GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Ariz. (AP) — Dozens of bison have been relocated from the North Rim of the Grand Canyon to Native American lands in Kansas, Nebraska Oklahoma and South Dakota.
A roundup begun in late August and completed earlier this month led to the transfer of 51 bison to the InterTribal Buffalo Council, Grand Canyon National Park officials said.
The bison were then successfully transported to the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation in Kansas, the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe in South Dakota, the Santee Sioux Tribe in Nebraska and the Modoc Nation in Oklahoma, park officials said.
The relocations were part of an effort to reduce the size of the herd that roams the Kaibab Plateau and follow a 2019 pilot program in which 31 bison were relocated to the Quapaw Tribe in Oklahoma.
NPS biologists estimate that the North Rim bison herd has grown from approximately 100 bison, brought to the House Rock Wildlife Area in the early 1900s, to between 400 to 600 bison.
Details of future herd reductions are still being discussed, officials said.
