BISON, Bison bison 



Range. — Forniei'Iy over much of North Amer- 

 ica north of Gulf of Mexico; now persists only 

 in a few isolated herds, some in a semidomesticated 

 condition. 



Habitat. — Woodlands and grasslands, some- 

 times to elevations of 10,000 feet. 



Raee.s hi Alaska. — The woodland bison, B. b. 

 athabascae, perhaps once ranged as far west as 

 the Seward Peninsula and Arctic Coast of Alaska 

 (specimen from St. INIichael, type of occidentalls) , 

 but is now absent in the State. The plains bison, 

 B. b. bison, is the race now jiresent in Alaska. 



Introdu-ctiam. — In 1928, 6 bulls and 17 cows 

 from the National Bison Range m Montana were 

 transplanted to the Big Delta section on the 

 Tanana River about 90 miles southeast of Fair- 

 banks. From the start they fared well, withstand- 

 ing the most severe winter weather and increasing 

 to a herd of 350 by 1953. There are now two prin- 

 pical herds established in interior Alaska. The 

 Big Delta lierd was estimated as 350, of which 12 

 percent were calves, in 1961; most of these fre- 

 quent the Clearwater homestead area in the fall. 



Tlie Copper River herd in 1961 consisted of at least 

 50 animals; they had moved from their original 

 placement site near Nabesna to the area from Cop- 

 per Center to Chitina. A furtlier transplant to 

 the McCarthy area was made in the summer of 

 1962. 



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