The Henry Mountains bison herd, numbering 250 to 400 American bison, is one of only four free-roaming bison herds on public lands in North America. The other three herds are the Yellowstone bison herd which was the ancestral herd for the Henry Mountains animals, the Wind Cave bison herd in South Dakota and the herd on Elk Island in Alberta, Canada.
The animals in the Henry Mountains bison herd are of the Plains bison subspecies (Bison bison bison). Yellowstone National Park may be the only location in the United States where free-ranging bison were never exterminated since they continued to exist in the wild and were not re-introduced as has been done in most other bison herd areas. As a result, the Yellowstone Park bison herd became the foundation herd for many others in the United States, including the Henry Mountains bison herd.
The bison in the Henry Mountains herd is one of two herds maintained by the state of Utah. The other is the Antelope Island bison herd. The Henry Mountains Bison Herd has recently extended into the mountains of the Book Cliffs, and this may become a third bison herd for the state.
Location and habitat
The Henry Mountains bison herd is located mostly with the of land on or around the Henry Mountains of south-central Utah. An ongoing attempt is being made to expand the herd to include areas in the mountains of the Book Cliffs which are farther north.
American bison (Bison bison) live in river valleys, prairies, and plains. Typical habitat is open or semi-open grasslands, as well as sagebrush, semi-arid lands and scrublands. Some lightly wooded areas are known historically to have supported bison. Bison will graze in hilly or mountainous areas where the slopes are not steep. Though not particularly known as high altitude animals, bison in the Henry Mountains herd are found throughout the Henry Mountains area, on public lands, including the desert lowlands and the mountainous regions to altitude. They are particularly prominent in the midlevel grassy areas.
History
The American bison once numbered in the millions, perhaps between 25 million and 60 million by some estimates, and they were possibly the most numerous large land animal on earth. However, they were hunted to near extinction throughout North America by the late 1880s. The Henry Mountain bison herd was started with animals transplanted from the Yellowstone bison herd, which was likely the last free-ranging bison herd in the United States and the only location where they did not go locally extinct in the United States.
The original 18 animals of the Henry Mountains herd were transplanted from Yellowstone National Park in 1941. They were released not into the mountains, but the arid desert of Robbers Roost, approximately 50 miles northeast of their eventual home. In 1942, another five bulls were added to the herd. That same year, the herd moved to the comparatively verdant grassland of the Henrys and across the Dirty Devil River to the Burr Desert at the north end of the mountain range. In 1963, the herd moved again, this time into the mountains, abandoning the desert life. The herd thrived in the new locale and quickly grew to about 80 animals. Today, the herd consists of between 300-400 animals, which is regarded as the maximum the range will support.
Recently, the herd is competing with livestock for summer range forage. This has created the potential for conflict between cattle ranchers and sportsmen who consider the Henry Mountains prime bison hunting country. Special licenses are issued annually to hunt the animals and help reduce the excess population. In 2009, 146 public once-in-a-lifetime Henry Mountain bison hunting permits were issued. In recent years, each bison permit that has been issued by the state of Utah has had 100 applicants.
A population objective of 325 bison by 2012 was set by Utah wildlife biologists for the Henry Mountain herd. Since the bison reproduce easily and the herds have been larger than this in the past, a decision was made to reduce the size of the herd. To achieve this objective, and increase overall genetic diversity, breeding animals are being transplanted to other locations from the herd. In 2009, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources officials transplanted 31 bison from the Henry Mountains to the Book Cliffs in eastern Utah. The new group joined 14 animals previously released in 2008 from a private herd on the nearby Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation.