Frontier Expansion vs. the American Bison “The wilderness masters the colonist. It finds him a European in dress, industries, tools, modes of travel, and thought. It takes him from the railroad car and puts him in the birch canoe. It strips off the garments of civilization and arrays him in the hunting shirt and the moccasin. It puts him in the log cabin.... Before long he has gone to planting Indian corn and plowing with a sharp stick.... In short, at the frontier the environment is at first

Bison, like many species, have come a long way since the dawn of time.  Bison have grown along side humans and humans took advantage of the bison to near extinction.  Now bison have been struggling to survive but are luckily still around today but not in every place it used to be. The history of bison go far back to when species are still young on land. To start back in the beginning, bison came from the bovine family. It is a genetic family that mostly make up animals that resemble the common

The Problem The bison of Yellowstone National Park have been a controversial issue since man moved westward. The bison are a prime example of the tragedy of the commons, meaning that because they were not managed, they became extinct rather quickly. It was rapidly realized that the number of bison was decreasing to near extinction when fewer than 1,000 remained. Management practices improved, and the number of bison is nearly 500,000 today. However, many of these bison are not pure bred; the only

Andrew Isenberg said that “the destruction of the bison was not merely the result of human agency but the consequence of the interaction of human society with a dynamic environment.” Humans and nature both played a large role in the ultimate demise of the bison. Bison have been around for 10,000 years. Their ancestors where known as giant bison and they were hunted by the paleoindians that came over on the Bering Strait. The giant bison however became extinct because the paleoindians hunted them

organised bison hunts soon after 1820 (Gerhard, 1982). The hunts did not take long to become a major part of the Métis culture and heritage. This would end up being a major source of income for many decades. As the ice age glaciers started to melt, the bison and other animals started moving onto the plains, the Métis then used this migration to their advantage and started hunting them (Gerhard, 1982). Some First Nations, particularly the Dakota and Assiniboine, relied primarily on the bison, utilizing

The Wildlife Conservation Society is a widespread organization that mission is to protect and preserve the wilderness. They protect any type of wild animal that is near extinction or in any kind of danger. Although their major goal is to protect all wildlife that needs it, they know education is the first step into succeeding. The more people that are educated on the world’s problems, the more people will start to get involved and help out in any way they can. Knowing this, they also try and educate

Journal of Range Management. Vol. 54: 292-298. Singer et al. 1989. Drought, Fires, and Large Mammals. BioScience. Vol. 39: 716-722. Woodhouse et al. 2002. Drought in the Western Great Plains, 1845-56: Impacts and Implications. Bulletin of American Meteorological Society. Vol. 83: 1485-1492.

Bison Benefits Most Americans, especially us midwesterners have an inborn fondness for red meat. Whether it be hamburgers, roasts, ribeye or steaks it’s always an appetizing meal. We just can’t help ourselves, we were raised on the stuff and even though it isn't the healthiest it’s still a staple in our diets. But, doctors all seem to agree excessive amounts of Beef just aren’t good for our hearts. Change is hard and we don’t want to give up on our wholesome meals so why not try the healthy alternative

of trails across the rangelands in the distance. Rangelands are areas of land on which livestock are left to roam and graze. Traditionally the great plains and rolling hills of the Western States have been dominated by rangelands left to cattle and bison, and though it has long been acknowledged that cattle grazing and roaming can alter the features of the land, the extent and depth to which they can do this has been underestimated and at times ignored. Privately owned pastures and rangelands in the

Reduncinae. One of the few species in the Bovidae family that are native to North America is the American Bison. The Bison in categorized in the Bovinae subfamily and is one of only two living species in its Genus. The American Bison is the heaviest land mammal in North American weighting in at just over one ton. On average they stand between five and six and a half feet tall, but despite their size Bison can reach speeds up to forty miles per hour. Both males (bulls) and females (cows) grow a single