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| © Ansgar Walk (CC-BY-SA) |
For a century, the wood bison have been
extirpated (or locally extinct) from Alaska. That is all about the
change. The wood bison, a larger subspecies of the American bison
that roam places like Yellowstone National Park, are about to be
re-introduced to an ecosystem that has been long missing a large
grazing animal. This reintroduction project, which has taken over 20
years to complete, is not only good for Alaskan ecosystems, but also
a great way to teach science and math.
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The Alaskan Wildlife Conservation Center (AWCC) has been working with the Alaskan Fish and Game Department to bring back this species, whose status changed from endangered to threatened in 2012. Sunday March 22nd, 2015 the Alaska Department of Fish and Game began the process of moving the animals from the conservation center where they have been raised to a staging area where they will then prepare for release.
The bison were flown in 20 foot
containers that have 7 individual stalls to carry adult bison, each
weighing anywhere from 1,200 to 2,000 lbs. The containers can carry
up to 17 of the smaller, juvenile bison. The first introduction will
be females, of which about 25 are pregnant, and juveniles 2 years or
older. Males will be brought in by barge in the summer. In 2-3 weeks
when they have acclimated to the staging area and are shown to be in
hearty and healthy, they will be released into the wild.
The project has taken time because of
red tape and restrictions. An agreement has been reached and this
population of bison is being considered an "experimental
population not essential to the continued existence of the species"
and will be maintained by local wildlife officials. This
consideration allows the bison to be exempt from the restrictions of
the Endangered Species Act.
In order to educate students about this
project, the AWCC, Bear Trust International and Inspired Classrooms teamed up to create free STEM
curriculum surrounding the wood bison release. The curriculum targets
students in grades 7-8 and meets Alaska and National Science
Standards. This STEM oriented lesson has students studying real data
and developing their own management recommendations based on
calculations of how much wood bison eat, the size of available sites,
land ownership issues and more. The curriculum can be found on the
AWCC website here.
Additional
lesson plans cover wood bison behavior and the natural history of
other Alaskan ungulates, or hoofed animals.
This project is a great opportunity to
not only teach about the science and math of species management, but
also many other interdisciplinary concepts. Food webs, population
maps and geography, land history, federal regulations and
legislation, etc. How do you envision using a topic like this in your
classroom or home study? Leave your ideas in a comment below, or
e-mail me at shareitscience@gmail.com
Post updated: 4/14/16
Post updated: 4/14/16
Read more:
- US News and World Report: "Planes, trucks and boxes: Alaska preps for return of 2,000-pound wild wood bison, gone century"
- Alaskan Wildlife Conservation Center: "Wood Bison Restoration Project"
- Wood Bison Curriculum- Free!
- Alaska Department of Fish and Game Wood Bison Species Profile
- Endangered Species Act Game
Here are some additional resources for
your study of Bison and Alaskan Wildlife. Click on the images for more information.
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