Buffalo Restoration Debate Essay

The buffalo were evidently everything to the Native Americans, hereby causing the defeat of buffalo to fall hand in hand with theirs. The plains Indians used bison as not only food, but in religious rituals, for clothing, for hunting, for shelter, and more. The buffalo were an integral part of the native’s lives. In the aftermath of the increasing killings of bison, the lives of countless Native Americans were destroyed. The said 30-60 million buffalo which had roamed freely upon the Great

In the territorial expansion of the United States during the mid to late 1880’s, settlers went on trek west of the Mississippi River, across the Great Plains, as far as the Pacific Ocean in a quest to seek profits and resources. One animal that owned this expansive territory and once stood for a symbol of abundance during this time period was the Buffalo, or as naturalists com-monly refer to as the Bison. Settlers across the Great Plains along with Native American’s of the region slaughtered this bovine species to near extinction by 1876. In the book “Down To Earth” by Ted Steinberg, he chronicles the expansion of American territory during the mid-1880s and references the dramatic annihilation of the Buffalo population caused by the expansion. Cross referencing Steinberg’s work with the primary source of Richard Irving Dodge’s “The Hunting Grounds of the Great West,” would give compelling analysis of the

In the second section of Michael Pollan’s book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, pastoral grass and “organic foods” are the main focus and many agree that grass is a far better choice for animals that graze. By switching a cows diet back to normal food, will impact the market of food prices because the supply would not be able to keep up with the demand, thus making the food market a disaster, or at least that’s what I picture when I think of the outcome. The demand for beef now is so great that these cattle are being slaughtered at roughly 12 months, that’s not even half of the total life-span they’re supposed to live. A grass fed cow takes about 4-5 years to be ready for some great steaks, but thanks to our wonder crop, “corn”, we can slice that

As the tree-hugging stereotype the Plains Indians are painted as being one with the land and when hunting they would never waste anything. This was not true and archaeological records of a site called Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump proves the stereotype to be false. Buffalo is an important food source for the Plains Indians and were easily accessible because of how many there were. According to Pringle (1996:150) “over the past 5,700 years, native warriors have lured more than 123,000 Bison

The building of the Transcontinental Railroad caused many complications for the Natives lifestyle. The railroad was the main cause of the loss of the Native’s traditional hunting grounds, and buffaloes (bison), which are the animal that plain tribes depended on when it came to meat for nourishment, fur for blankets or for trade, and clothing.

The Buffalo population of the Great Plains became extinct due to American depreciation for the culturally significant animal of the Natives. The slaughter of these herd gave the American platform ammunition to defeat their adversaries with more ease; they were forced to either starve or give in and live on reservations

The First Nations used the buffalo for food, shelter, tools, and ceremonial ornaments. As the CPR was constructed and the prairies were further developed, the plains buffalo were pushed to extinction and as a result, the First Nations were pushed to near starvation. In response to this issue, the Canadian government then decided they would provide food for the First Nations, but only if they moved onto reservation land. (Berton, 2005) The First Nations were essentially forced to choose between abandoning their land and

Let’s talk about Montana and its specialty bison meat. Montana is considered as one of the top producers and consumers of bison meat in the Unites States.

This documentary is on the pros and cons that ranching has on the environment and well-being of people. Ranching means an establishment maintained for raising livestock under range conditions. Most ranchers commonly raise grazing animals such as cattle and sheep, most of the cattle are raised for their meat, not for dairy products. One of the pros that come from ranching is the diversity of plants and animals that is far greater on grazed managed grassland than on unmanaged grassland. Another benefit that ranching creates is that grazing improves the habitat for the Bay Checkerspot Butterfly, a threatened Californian insect.

With Native American reservations being encroached upon, American citizens came across yet another beneficial resource. With their hides being used as a primary source of income for some westerners, buffalo became another resource that boosted the American economy. As PBS has stated, the railroad had introduced these herds to industrial production, and the abrupt depletion of this resource for Native Americans negated a big staple of their diet. ("American Experience: TV's Most-watched History Series." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 26 July 2016.)

Habitat destruction is one of the most common cause of extinction. The National park became a refuge for many endangered species. On April 1987, an idea was introduced to Canada’s National Wood Bison Recovery Team to initiate a wood bison population in Sakha. The resumption of a large herbivore population, such as the wood bison, aids in enhancing the diversity in the region. “Over the next century, thousands of healthy bison were sent to regions with struggling populations to help restore the species from endangerment” (http://yourcanada.ca, 2011). Elk Island National Park has been the most persuasive corporation in inaugurating bison in the United States, not just Western Canada. They have contributed to growing bison herds all over the world. In 2007, the park reached it’s successful century of protecting and saving species- making Elk Island National Park the leading park in the preservation of saving the bison species. The park has really become a cornerstone in the protection and growth of endangered species.

The NPS (n.d.) considers the protection and recovery of the bison in YNP as one of the greatest triumphs in the history of American conservation. Bison were nearly exterminated in the nineteenth century, calling for species preservation in the 1880’s (Lavigne, 2002). In 1901, a recorded low of 23 bison roamed YNP, to a high of almost 5,000 bison in 2005 (Treanor, et al., 2010). Today, the bison populations throughout YNP are the center of conflicts and controversy among the public and management agencies. They are under strict management guidelines that prevent them from roaming free outside of the park. The four main reasons they are restricted to YNP: competition with livestock for grasslands, concerns for human safety, potential property damage, and most significantly the potential transmission of brucellosis (Brucella abortus) to area livestock. Bison, as well as, elk (Cervus elaphus) are infected with the livestock disease, brucellosis. Brucellosis is an extremely contagious bacterial disease that can cause abortions in livestock and wildlife, as well as, other substantial complications (White, et al., 2011). These complication make brucellosis management in bison and elk throughout the GYE one of the most complex and contentious wildlife management issues in North America (Colligan,

I thoroughly enjoyed reading your “Combat Biology” essay. The fact that you are able to see the big picture of conservation and the different stakeholders is a welcome change from other professors who are too focused on their specific concentration within the larger realm of conservation. In my opinion, you have given our current higher-education system too much credit. Even as a Human Dimensions major, my classes have focused overwhelmingly on the ecological dimension, and touched only slightly on human and economic dimensions. However, this does not worry me, it just means I have a lot to learn from you this semester! I have always loved plants, wildlife, and beautiful landscapes, and by the time I reached high school I knew that I wanted

As the twentieth century approached, America was experiencing a time of considerable expansion. All eyes were looking for ways to make the United States a larger, more powerful, and more efficient country. Because of this wave in American society, there was no movement given more devotion than the settling of the West. The range-cattle industry in its various aspects, and in its importance to the United States and particularly to the Great Plains, has been a subject of focus to Americans since its origin in the mid 1800's. This industry was rendered possible by such factors as vast sections of fertile land, the rise of heavy industry involving the great demand for beef, and

Through strictly regulated hunting we have reintroduced and repopulated various game species into areas where they were previously wiped out due to extremely excessive hunting by settlers. In the early 1900s all of Indiana’s whitetail deer were virtually extinct. By the 1930s whitetail deer were beginning to be reintroduced into Indiana. In just 20 years after initial reintroduction the population was at a sustainable level so that regulated modern hunting programs could begin. Conservationism has been a necessity to the ecology of the United States and many other countries around the world. The U.S. Forest Service by itself manages 193 million acres of public land nationwide or roughly 8% of the total land in the United States. The management of this land would not be feasible without the funding hunters provide through licenses, tags, and stamps. The 193 million acres does not include any public recreational land on the state level. There is 2,260,380 acres of public hunting land in all the states