location	Operator	Herd size
American Prairie	Montana	American Prairie Foundation	800+
Antelope Island State Park^[3]	Utah	Utah State Parks	200
Badlands National Park ^[3]	South Dakota	National Park Service	1000
Banff National Park^[3]	Alberta	Parks Canada	36
Battelle Darby Creek Metro Park	Ohio	Columbus and Franklin County Metro Parks	10
Bear Butte State Park	South Dakota	South Dakota Department of Game, Fish, and Parks	small
Bear River State Park^[3]	Wyoming	Wyoming Division of State Parks and Historic Sites	10
Blue Mounds State Park^[3]	Minnesota	Minnesota Department of Natural Resources	100
Broken Kettle Grasslands Preserve	Iowa	The Nature Conservancy	200
Buffalo Pound Provincial Park^[3]	Saskatchewan	Saskatchewan Environment, Parks Branch
Camp Pendleton bison herd	California	USMC (Camp Pendleton Game Warden's Office)	90
Camp Wainwright^[3]	Alberta	Department of National Defence (Canada)
Caprock Canyons State Park^[3]	Texas	Texas Parks and Wildlife Department	150
Catalina Island bison herd^[3]	California	Catalina Island Conservancy	100
Chickasaw National Recreation Area	Oklahoma	National Park Service	3
Clymer Meadow Preserve^[3]	Texas	The Nature Conservancy
Chief Mountain Wilderness Unit^[4]	Montana	Blackfeet Nation	25
Chippewa Cree Tribal Buffalo Pasture	Montana	Chippewa Cree	11
Chitina herd^[3]	Alaska	Alaska Department of Fish and Game
Copper River herd^[3]	Alaska	Alaska Department of Fish and Game
Crane Trust	Nebraska	Crane Trust	50+
Cross Ranch Nature Preserve^[3]	North Dakota	The Nature Conservancy	200
CSKT Bison Range	Montana	Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes	500
Custer State Park^[3]	South Dakota	South Dakota Department of Game, Fish, and Parks	1500
Daniels Park^[3]	Colorado	Denver Parks and Recreation	30
Delta Junction herd^[3]	Alaska	Alaska Department of Fish and Game
Elk Island National Park^[3]	Alberta	Parks Canada	315
Farewell Lake herd^[3]	Alaska	Alaska Department of Fish and Game
Fermilab bison herd^[3]	Illinois	U.S. Department of Energy	28
Finney Game Refuge^[3]	Kansas	Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks
Fort Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge^[3]	Nebraska	U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service	350
Fort Peck Indian Reservation	Montana	Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes	400
Fort Robinson State Park^[3]	Nebraska	Nebraska Game and Parks Commission	150
Fort Worth Nature Center and Refuge	Texas	Fort Worth, Texas	18
Genesee Park^[3]	Colorado	Denver Parks and Recreation	33
Grand Teton National Park–National Elk Refuge bison herd^[3]	Wyoming	National Park Service	1000
Grasslands National Park	Saskatchewan	Parks Canada	300
Hay-Zama Lakes Wildland Park	Alberta	Alberta Parks	400
Henry Mountains bison herd^[3]	Utah	Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Bureau of Land Management	400
Hot Springs State Park^[3]	Wyoming	Wyoming Division of State Parks and Historic Sites	15
House Rock State Wildlife Area^[3]	Arizona	Arizona Game and Fish Department
Innoko National Wildlife Refuge	Alaska	U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service	94
Janos Biosphere Reserve	Chihuahua	Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources	138
Kankakee Sands	Indiana	The Nature Conservancy	90+
Konza Prairie Biological Station^[3]	Kansas	The Nature Conservancy, Kansas State University	300
Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area^[3]	Kentucky	U.S. Forest Service	50
Maderas del Carmen	Coahuila	Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources	19
Maxwell Wildlife Refuge	Kansas	Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks	150
Medano–Zapata Ranch	Colorado	The Nature Conservancy
Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie	Illinois	U.S. Forest Service	50
Minneopa State Park	Minnesota	Minnesota Department of Natural Resources	30
Nachusa Grasslands	Illinois	The Nature Conservancy	130
Niobrara Valley Preserve	Nebraska	The Nature Conservancy
Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge^[3]	Iowa	U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service	50
Old Man on His Back Prairie and Heritage Conservation Area	Saskatchewan	Nature Conservancy of Canada	115
Ordway Prairie Preserve	South Dakota	The Nature Conservancy
Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park	Florida	Florida Department of Environmental Protection	10
Pink Mountain^[3]	British Columbia	British Columbia Department of Water, Lands and Air Protection
Prairie State Park^[3]	Missouri	Missouri Department of Natural Resources	100
Primrose Lake Air Weapons Range^[3]	Alberta–Saskatchewan	CFB Cold Lake, Department of National Defence (Canada)
Prince Albert National Park^[3]	Saskatchewan	Parks Canada	400
Raymond State Wildlife Area^[3]	Arizona	Arizona Game and Fish Department
Riding Mountain National Park^[3]	Manitoba	Parks Canada	40
Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge	Colorado	U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service	150
Sandhill Wildlife Area^[3]	Wisconsin	Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources	15
Sandsage Bison Range & Wildlife Area	Kansas	Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks	51
Smoky Valley Ranch	Kansas	The Nature Conservancy
Soapstone Prairie/Red Mountain	Colorado	Fort Collins, Colorado and Larimer County	100
Spring Lake Park Reserve	Minnesota	Dakota County Parks	12
Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve	Kansas	The Nature Conservancy, National Park Service	90
Tallgrass Prairie Preserve^[3]	Oklahoma	The Nature Conservancy	2500
Theodore Roosevelt National Park^[3]	North Dakota	National Park Service	800
Vermejo Park Ranch	New Mexico and Colorado	Ted Turner	1200
Wanuskewin Heritage Park	Saskatchewan	Wanuskewin Heritage Park Authority	12
Waterton Lakes National Park^[3]	Alberta	Parks Canada	6
White Horse Hill National Game Preserve^[3]	North Dakota	U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service	20
Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge^[3]	Oklahoma	U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service	650
Wildcat Hills State Recreation Area^[3]	Nebraska	Nebraska Game and Parks Commission
Wind Cave National Park	South Dakota	National Park Service	400
Wolakota Buffalo Range	South Dakota	Rosebud Economic Development Corporation	100
Wood Buffalo National Park	Alberta and Northwest Territories	Parks Canada	3000
Yellowstone National Park	Idaho, Montana, Wyoming	National Park Service	4800
Commercial herds are not included. Listed herds remove excess bison on a regular basis which may be slaughtered for commercial purposes.

References

^ "To Save Species from Extinction, We Must Consider More than Just Numbers". In These Times. 2019-11-17. Retrieved 2024-12-03.
^ Nargi, Lela. "Bison meat is hot. Ranchers are struggling to keep up". Mother Jones. Retrieved 2024-12-03.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t ^u ^v ^w ^x ^y ^z ^aa ^ab ^ac ^ad ^ae ^af ^ag ^ah ^ai ^aj ^ak ^al ^am ^an ^ao ^ap ^aq Boyd, Delaney P.; Gates, C. Cormack (Spring 2006). "A Brief Review of the Status of Plains Bison in North America" (PDF). Journal of the West. 45 (2): 15–21.
^ Scott, Tristan (2023-06-28). "Blackfeet Bring Bison Home to Chief Mountain". Flathead Beacon. Retrieved 2024-12-03.

[1] "To Save Species from Extinction, We Must Consider More than Just Numbers". In These Times. 2019-11-17. Retrieved 2024-12-03.

[2] Nargi, Lela. "Bison meat is hot. Ranchers are struggling to keep up". Mother Jones. Retrieved 2024-12-03.

[:0-3] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t ^u ^v ^w ^x ^y ^z ^aa ^ab ^ac ^ad ^ae ^af ^ag ^ah ^ai ^aj ^ak ^al ^am ^an ^ao ^ap ^aq Boyd, Delaney P.; Gates, C. Cormack (Spring 2006). "A Brief Review of the Status of Plains Bison in North America" (PDF). Journal of the West. 45 (2): 15–21.

[4] Scott, Tristan (2023-06-28). "Blackfeet Bring Bison Home to Chief Mountain". Flathead Beacon. Retrieved 2024-12-03.

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