Re-bisoning the West: Restoring an American Icon to the Landscape

Despite the title, Repanshek, editor-in-chief of National Parks Traveler, offers more of a retrospective rather than prospective look at bison in America in this unsatisfying study. He explains that for “tens of thousands of years, and still today, the largest animal on this landscape has been the plains bison,” and he paints some evocative scenes describing the animal’s existence. With a population as large as 60 million when Columbus reached the New World, bison have been described as, in their heyday, “ecologically functioning biological engineers on the land,” capable of making an ecosystem suitable for a host of diverse animal and plant species. This massive population was brought perilously close to extinction in a shockingly short period of time, in the latter half of the 19th century. Repanshek describes early efforts, in the early 20th century, to protect the last remnants of bison, including through interbreeding with domestic cattle, and he addresses their conservation status today. Disappointingly, though Repanshek mentions some of the controversy associated with modern-day bison’s mixed genetic status, he does not interview a single member of the opposition to the current conservation approach. Readers looking for insight into how bison might once again become a dominant part of the American environmental scene are likely to feel let down. (Sept.)