Well, maybe not outwardly, but our bet is the herd of nearly 200 bison, living almost exclusively in the northern area of Grand Canyon National Park, are at least resting a whole lot easier, knowing their beleaguered numbers will not be thinned this year.
Last year, skilled volunteers selected through a lottery, tried to downsize the herd that had been trampling park meadows and archaeological sites on the canyon’s North Rim.
But try as they might move the massive animals to the adjacent forest, by the volunteers introducing the sound of gunfire, the sly ol’ bison apparently would have none of the tricky shenanigans- all they did was move for just a short time, then returned the next day. I mean, you must give the wily bison credit, after all, they were named America’s national mammal in 2018 and even are shown on the National Park Service logo.
So now the plan for managing the Grand Canyon herd is to work with other wildlife agencies and groups to effectively try to reduce their numbers.
Bison in the U.S. once numbered in the millions over hundreds of years but declined significantly because of massive hunting and genetic defects, and nearly became extinct.
All total, the U.S. currently has an estimated 11,000 bison roaming in about a dozen states.
The largest bison herd is approximately 5,500 in the 3,500-square-mile Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho. And they, too, are developing their wildlife management plan, working with Native American tribes and state agencies to find solutions to reduce the number of bison.