By Lew Freedman
Cody Enterprise
Via Wyoming News Exchange
CODY — Rick Wallen uses the acronym GOAT to describe the recovery of the American bison.
That stands for Greatest of All Time, and most recently has been applied to individual sports heroes.
Wallen, Yellowstone National Park’s chief bison biologist, claims the species recovery of the bison is the top achievement in American history by scientists, wildlife managers and conservation-minded citizens in rescuing an animal from the brink of extinction. More impressive than the recoveries of the Yellowstone area grizzly bear, the black-footed ferret and the sage grouse, other animals recently and prominently declared great recovery success stories in Wyoming.
“I would argue that bison qualify for that GOAT status because their recovery occurred without the benefits provided by the Endangered Species Act,” Wallen said.
From the stunning low of just 23 animals in the early 20th century, many thousands populate the United States now, including about 4,000 within Yellowstone’s 2.2-million acres. The herd within these boundaries is the only genetically pure strain of the original American bison.
The bison, also called buffalo, is a unique species in American history, a keystone animal involved in complex ways with the settling of the West and the attempted extermination of the American Indian. But in the second decade of the 21st century the bison has assumed an exalted status as both a symbol of the nation and as a compelling tourist attraction.
In 2016, an animal that was nearly wiped from the face of the earth was granted enhanced stature when President Barack Obama anointed the bison the national mammal. Obama signed the designation proclaiming the bison the United States’ first national mammal under the National Bison Legacy Act.
At the time it was reported a U.S. Department of Agriculture 2012 survey indicated about 182,000 bison lived across the country, plus another 125,000 in Canada. The Defenders of Wildlife conservation organization states there are now 500,000 bison in North America.
Conservation groups were elated by Obama’s action.
“The bison represents so much of what we stand for, from the conservation impact of zoos, to our cultural heritage, to the ecological health of our grasslands,” said John Calvelli of the Wildlife Conservation Society when the bill was signed.
Wallen, who has specialized in bison management in Yellowstone since 2002, took pleasure out of the selection of bison as the national mammal.
“I was very happy to see that,” he said.
For all the increased focus and praise of a political moment, the mention of bison, especially Yellowstone bison, remains a flashpoint.
In Montana, cattlemen feverishly fight to keep Yellowstone herds from wandering onto their ranches to stifle the threat of brucellosis, which causes spontaneous abortions or premature birth. A winter culling program to limit the size of the Yellowstone herd is despised by thousands to the extent earlier this year teams of protestors freed penned bison. Veteran Yellowstone superintendent Dan Wenk mentioned a policy disagreement over bison with Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke when the decision to force Wenk out of his job next month was raging.
From any perspective, bison in America have been on an epic journey for centuries, yet have made a greater comeback than any almost any other species, GOAT or not.
The French began exploring Canada in 1603 and called bison “bouefs,” which became buffalo in English. Bison is the scientific term.
In the middle of the 19th century it was estimated between 30 million and 60 million of the shaggy, brown-skinned and brown-haired beasts feasted on the grassy areas of the West. Bison are the largest mammal in North America, reaching up to 2,000 pounds and standing up to 6 feet tall at the shoulder. They are easily identified by large humps and huge heads.
Before Americans sought to slaughter bison through commercial demand for tongues and hides, spurred by government policies devoted to eradicating the independent American Indian, it was said a person could stand still for hours watching a herd pass. “Tatanka” in Lakota, were fundamental to the tribes’ existence, hunted for meat, with their skins made into robes for winter. The animal was also part of religious ceremonies.
The harsh government philosophy was later expressed by Gen. Nelson Miles, who wrote, “This might seem like cruelty and wasteful extravagance, but the buffalo, like the Indian, stood in the way of civilization and in the path of progress, and the decree had gone forth that they must both give way.”
During this era, William F. Cody, later Cody’s founder, gained his Buffalo Bill nickname. An expert hunter, he contracted to provide meat for Kansas Pacific Railroad workers. It was estimated Buffalo Bill killed 4,200 bison, significant for one individual, but a raindrop in a lake compared to the overall decimation of the population.
Cody truly became Buffalo Bill in a contest near Sheridan against another hunter, William Comstock, also then called Buffalo Bill.
“Comstock (a military scout) had the reputation, for a long time, of being a most successful buffalo hunter, and the officers in particular, who had seen him kill buffaloes, were very desirous of backing him in a match against me,” Cody wrote in his 1879 autobiography. “We were to hunt one day of eight hours, beginning at eight o’clock in the morning, and closing at four o’clock in the afternoon. The wager was $500 a side, and the man who should kill the greater number of buffaloes from on horseback was to be declared the winner.”
From then on there was only one Buffalo Bill.
Only after the push westward established settlers throughout the West and Native Americans were forced onto reservations, did an outcry begin to save the remaining bison. It was said by 1880 just 100 remained in the wild. A 1901, in-Yellowstone survey turned up 23.
From that tiny number, the Yellowstone herd has regenerated and bison have proliferated elsewhere partially due to protections begun in 1905 when President Theodore Roosevelt and environmentalist Edward Hornaday founded the American Bison Society.
On a sunny day in June more than a century later, a bison acolyte peered through a pair of binoculars at a bedded-down herd of bison in the Lamar Valley. Mike Dailey, a real estate developer from Boulder, Colo., was visiting Yellowstone with his wife, daughter and son.
“I’m fascinated by them,” said Dailey, who wishes he could afford to raise bison for healthy table meat.
By 1968, there were still only about 400 bison in Yellowstone. Strict management controls were lifted and the animals were left to procreate. Habitat improved and mild winters aided bison survival.
Bison thrived so well in Yellowstone they regularly began spilling outside the Park boundaries. This alarmed Montana ranchers, who feared cattle would be devastated by brucellosis transmitted through mingling.
To appease fears, Wyoming, Montana and Idaho adopted a Boundary Control Agreement allowing bison straying from the Park to be killed. Deciding that was not good enough, in 1982 Montana introduced a public hunt to kill roaming bison. It was discontinued in 1989, but court battles erupted, resulting in creation of an Interagency Bison Management Plan in late 2000. The cooperating agencies set the in-Yellowstone herd limit at between 3,000 and 3,500, reviewable annually. Bison are prolific breeders, however, and the year-end tally has reached as high as 5,500.
“They have done well over the years,” Wallen said. “They produce at the highest rate of ungulates. It’s a renewable resource.”
Wallen said this summer’s Yellowstone count was 4,400.
Brucellosis was first noticed in Yellowstone bison in 1917 after being penned with cattle. Elk in Yellowstone passed brucellosis to Montana cattle in 2007, creating havoc for the industry for two years. Although a Texas A&M lab study indicated it is possible to spread brucellosis from bison to cattle, there has been no documented case of it occurring. Yet the topic remains very much a hot-button issue.
Wenk said he was at odds with Interior over some Park bison policies. He said he believes the Park could support 5,000 bison, an answer to the outrage expressed by citizens when bison are culled from the herd each year, though Wallen stressed, “We are not trying to recolonize the Western United States.”
The Park Service has also overseen a program in its infancy to transfer bison to Native tribes in Montana – after being segregated and observed for signs of brucellosis.
Last winter the Park Service experienced a different type of outbreak – protestors freeing bison from the Stephens Creek holding facility and disrupting the relocation plan. In a series of incidents, others chained themselves to fencing. Protestors were arrested, fined, sentenced to probation and banned from Yellowstone for five years.
Wenk said he was angered and surprised, calling the protestors “saboteurs.” An organization called Wild Buffalo Defense took responsibility.
More than four million people visit Yellowstone annually. They see grizzly bears, black bears, elk, deer and sheep, though more than anything, they see bison. Wallen said surveys show one in two tourists say bison viewing is a major reason they come.
“I feel most people appreciate them,” Wenk said. “They can see that great American animal on the landscape.”
When visitors pass through Yellowstone’s gates they receive maps and other information, including a sheet of orange paper featuring a cartoon-like picture of a bison, head down, angry expression on its face, head-butting a human figure. Prominent is the sentence, “Yellowstone is a Dangerous Place.”
This season, two people have been attacked by bison for getting in their way. A few years ago five people were attacked after coming too close to take selfie photos. Wallen said people who can’t tell the difference between wild animals and captive ones worry him.
“They look at them almost like the one they saw in the zoo,” he said.
Approaching Old Faithful one day, some tourists gathered across a creek from a bison. They frantically snapped pictures, but did backpedal to vehicles when the bison crossed the water.
“It’s amazing their power and their size,” said William Lucas, 64, of Liverpool, England.
Rich Chen, 47, of California, had a van full of relatives watching. The kids inside it chanted, “Go, go, go.”
“I was surprised how big they were,” Chen said. Informed of the five selfie takers’ injuries, he said, “What were they thinking?”
Bison in Yellowstone National Park, as the gored tourists discovered seeking the close-up pictures, are not big, shaggy pets. They will fight if their space is invaded. As the “bouefs” also most likely felt in the 19th century, they just want to be left alone.