The American bison, also called the American buffalo or simply buffalo, is a species of bison native to North America. It is one of two extant species of bison, alongside the European bison. Its historical range, by 9000 BCE, is described as the great bison belt, a tract of rich grassland that ran from Alaska to the Gulf of Mexico, east to the Atlantic Seaboard, as far north as New York, south to Georgia, and according to some sources, further south to Florida, with sightings in North Carolina near Buffalo Ford on the Catawba River as late as 1750.
Elk Island National Park is a national park in Alberta, Canada, that played an important part in the conservation of the Plains bison. The park is administered by the Parks Canada Agency. This "island of conservation" is 35 km (22 mi) east of Edmonton, along the Yellowhead Highway, which goes through the park. It is Canada's eighth smallest in area but largest fully enclosed national park, with an area of 194 km2 (75 sq mi).
Sharon Butala is a Canadian writer and novelist.
Grasslands National Park is a Canadian national park located near the village of Val Marie, Saskatchewan, and one of 44 national parks and park reserves in Canada's national park system. This national park is north of the U.S. state of Montana and lies adjacent to the international boundary.
Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve is a United States National Preserve located in the Flint Hills region of Kansas, north of Strong City. The preserve protects a nationally significant example of the once vast tallgrass prairie ecosystem. Of the 400,000 square miles (1,000,000 km2) of tallgrass prairie that once covered the North American continent, less than 5% remains, primarily in the Flint Hills. Since 2009, the preserve has been home to the Tallgrass Prairie bison herd.
The Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie (MNTP) is a tallgrass prairie reserve and similarly preserved as United States National Grassland operated by the United States Forest Service. The first national tallgrass prairie ever designated in the U.S. and the largest conservation site in the Chicago Wilderness region, it is located on the site of the former Joliet Army Ammunition Plant between the towns of Elwood, Manhattan and Wilmington in northeastern Illinois. Since 2015, it has hosted a conservation herd of American bison to study their interaction with prairie restoration and conservation.
The Plains bison is one of two subspecies/ecotypes of the American bison, the other being the wood bison. A natural population of Plains bison survives in Yellowstone National Park and multiple smaller reintroduced herds of bison in many places in the United States as well as southern portions of the Canadian Prairies.
Wanuskewin Heritage Park is an archaeological site and non-profit cultural and historical centre of the First Nations just outside the city of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The faculty's name comes from the Cree language word ᐋᐧᓇᐢᑫᐃᐧᐣ or wânaskêwin, meaning, "being at peace with oneself". The site is a National Historic Site of Canada due to the importance of its archaeological resources representing nearly 6000 years of the history of the Northern Plains peoples. In 2016, it was announced that Wanuskewin intends to seek UNESCO World Heritage designation, which would make it the first World Heritage Site in Saskatchewan.
Chaplin Lake is a salt lake in the south-west corner of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The lake is in the Prairie Pothole Region of North America, which extends throughout three Canadian provinces and five U.S. states, and within Palliser's Triangle and the Great Plains ecoregion of Canada. Along the northern shore is the village of Chaplin, Chaplin Nature Centre, and a sodium sulphate mine owned and operated by Saskatchewan Mining and Minerals. The lake is divided into four sections by dykes built by the mining company. The Trans-Canada Highway runs along the northern shore and Highway 58 runs through the middle of the lake in a south to north direction.
The Fauna of Saskatchewan include several diverse land and aquatic animal species. From the multiplicity of invertebrates and vertebrates, two have been chosen as symbols of Saskatchewan. Cenozoic vertebrate fossils reveal the geological evolution of the interior plains and its prehistoric biogeography. Today, Saskatchewan's ecosystems range from the sub-arctic tundra of the Canadian Shield in north Saskatchewan to aspen parkland, the Mid-Continental Canadian forests in the centre of the province and grassland prairie. Fauna inhabit areas unique to their own specific and varied breeding, foraging and nesting requirements. With a large land and water area, and small population density, the ecoregions of Saskatchewan provide important habitat for many animals, both endangered and not. Naturalists observing wildlife have enumerated shrinking and growing wildlife populations. They advocate programs and methods to preserve or re-introduce endangered species and identify programs of control for outbreaks of wildlife populations. A broad diversity of wildlife habitats are preserved as parks and reserves protecting the feeding and breeding grounds of protected and indigenous fauna of Saskatchewan.
Buffalo Pound Lake is a eutrophic prairie lake in Saskatchewan, Canada, formed from glaciation about 10,000 years ago, on the Qu'Appelle River approximately 28 kilometres (17 mi) north of Moose Jaw and 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) north-east of Tuxford. The lake gets its name from the method used by First Nations people to capture the bison using the natural topography as corrals or buffalo pounds. Bison, once numbering more than 60 million on the prairies but almost extinct by 1900, were reintroduced into the area in 1972.
The Manitoba Tall Grass Prairie Preserve is located in southeastern Manitoba near Gardenton and Vita, this is about 50 kilometres (31 mi) south of Steinbach, Manitoba. It is one of the last remaining stands of tallgrass prairie in Manitoba and is part of the Tallgrass Aspen Parkland conservation area in Manitoba and Minnesota. Several groups and organizations help in land preservation in the Manitoba Tall Grass Prairie such as the Nature Conservancy of Canada, Nature Manitoba, Environment Canada, Manitoba Conservation and the Manitoba Habitat Heritage Corporation.
The Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) is a private, non-profit, charitable nature conservation and restoration organization based in Canada. Since its founding in 1962, the organization and its partners have protected 15,000,000 hectares of land and water across Canada, which includes the natural habitat of more than a quarter of the country’s endangered species. With offices in each province, NCC works at a local level with stakeholders and partners to secure parcels of land.
Old Man On His Back Plateau is a small plateau in the south-western region of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, south-east of the hamlet of Robsart. Old Man on His Back Prairie and Heritage Conservation Area covers much of the plateau.
The Niobrara Valley Preserve is a 56,000 acre conservation area in Brown and Keya Paha counties of Nebraska owned by The Nature Conservancy.
American Prairie is a prairie-based nature reserve in Central Montana, United States, on a mixed grass prairie ecosystem with migration corridors and native wildlife. This wildlife conservation area is being developed as a private project of the American Prairie Foundation (APF). This independent non-profit organization aims to include over 3 million acres (12,000 km2) through a combination of both private and public lands.
The Nachusa Grasslands is a 3,800 acres (1,500 ha) restored tallgrass prairie near Franklin Grove in Lee County and Ogle County, Illinois. It is managed by The Nature Conservancy staff and volunteers.
The conservation of bison in North America is an ongoing, diverse effort to bring American bison back from the brink of extinction. Plains bison, a subspecies, are a keystone species in the North American Great Plains. Bison are a species of conservation concern in part because they suffered a severe population bottleneck at the end of the 19th century. The near extinction of the species during the 1800s unraveled fundamental ties between bison, grassland ecosystems, and indigenous peoples’ cultures and livelihoods.# English speakers used the word buffalo for this animal when they arrived. Bison was used as the scientific term to distinguish them from the true buffalo. Buffalo is commonly used as it continues to hold cultural significance, particularly for Indigenous people. Recovery began in the late 1800s with a handful of individuals independently saving the last surviving bison.# Dedicated restoration efforts in the 1900s bolstered bison numbers though they still exist in mostly small and isolated populations. Expansion of the understanding of bison ecology and management is ongoing. The contemporary widespread, collaborative effort includes attention to heritage genetics and minimal cattle introgression.#
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