Symbols of strength and determination, bison are Ice Age survivors. Clearing away snow and brush with their massive heads, they weigh up to 2,000 pounds and can run up to 40 miles per hour. Once numbering 30 million-60 million in North America, their numbers were decimated in just a few decades as expansion pressed westward. No other species on Earth has declined so quickly.

Today, the largest remaining wild herd of approximately 4,500 individuals can be found in Yellowstone National Park. Large North American grazers including the plains bison traditionally roamed across millions of acres, which kept the grasslands and herds healthy and diverse. However, early settlement and current land use by present-day communities have redefined where these large animals are able to roam. WWF’s Northern Great Plains Program is working with National Parks, native tribal communities, and its ranching partners to find common ground on returning bison to suitable intact prairie landscapes.

What WWF is Doing

WWF’s Northern Great Plains Program is working with National Parks, native tribal communities, and its ranching partners to find common ground on returning bison to suitable intact prairie landscapes. They are identifying opportunities and creating places where bison can thrive in large herds (numbering over 1,000 bison) on vast landscapes in the Northern Great Plains, the heart of the plains bison’s historic range. They are partnering with the Oglala Lakota to create the nation’s first tribal national park and restore a herd of bison to ancestral homelands. WWF works with Fort Peck Reservation, Fort Belknap Reservation, and Yellowstone National Park to conserve the genetically important bison from the Park by supporting the movement of animals into new landscapes where they are welcome. They also engage in research and public outreach activities aimed at reminding the American public why bison, symbols of strength and determination, are so critical to the restoration of the American prairie.

Learn more about bison and WWF's work to protect them.