ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT PROFILE

PROTECTION STATUS: Not listed

PETITIONED: 2009 (private citizens)

RANGE: Bison once roamed from Florida through the eastern deciduous forests and Great Plains to the Cascade Mountains in Washington, from Alberta, Canada to Mexico — in other words, nearly the whole United States.  

THREATS: Habitat loss, genetic contamination by cattle, disease, domestication

POPULATION TREND: This species has gone from vast herds of millions to only about 20,500 individuals in 62 wild conservation herds. More than three-quarters of these herds contain too few individuals to be considered “minimally viable” by scientists. Only one herd has more than 2,000 bison, and only 14 have more than 400 bison.

Plains bison photo by Jack Dykinga, USDA