U.S. DOI Bison Conservation Initiative

The 2020 Bison Conservation Initiative (BCI) reaffirms the Department of the Interior (DOI) commitment to both leadership and partnership to ensure the conservation and restoration of wild American bison. Collaborative approaches to ecological and cultural restoration of American bison are central to the BCI.

The DOI has delivered substantial progress in bison conservation, science, and partnerships over the last two decades. Individual managers and technical specialists have institutionalized the DOI commitment to shared stewardship and collaboration with states, tribes, and other partners. Science staff and unit managers have cooperatively designed and completed technical products that directly inform on-the-ground challenges. The DOI Bison Working Group (BWG) has published a conservation genetics framework, promoted and published investigations into metapopulation management and herd health, and strengthened communication across bureaus. DOI has established and acted on a vision for conservation of this American icon that Congress designated as our national mammal in 2016.

The next steps of DOI bison conservation will be to synergize the science, on-the-ground manager experience, bureau and Department leadership with partners from states, tribal nations, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to implement coordinated conservation action. DOI remains uniquely positioned to play an active role in developing the next stage in bison conservation by working with others to accomplish linked ecological and cultural restoration goals that are both broader and more meaningful than DOI could accomplish on its own.

Download the U.S. Bison Conservation Strategy

Learn more about the DOI Bison working group initiative on this page.