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Back to Baking Bison

Building a better sustainability relationship

WSU Eng 472 – Ecological Issues/American Writing Winter 2008 Wendy McLeod

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Thesis Statement:

Critical examination of three discourses between buffalo and American culture in an attempt to answer - Can the current American culture use (but not misuse) the buffalo (shifting them from near extinction to mealtime and tourism staple) for better human health, reclaimed American habitat for other indigenous animals and improved economic possibilities for all of America.

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3 Human 3 Human Culture Culture & Bison & Bison

DiscoursesDiscourses

HistoricalHistoricalEffect on Bison

during the cultural emergence between

settlers and Native Americans

CurrentCurrentEffect on culture considering the

vision of bringing bison back to the

Great Plains

FutureFutureImpact on bison and culture with

trends to improve diet, ranchingand economy

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HistoricalEffect on Bison during the cultural emergence between settlers and Native Americans

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Effect on Bison during the cultural emergence between settlers and Native Americans

Relationship Between Bison and the Native Americans – StewardshipThe bison was believed to be gifted to the Plains Native Americans by the Great Spirit providing them sustenance and all goods necessary to survive. Their migration patterns and breeding cycles created the calendar the Indians lived by. Despite bison out numbering Native Americans, they were elusive and difficult stalk and kill. Many tribes were at least part-time horticulturalists to supplement their diets and supplies. (Time-Life Books, pg. 96-99)

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Effect on Bison during the cultural emergence between settlers and Native Americans

Relationship Between Bison and the Native Americans - UsesThe bison was a central part of the life of the Plains Indians. Nearly everything the Native Americans needed for survival could be obtained from a bison . . .

• For meat,• Collected dung used as a fuel source and finely ground into baby powder,• Rawhide for shields, moccasin soles, bags, belts, drumheads• Tallow burned for light,• Brain used as a tanning agent also softening rawhide for, clothing, shelter material, robes, blankets and diapers.• Hooves, horns and other bones were ground and made into glue or carved into utensils, tools, weaponry and ceremonial ware.• Tails were made into a fly switches,• Tendons were used as bowstrings,• Sinews were made into thread for sewing,• Stomach, heart lining and bladder pouches were made into water bags,• Hair was collected for making ropes and pillows.

The Native Americas boasted that no part of the bison was ever wasted. (Time-Life Books, pg. 7-8)

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Effect on Bison during the cultural emergence between settlers and Native Americans

Relationship Between Bison and the Native Americans – StewardshipHunts could seem rather graphic as bison were often stampeded off cliff-sides where they plummeted to their death. Additional hunters (often the women of the tribes) would wait at the bottom to finish off any surviving heads. Some

hunts brought sufficient supplies and food to allow the Indians to trade for other goods. By the 1800s, the 400,00 Plains Indians could killed as many as 2 million bison yearly but no part of them was wasted. Bison remained abundant. The introduction of horse and riffles made hunting bison even more efficient but came with other survival complications – the white man. (Time-Life Books, pg. 96-99)

Buffalo Hunt, Under the Wolf Skin by George Catlin 1830s

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American Indians often chased buffalo over cliffs such as the Vore Buffalo Jump located near Beulah. Estimated by the layers of bones, scientists determined some 20,000 bison were killed at this site used as late as 1800 AD.

The buffalo photo above is by David Wojnarowicz available from this Link

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Excavation of a geological sinkhole formed by the erosion of limestone beneath the grassland outside Sundance, Wyoming, revealed bones of up to 20,000 buffalo in layers more than 20 feet deep. Between 1500 and 1800, at least five Plains tribes used this particular site as a buffalo jump, killing them over the sinkhole’s steep sides.

(Time-Life Books, pg.107)

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Relationship Between Bison and the Native Americans – Worship

Effect on Bison during the cultural emergence between settlers and Native Americans

Rituals, such as the Sun Dance, a rite of passage ceremony in where participants could absorb the strength of the sun, had bison as a pivotal role. Hunts were often ceremonial in where thanks and honor was given to the bison for the sacred bounty they shared with the Plains Indians. (Time-Life, pg. 95-99)

Click video to start or follow this Link

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Effect on Bison during the cultural emergence between settlers and Native Americans

Relationship Between Bison and the Native Americans – Worship

A depiction of a Teton Sioux tribe drawn by a medicine man named Eagle Shield shows a performance of a Sun Dance ceremony. In it he details the rawhide cutouts of a man and a buffalo customarily hung from the center pole of the dance lodge. The man figure depicts a petition for victory and the buffalo a prayer for plenty. (Time-Life Books, pg. 165)

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Effect on Bison during the cultural emergence between settlers and Native Americans

Relationship Between Bison and the Native Americans – Hunting & Communication Hunting bison was a large endeavor often requiring more hands that what one tribe could supply. As a result, tribes would often ally together forming large hunting parties who could bring enough bison to secure sufficient supplies for all participating tribes. Plains Native Americans were made up of many tribes, some practicing rudimentary agriculture and some being more nomadic, all speaking different languages and dialects. To better communicate amongst themselves during such hunts, they developed a sign language that was common among all of them . . .(Time-Life Books, pg. 118-119)

Click to Start Demonstration

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Effect on Bison during the cultural emergence between settlers and Native Americans

Relationship Between the Settlers and the Native Americans – Merging CulturesSeveral events converged during the early 1800s which deeply effected the relationship between the Native American and European settlers. Bison was a common vehicle used to swing control of the nations future. They was a key element which illustrated how America was shifting from a place conscious of its sustainability verses economic and exploratory progress. Three key events included:• A drastic decline in beaver pelt demand due to the fickle nature of the early fashion industry preferring silk over beaver hats hindered the fur trade by 1840 warranting an alternate product for the trapping industry to hunt. Still, a legitimate demand (essentially a reason and a profit) for hunting bison in particular was needed. This couldn’t come soon enough for the beaver’s survival but was a set-up for a bad situation for the bison. (Punke, pg. 45-47)

Silk is in

Beaver is Out

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• A demand was quickly realized as an available, immediate and cheap sustenance for the rail and mining workers. People moving west, often including professionals trappers, found the available bison along the trails excellent sustenance during long journeys. The transcontinental railroads, like Kansas Pacific, realized the benefit of this supply on food demands for their workers verses accruing the expense of supplying for necessities by wagon. Keeping a trapper on the payroll was cheaper and trappers certainly needed the job. Kansas Pacific hired a man named William Cody who killed a total of 4,280 bison during his eighteen months of service with Kansas Pacific feeding their 1200 person crew.

Effect on Bison during the cultural emergence between settlers and Native Americans

Relationship Between the Settlers and the Native Americans – Merging CulturesNot surprisingly, he was

shortly after given the nick-name Buffalo Bill. His hunts spun-off into a side show spectacle of what the wild west would become associated with. (Punke, pg. 52-55, picture 157)

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• To advance railroad, farming, gold mining and cattle trade acquisition of land occupied by Native Americans became a necessity. General Philip H. Sheridan, in charge of restoring peace to the western territories, promised to bring peace to the plains with one simple strategy, “Kill the buffalo, and you kill the Indians.” With the Civil War just ending, President Andrew was

Effect on Bison during the cultural emergence between settlers and Native Americans

Relationship Between the Settlers and the Native Americans – Merging Cultures

not interested in enflaming war with the Indians. Subsequent battles could further hinder development as much as the herds of buffalo and Indian camps. Instead, he formed the Peace Commission and the Medicine Lodge treaty was signed in three separate negotiations by October 28, 1967 segregating and assimilating Plains Indian tribes into separate reservations primarily in western Oklahoma. The freedom to roam the Great Plains would be over as well as any semblance of Indian life. Still, buffalo were hunted as a trade and as a means to limit Indian retaliation. (Punke, pg.74-91)

Picture (Kansas State Historical Society, website Link

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Effect on Bison during the cultural emergence between settlers and Native Americans

Relationship Between Bison and the Native Americans – War and Demise

Retaliation happened anyway and battles commenced killing many Indian. Battle didn’t kill nearly as many Native Americans as did diseases from simple interact between themselves and the settlers. In 1837, a smallpox epidemic diminished the Mandan tribe from 1,600 to 30. Buffalo was growing as a trade despite their depleting numbers. Bison bones became a commodity, ground into a phosphate additive for fertilizer and as filter for processing sugar. Piles of bones could be found throughout the west. Farmers quipped that bison bones made a good ‘first cash crop’ prior to preparing and plowing the land for farming. Trappers also cashed in on the remains of 12 million bison bones generating more income than what hides brought in. (Punke, pg. 184-185)

Buffalo skulls, mid-1870, waiting to be

ground into fertilizer. Courtesy of the Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library

Click to Return to navigation page

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CurrentEffect on culture considering the vision of bringing bison back to the Great Plains

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Effect on culture with the idea of bringing bison back to the Great Plains

After the Great Plains was emptied of all economic distractions (namely the Natives Americans and bison), America was free to re-develop into a different vision of viability by bringing in non-indigenes plants and animals the pioneers were more familiar with such as wheat, corn, soy beans, sheep, pigs and cattle. Early Americans were convinced that, since these particular crops and animals were successful in Europe, they would naturally be successful in the Great Plains. Nature would not be so easily adapted. The farming and ranching industries within the Great Plains would have a tumultuous relationship with its environment despite inventive and often counter-productive technological advancements made for its benefit such as . . .

• Massive diesel run farming equipment,• Pesticides,• Herbicides,• Hormone treatment,• General assembly-line/automated farming/ranching practices.

Changing Face of the Great Plains – From New Hope to Dust Bowl

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Effect on culture with the idea of bringing bison back to the Great Plains

Changing Face of the Great Plains – From New Hope to Dust BowlFast forward 200 years and bouts of economic depression, soil and grass depletion, draught, and issues involving high oil and energy costs continue to make farming and ranching the Great Plains near to unprofitable without large government subsidies. Diminishing populations within those states show that realization. These Dorothea Lange photos and Woody Gutheie lyrics clearly depict the social and ecological struggles . . . Power farming displaces

tenants, Texas Panhandle 1938.

Picture Source: lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/fsahtml/fatop3.html

Dust Storm near Stratford Texas, 1935.

Picture source:

benmuse.typepad.com/.../what_caused_the_1.html

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The Great Dust Stormby Woody Guthrie

On the fourteenth day of April, of 1935There struck the worst of dust stormsThat ever filled the sky

You could see that dust storm comingThe cloud looked death-like blackAnd through our mighty nation it left a dreadful track

From Oklahoma City to the Arizona lineDakota and NebraskaTo the lazy Rio Grande

It fell across our cityLike a curtain of black rolled downWe thought it was our judgment, we thought it was our doom

The radio reportedWe listened with alarmThe wild and windy actions of this great mysterious storm

From Albuquerque and ClovisAnd all New MexicoThey said it was the blackest that ever they had saw

From old Dodge City, KansasThe dust had rung their knellAnd a few more comrades sleeping on top of old Boot Hill . . . Dust Bowl Pictures and song found:

http://eh.net/encyclopedia/article/Cunfer.DustBowl

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The Great Dust Storm Continued . . .by Woody Guthrie

From Denver, ColoradoThey said it blew so strongThey thought that they could hold out but they didn’t know how long

Our relatives were huddled into their oil boom shacksAnd the children they was cryin’As it whistled through the cracks

And the family it was crowded into their little roomThey thought the world had endedAnd they thought it was their doom

The storm took place at sundownIt lasted through the nightWhen we looked out next morning we saw a terrible sight

We saw outside our windowWhere wheat fields they had grownWas now a rippling ocean of dust the wind had blown

It covered up our fencesIt covered up our barnsIt covered up our tractors in this wild and dusty storm

We loaded our jalopiesAnd piled our families inWe rattled down that highway to never come back againDust Bowl Pictures and song found: http://eh.net/encyclopedia/article/Cunfer.DustBowl

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Effect on culture with the idea of bringing bison back to the Great Plains

Changing Face of the Great Plains – From New Hope to Dust Bowl Depletion of the Great Plains

has a domino effect on all other trades. Banks default. School and hospitals close. Everyone suffers whether directly related to the farming and ranching business or not. People started abandoning the area for better prospects elsewhere out of survival necessity. Still, some remain and tend to be the most tenacious with regard to maintaining an multi-generational All American way of life that cannot seem to be supported by its ecology. They will not concede to defeat by their terrain. (Cromartie, USDA website – Amber Waves)

Map available at http://www.ers.usda.gov/Amberwaves/April05/findings/PopulationLoss.htm

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Effect on culture with the idea of bringing bison back to the Great Plains

The Poppers and their Ideal Great Plains ExperienceFrank Popper, chairman for the

urban studies department at Rutgers University and his wife Deborah Popper, a geographer, began serious thought about what they would call The Buffalo Commons after returning from a seminar trip. While stuck in traffic on the 12 lane New Jersey Turnpike, The pair were debating the plight of the Great Plains and in exasperation Deborah says ‘Oh, just turn it back to the buffalo, let them have it!’ and Frank had an epiphany to

organize just that sort of scenario as an alternate land-use and economic-base option for the region. The Poppers drew up a fifteen page essay on such a future for the Great Plains, entitled The Great Plains: From Dust to Dust (Click the link to view the actual essay) which was published in Planning Magazine December of 1987. Their idea involved returning the Plains to it’s natural habitat and utilizing that uniqueness as a possible tourism and recreation trade – the Great Plains National Park. Response was tremendous and just as varied opinion, some believing the idea was revolutionary and other suggesting they should be ‘strung from the nearest cottonwood.’ (Matthews, pg. 22-25)

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Buffalo Commons becoming a more

popular idea?

Reported - April 18th 2008.

Click Video to Start or follow this Link

Effect on culture with the idea of bringing bison back to the Great Plains

The Poppers and their Ideal Great Plains ExperienceTwenty years later, the Poppers

are still touring Great Plans cities, listening to resident concerns and questions regarding the Buffalo Commons idea. More and more ranchers are acquiring their own bison over cows as their meat and hunting grows in popularity. People are slowly starting to see a different future for a Great Plains that may be more sustainable -- focused more on tourism, bison ranching and recreation. Still, others question whether years of degradation have made the Plains inhabitable to any animal including the bison. There is no question that their former habitat needs restoration. The question is whether bison can be part of that process or hinder those attempts.

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Effect on culture with the idea of bringing bison back to the Great Plains

Do Bison Need More Land? – National Park as Wildlife Reserve Dilemma

Paul Hansen, director of the Greater Yellowstone Program for The Nature Conservancy, said he is concerned about the animals' fate. "There's a consensus with all the natural resource professionals in the conservation community that the greatest threat to the park in the next 10 to 20 years is the loss

of winter habitat," he said. "Simply put, the animals can't survive without this scarce habitat type and it's disappearing rapidly. Yellowstone can recover from fires, it can recover from a lot of things — it can't recover from permanent loss of winter habitat.“ Bison have been a staple attraction at Yellowstone for centuries but this habitat has been shrinking and bison tend to roam where the grass is often into neighboring cattle ranches and towns. According to Hansen only 10% of Yellowstone is habitable to wildlife during the winter months. Of that area 1/3 is developed and another 1/3 is slated for development. The remaining 1/3 is being advocated for a wildlife preserve by the Nature Conservancy. (Hansen, NPR “Yellowstone Preservation A Balancing Act) Still, the situation is growing in urgency with another option used to control Yellowstone bison – buffalo hunting season on and just outside National State Park lands.

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Effect on culture with the idea of bringing bison back to the Great Plains

Do Bison Need More Land? – National Park as Wildlife Reserve DilemmaCattle ranchers surrounding Yellowstone fear that the 125,00 head of free roaming bison can infect their stock with brucellosis. This is a disease that in animals like cattle, bison and swine causes decreased milk production, weight loss, abortion, infertility and lameness. If transmitted to humans causes severe intermittent fevers along with infection. The disease is transmitted through direct contact. Only two states have been known to have

herds with the disease within recent years, Texas and Missouri. Through the administration of the Brucellosis Extermination Program via the USDA, Brucella Strain RB51 vaccine has been developed and injected into every potentially infected animal in the United States including wild bison under the control of the National Wildlife Service. (USDA, Brucellosis Qs & As)

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Effect on culture with the idea of bringing bison back to the Great Plains

Do Bison Need More Land? – National Park as Wildlife Reserve Dilemma

No known brucellosis transition between bison and cattle has ever been verified though transmissions between cows and elk have recently come under suspect. Still, the State of Montana has declared a ‘brucellosis-free’ area and will take any necessary action to deter bison from their state outside of park boundaries via hazing, relocating and the slaughter of roaming bison. In 2007, despite protest from interest groups and local Native Americas, the State of Montana slaughtered over 100 bison. (Knapp, Don Bison slaughter continues despite protests, prayers)

Click video to start or follow this Link

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Much finger pointing has been done to assess who would be responsible for the bison’s welfare under different situations. By 2000, an agreement between Montana and Yellowstone Park was reached stating that any roaming bison who venture into Montana land outside the park boundaries was the responsibility of Montana. Conversely, the National Park Service would be responsible for all bison within the park and would attempt to make all necessary accommodations to retain them within their space as well as vaccinate them for brucellosis.

Effect on culture with the idea of bringing bison back to the Great Plains

Do Bison Need More Land? – National Park as Wildlife Reserve Dilemma

There in lines the problem. The fact that bison need to roam and graze outside of the park area to survive, especially during the winter months, lends to suggest that more land is needed to accommodate them. Also, the stigma within the cattle industry claiming that free roaming bison infect their ranches has not be substantiated. It is a dilemma pitting an industry against an indigenousness animal. (National Park Service, Yellowstone Bison)

Click video

to start

or follow this Link

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Effect on culture with the idea of bringing bison back to the Great Plains

Do Bison Need More Land? – National Park as Wildlife Reserve Dilemma

A recent proposal is now opening more land into areas out of Yellowstone Park grounds to ward off pressures from opposition against limiting, hazing and slaughtering bison. Horse Butte Montana is such an area extending a wider buffer area for bison to graze during the winter months in relative safety. Horse Butte is a part of the bison’s normal migration run where they do their winter grazing and spring birthing. Still,

the Montana Stockgrowers Association see the changes as a threat to their livestock and livelihood and have filed a lawsuit which may hinder these attempts. Still, no links between bison and cattle have been found. Only two infections of brucellosis have been link to elk which are smaller in population and more difficult to track or manage. (Buffalo Field Campaign, Horse Butte Info)

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Effect on culture with the idea of bringing bison back to the Great Plains

Do Bison Need More Land? – National Park as Wildlife Reserve DilemmaThe Nature Conservatory, mentioned on the prior slide by Paul Hanson, has been working hard to restore the habitat and wildlife to the Great Plains Area. One resource they have provided for understanding both sides of the issue is a podcast – audio recorded stories – of differing opinions on a variety of subjects including the Commons. This resources gives us a sense of the varying concerns and perspectives people have on a subject. One such podcast is Buffalo Commons produced by Dan Collison & Elizabeth Meister with Long Haul Productions

Click Video to Start or follow

this Link

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Effect on culture with the idea of bringing bison back to the Great Plains

Do Bison Need More Land? – National Park as Wildlife Reserve DilemmaThe Intertribal Bison Cooperative is another 501 (c) (3) non-profit tribal organization working to assist Native Americans re-establish bison herds within tribal lands. Since it’s initiation in 1992, they have grown to incorporating 57 tribes in 19 states. Their mission being “to restoring bison to Tribal lands in a manner that promotes cultural

enhancement, spiritual revitalization, ecological restoration and economic development, while remaining compatible with each member tribes’ traditional beliefs and practices”. Being as dedicated to the bison as they ever were, the Native Americans are one of the fore-runners in the movement to re-establish and value the uniqueness of America. They are aso considering the health and marketing benefits of bison meat working to educate the public on the wide range of products available from the bison.

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FutureImpact on bison and culture with trends to improve diet, ranching and economy in general

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The impact on bison and culture regarding trends to improve diet, ranching and economy.

Bison - New Improved All American Meat?

While bison conservation and ranching efforts have expanded to bring back the bison, re-introduction of it as a valuable foods source has also seen a resurgence as it provides more for less. Being lower in calories, fat and cholesterol than most other meat options, bison has steadily gained in popularity. Bison meat is also high in iron and B12. Because bison are not typically fed grain supplements; plastic pellets; given hormone shots or antibiotics; steroids; processed with mixes and fillers containing MSG, nitrates/nitrites, sodium benzoate, hydrogenated oils, artificial sweeteners or preservatives, their meat is typically labeled organic and less likely to cause many of the hormonal, heart/cholesterol and cancerous health concerns plaguing the beef, pork and chicken industries. American’s, becoming more conscience of their diets, are considering the bison meat alternative.

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2.429.289.667.41

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211 212

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82 86 86 89

0

50

100

150

200

250

Fat Calories Cholestrol

BisonBeefPorkChicken (skinless)

Supporting data provided by the National Association of Bison confirms the health benefits of bison over other more traditional American meat staples.

The impact on bison and culture regarding trends to improve diet, ranching and economy.

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Bison can be more expensive to produce often causing its cost two to three dollars more per pound to the consumer. (National Bison Association website, Health Benefits) Increased production costs stem from the organic labels. Slaughter houses can not prepare bison meat in the same assembly-line manner they do cows or pigs. Production on other animals would be hindered and the slower process of slaughtering bison would dominate increasing the overall cost. Slaughter houses are seeing an increased demand in some areas and are accommodating the market. Between January and November of last year bison slaughtering increased 17%. (Well, The Great Plains Drain) Currently, bison is not required to be inspected under the Federal Meat Inspection Act by the USDA being deemed non-amenable. Most slaughter houses and ranches of bison pay the $40 per hour service for voluntary meat inspection for public sale and to receive federal organic labeling. The USDA is considering adding bison, elk and deer to the list of meat requiring inspection prior to sale. (National Sustainable Agricultural Information Service, Bison Production)

The impact on bison and culture regarding trends to improve diet, ranching and economy.

Bison - New Improved All American Meat?

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In today’s economy, where food prices are soaring, the bison meat trade has been having difficulty in getting off the ground despite strong public interest in its health benefits. Many bison ranchers have turned to marketing their bison as a recreational sport for hunting due to plummeting meat sales. In 2003, Matt Hackworth, a reporter form Kansas City Montana, stated that many of

The impact on bison and culture regarding trends to improve diet, ranching and economy.

Bison - New Improved All American Tourist Attraction and Recreation?

there ranchers like Vance Hopp open a mini hunting season on their own land to supplement their incomes. (NPR - All Things Considered. Stalking Buffalo Again on America’s Plains.) Still, other areas like Tahlequah Oklahoma reported that bison meat sales have increased benefiting local ranchers such as the Stepp Ranch. (Custer, Jami. Bison Meat Sales Rising) Other external factors play into a bison ranchers success and many uneconomical ranches can be attributed to draught and the lack of pasture land to support their herds. Generally, the USDA has seen sales of bison meat increase 36 percent from 2005 to 2006. Click to Return to navigation page

James and Sandy Stepp with their bison in

Hinton, OK

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In Conclusion:The current outlook for the bison is still under question. During these difficult economic times, resources to accommodate and rehabilitate the land for them to merely roam is apt to be a low priority against many to the nations concerns. The options they can produce as a healthier food staple and as a draw for recreation lovers, (for wildlife observers and hunters), may make for an interesting economic self-sufficiency model. However, given the mode-of-operation historically taken by Americas, can we expect our diligence to retain indefinitely bison -- as a wholesome, organic and viable option for a neighborhood, region, nation, or as an export -- or will corporate ambitions continue to push them either out of the way or be exploited into the new McBuffburger.

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• At their peak, American bison herds numbered up to 50 to 60 million. (Caduto, pg 226). Currently, there are 500,000 bison in North America, Yellowstone having the largest free roaming herd of 3,500. (National Bison Association website – FAQ)

• Full grown - height 5 to 6 feet, up to ten feet long from snout to the root of its tail, weight up to 2,000 pounds. (Caduto, pg 226)

• Bison have 360° vision do to their outwardly set eyes but are poor in sight. They do have highly developed sense of smell and hearing. (Callenbach, pg. 13)

• A noisy bunch, their communication can range from grunts, snorts, growls, bellows and roars similar to humpback whales. (Callenbach, pg. 13)

• Their coat is a dense mass of coarse dark brown fur which is better insulation for the winter months and is shed annually. (Time-Life Books, pg. 98)

• Despite their bulk, bison are surprisingly agile reportedly able to leap six-foot fencing from a standing start. (Callenbach, pg. 14)

Fun Facts on the American Bison

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• Both bull and cow bison grow one set of horns which are not shed. (buffalogroves.com)

• Bison are not considered domesticated, not even ranched bison. They cannot be milk and must be respected as a wild animal at all times. (buffalogroves.com)

• Their back hump is a counterbalance for their large head preventing them from rolling over. (buffalogroves.com)

• Bison are ruminants with multipart stomachs who graze primarily during the early morning hours and spend the rest of the day regurgitating and chewing their cud with intermittent additional grazing. (Callenbach, pg. 11)

• They roam while they graze over distances from ¼ to 3 miles moving at would be a fast pace for a human, unlike cows who are stationary grazers. (Callenbach, pg. 12)

• Bison top speed is 40 miles per hour. (National Bison Association website – FAQ)

• Bison prefer to drink water daily, ideally 10 to 12 gallons, but can go several days without water unlike cows. (Callenbach, pg. 12)

Fun Facts on the American Bison

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• Bison typically group in herds from 20 to 50 heads except during migration and mating seasons where herds will collect together making mass congregations of bison. (Callenbach, pg. 11)

• Their mating season is in July and August. Bulls compete in head-butting competitions for cow rights. Occasionally, competitors will get slashed by another's horns and die. (Time-Life Books, pg. 98)

• Calves, yellow haired from their spring-time birth, weigh from 25 to 40 pounds. By the following summer will weigh up to 400 pounds. (Time-Life Books, pg. 99)

• They have few natural predators such as Canadian wolves. Typically, severe weather conditions weed out weak and/or diseased bison. (Callenbach, pg. 12)

• Typically bison do not suffer from most domesticated diseases such as Mad Cow disease as they are not typically given supplementary feeds which cause them. There has been a growing threat of Malignant Catarrhal Fever in Bison which is being studied at WSU. (Also see info on MCF and WSU involvement here.)

• Wild bison can live 12 to 15 years but managed bison can live to be as old as 40 years old. (Callenbach, pg. 12)

Fun Facts on the American Bison

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Back to Baking Bison - Works Cited

Time-Life Books ed. The Buffalo Hunters. Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books, 1993.

The National Bison Association Website. Westminster, CO http://www.bisoncentral.com/index.php?s=&c=66&d=94&w=6&r=Y

Callenbach, Ernest. Bring Back the Buffalo: A Sustainable Future for America’s Great Plains. Washington DC: Island Press, 1996.

Caduto, Michael J. & Bruchac, Joseph. Keepers of the Animals. Golden, Colorado: Fulcrum Publishing, 1991.

Punke, Michael. Last Stand: George Bird Grinnell, the Battle to Save the Buffalo, and the Birth of the New West. New York, NY: Smithsonian Books/Collins, 2007.

Matthews, Anne. Where the Buffalo Roam: The Storm Over the Revolutionary Plan to Restore Amreica’s Great Plains. New, NY: Grove Press Inc., 1992

Hansen, Linda. Yellowstone Preservation A Balancing Act. NPR 2008. Accessed October 27th, 2008. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94800481

Cromartie, John. Amber Waves - Population Loss Counties Lack Amenities and Metro Proximity. United States Department of Agriculture. April 2005. Accessed October 27th, 2008. http://www.ers.usda.gov/Amberwaves/April05/findings/PopulationLoss.htm

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Back to Baking Bison - Works Cited

Buffalo Field Campaign. Horse Butte Information. Buffalo Field Campaign, December 2008. http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org/science/horsebutte.html Accessed December 3rd , 2008.

Associated Press. Seattle CEO pleads guilty in bison slaughter. Oregon Business News. November 3rd, 2008. Retrieved November 10th, 2008. http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2008/11/seattle_ceo_pleads_guilty_in_b.html

Custer, Jami. Bison Meat Sales Rising. Cherokee Phoenix News. October 2008. Retrieved October 31st, 2008. http://www.cherokeephoenix.org/3061/Article.aspx

Knapp, Don. Bison slaughter continues despite protests, prayers. CNN interactive.com. March 7th, 2007. Retrieved November 10th, 2008, http://www.cnn.com/EARTH/9703/07/bison.update/

National Park Service. Yellowstone Bison. December 2007, Retrieved October 31st, 2008. http://www.nps.gov/yell/naturescience/bison.htm.

NPR - All Things Considered. Stalking Again on America’s Plains. January 30, 2003. Retreived November 10th, 2008. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=951441

USDA. Brucellosis Qs & As. January 2003. Retrieved October 31st, http://www.aphis.usda.gov/lpa/pubs/fsheet_faq_notice/faq_ahbrucellosis.html

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Back to Baking Bison - Works Cited

Wells, Cheyenne. The Great Plains Drain. Economist.com January 17th, 2008 Retrieved November 30th. http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10534077

National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service. Bison Production. National Center for Appropriate Technology and United States Department of Agriculture’s Rural Business-Co-operative Service. 2008 http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/bison.html#processing Accessed December 3rd, 2008.