Editing American bison (section)

==Range and population==
{{Further|Conservation of American bison}}
[[File:Bison herd grazing at the National Bison Range.jpg|thumb|Bison herd grazing at the [[CSKT Bison Range]] in Montana]]
Population estimates in 2010 ranged from 400,000 to 500,000, with approximately 20,500 animals in 62 conservation herds and the remainder in approximately 6,400 commercial herds.<ref>{{USFWS|article=Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants: 90-Day Finding on a Petition To List the Wild Plains Bison or Each of Four Distinct Population Segments as Threatened|url=https://www.fws.gov/policy/library/2011/2011-4121.html}}</ref><ref name="staff">{{cite news |author=staff |url=https://ens-newswire.com/restoring-north-americas-wild-bison-to-their-home-on-the-range/ |title=Restoring North America's Wild Bison to Their Home on the Range |publisher=Environment News Service |date=March 3, 2010 |access-date=February 19, 2011 }}</ref> According to the [[IUCN]], roughly 15,000 bison are considered wild, free-range bison not primarily confined by fencing.

[[The Nature Conservancy]] (TNC) has reintroduced bison to over a dozen nature preserves around the United States. In October 2016, TNC established its easternmost bison herd in the country, at [[Kankakee Sands]] nature preserve in [[Morocco, Indiana|Morocco]], [[Newton County, Indiana]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.southshorecva.com/discovernewtoncounty/bison/|title=Bison Come to Kankakee Sands|website=The Nature Conservancy|date=August 29, 2017 |access-date=September 20, 2018}}</ref> In 2014, U.S. Tribes and Canadian First Nations signed a treaty to help with the restoration of bison, the first to be signed in nearly 150 years.<ref>{{cite web|last=Stallard|first=Brian|date=September 25, 2014|title=Tribe Treaty to Restore Wild Bison up North|url=https://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/9183/20140925/tribe-treaty-restore-bison-up-north.htm|access-date=August 6, 2021|website=Nature World News|language=en}}</ref>

===Habitat and trails===
{{See also|Great bison belt}}
[[File:Bison fight in Grand Teton NP.jpg|thumb|right|Bison fighting in [[Grand Teton National Park]] in [[Moose, Wyoming]]]]
American bison live in river valleys, and on prairies and plains. Typical habitat is open or semiopen grasslands, as well as sagebrush, semiarid lands, and scrublands. Some lightly wooded areas are also known historically to have supported bison. Bison also graze in hilly or mountainous areas where the slopes are not steep. Though not particularly known as high-altitude animals, bison in the [[Yellowstone Park bison herd]] are frequently found at elevations above {{convert|8000|ft|m|order=flip|abbr=on}}, and the [[Henry Mountains bison herd]] is found on the plains around the [[Henry Mountains]], Utah, as well as in mountain valleys of the Henry Mountains to an altitude of {{convert|10000|ft|m|order=flip|abbr=on}}. Reintroduced plains bison in [[Banff National Park]] have been observed to roam mountainous areas, including high ridges and steep drainages, and archaeological finds indicate that some bison historically may have spent their lives within mountain ranges while others may have migrated in and out of mountain ranges.<ref>Banff National Park, [https://www.pc.gc.ca/en/pn-np/ab/banff/info/gestion-management/bison/blog Bison blog], ''August 11, 2018: Bison are exploring Banff in new ways'', ''April 30, 2019: This old bone - discovering the bison of Banff's past'', [[Parks Canada]]</ref>

Those in Yukon, Canada, typically summer in alpine plateaus above treeline.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Jung|first1=Thomas S.|last2=Stotyn|first2=Shannon A.|last3=Czetwertynski|first3=Sophie M.|date=2015|title=Dietary overlap and potential competition in a dynamic ungulate community in Northwestern Canada|url=https://wildlife.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/jwmg.946|journal=Journal of Wildlife Management|language=en|volume=79|issue=8|pages=1277–1285|doi=10.1002/jwmg.946|bibcode=2015JWMan..79.1277J |issn=1937-2817}}</ref> The first thoroughfares of North America, except for the time-obliterated paths of [[mastodon]] or [[muskox]] and the routes of the [[Mound builder (people)|mound builders]], were the traces made by bison and [[deer]] in seasonal migration and between feeding grounds and [[salt lick]]s. Many of these routes, hammered by countless hoofs instinctively following watersheds and the crests of ridges in avoidance of lower places' summer muck and winter snowdrifts, and often following the routes of least resistance across rolling terrain, were followed by the aboriginal North Americans as routes to hunting grounds and as warriors' paths. They were invaluable to explorers and were adopted by [[Territorial acquisitions of the United States|pioneers]].

Bison traces were characteristically north and south along seasonal migration routes, but several key east–west buffalo trails were used later as routes for railways. Some of these include the [[Cumberland Gap]] through the [[Blue Ridge Mountains]] to upper [[Kentucky]]. A heavily used [[Buffalo Trace (road)|trace]] crossed the [[Ohio River]] at the [[Falls of the Ohio National Wildlife Conservation Area|Falls of the Ohio]] and ran west, crossing the [[Wabash River]] near [[Vincennes, Indiana]]. In Senator [[Thomas Hart Benton (senator)|Thomas Hart Benton]]'s phrase saluting these sagacious path-makers, the bison paved the way for the railroads to the Pacific.<ref>{{cite book| last =Adams| first =James Truslow| title =Dictionary of American History| publisher =[[Charles Scribner's Sons]]| year =1940| location =New York| isbn =978-0-8226-0349-8}}</ref>

===Mexico===
[[File:Buffalo in Chihuahua.jpg|thumb|Bison herd grazing in [[Chihuahua (state)|Chihuahua]], Mexico]]
The southern extent of the historic range of the American bison includes northern Mexico and adjoining areas in the United States as documented by archeological records and historical accounts from Mexican archives from 700&nbsp;CE to the 19th century. The Janos-Hidalgo bison herd has ranged between Chihuahua, Mexico, and New Mexico, United States, since at least the 1920s.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Historic Distribution and Challenges to Bison Recovery in the Northern Chihuahuan Desert |author1=Rurik List |author2=Gerardo Ceballos |author3=Charles Curtin |author4=Peter J.P. Gogan |author5=Jesus Pacheco |author6=Joe Truett |journal=Conservation Biology |date=November 7, 2007 |volume=21 |number=6 |pages=1487–1494 |doi=10.1111/j.1523-1739.2007.00810.x |pmid=18173472 |bibcode=2007ConBi..21.1487L |s2cid=30828514 }}</ref> The persistence of this herd suggests that habitat for bison is suitable in northern Mexico. In 2009, genetically pure bison were reintroduced to the [[Janos Biosphere Reserve]] in northern [[Chihuahua (state)|Chihuahua]] adding to the Mexican bison population.<ref>{{cite journal |title=The Janos Biosphere Reserve, Northern Mexico |author1=Rurik List |author2=Jesus Pacheco |author3=Eduardo Ponce |author4=Rodrigo Sierra-Corona |author5=Gerardo Ceballos |journal=The Journal of International Wilderness |date=August 2010 |volume=16 |number=2 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/220048616 |via=ResearchGate |access-date=September 20, 2018 }}</ref> In 2020, the second herd was formed in [[Maderas del Carmen]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Cemex aids reintroduction of American bison in Northern Mexico |url=https://www.globalcement.com/news/item/10534-cemex-aids-reintroduction-of-american-bison-in-northern-mexico|access-date=August 11, 2020|website=Global Cement |date=March 4, 2020 }}</ref> A private reserve named Jagüey de Ferniza has kept bisons since before the above-mentioned reintroductions in Coahuila.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://jagueydeferniza.com/bisonte-americano|title=Fraccionamiento Campestre|access-date=May 13, 2021|archive-date=May 13, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210513030433/https://jagueydeferniza.com/bisonte-americano|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Introductions to Siberia===
[[File:Круиз Якутск - Ленские столбы - Тикси - Якутск, 2017 (043).jpg|thumb|Wood bison [[reintroduction]] program in Sakha Republic.]]
Since 2006, an outherd of wood bison sent from Alberta's [[Elk Island National Park]] was established in [[Sakha Republic|Yakutia]], [[Russia]]<ref>CBC News, [https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/alberta-bison-bound-for-russia-1.980607 "Alberta bison bound for Russia"], February 14, 2011</ref><ref>Edmonton Journal, [http://www2.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/cityplus/story.html?id=462cf6a8-bdb5-436b-a4a1-f0cd3c28896a "Elk Island wood bison big hit in Russia"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129103118/http://www2.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/cityplus/story.html?id=462cf6a8-bdb5-436b-a4a1-f0cd3c28896a |date=November 29, 2014 }}, Hanneke Brooymans, August 5, 2010</ref><ref>Edmonton Journal, [http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/story.html?id=a7279811-b2b0-4c54-9e95-e43b42c74e6c&k=0 "Bison troubles"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121110070338/http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/story.html?id=a7279811-b2b0-4c54-9e95-e43b42c74e6c&k=0 |date=November 10, 2012 }}, CanWest MediaWorks Publications, October 5, 2006</ref> as a practice of [[pleistocene rewilding]]; wood bison are the most similar to the extinct [[steppe bison]] species (''Bison priscus''). The bison are adapting well to the cold climate,<ref>CBC News, [http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/more-alberta-bison-to-roam-russia-1.1391014 "More Alberta bison to roam Russia"], September 23, 2013</ref> and Yakutia's Red List officially registered the species in 2019; a second herd was formed in 2020.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://tass.com/society/1070217|title=Wood bison to be listed in Yakutia's Red Data Book|website=TASS}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://dbr-yakutia.ru/v-suntarskom-uluse-zaselilis-lesnye/ |title=Archived copy |access-date=March 21, 2020 |archive-date=March 21, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200321073400/http://dbr-yakutia.ru/v-suntarskom-uluse-zaselilis-lesnye/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In [[Pleistocene Park]], there are also 24 plains bison as wood bison could not be acquired.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hubick |first=Bill |title=BioFiles - American Bison (<em>Bison bison</em>) |url=https://thebiofiles.com/info/5994 |access-date=2024-12-20 |website=thebiofiles.com}}</ref>{{clarify|date=April 2024}}