A push to manage North Rim’s bison
Park Service seeking input on how to shrink herd
What do you get when you bring a herd of bison to the Grand Canyon, cross-breed them with cattle and wait a hundred years or so? ¶ According to the National Park Service, you get a growing and damaging problem. Now, the agency is seeking input from the public on how to reduce the number of bison that live near the Canyon’s remote North Rim. ¶ The agency has struggled with the herd for more than a decade as the bison, which are popular with tourists but generally not considered a native species, have taken up permanent residence in Grand Canyon National Park. The animals have damaged watering holes, archaeological sites and other resources, the Park Service says.
The animals often are visible along State Route 67 on the way to the North Rim, which opens for its 2017 season today. They’re descended from animals brought to northern Arizona in the early 1900s and cross-bred with cattle.
The Park Service has struggled to make a decision on various thinning options, which include trapping and moving the animals and culling them with sharpshooters or hunters.
A environmental assessment on the proposed bison herd reduction is now available for public review and comment.
The study was prepared by a coalition of government agencies who have overlapping jurisdictions in the area, including the Arizona Game and Fish Department, the U.S. Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management and the InterTribal Buffalo Council. The groups have clashed at times over how to deal with the problem, and over the fundamental question of whether bison, as a species, are native to Arizona.
Biologists estimate that the herd has grown from “approximately 100 bison to between 400 to 600 bison that currently roam the Kaibab Plateau,” according to a Park Service press release.
“Estimates also show that this bison herd could grow to nearly 800 bison in the next three years and as large as 1200 to 1500 animals within 10 years if further management actions are not taken,” the release states.
The Park Service is concerned about damage to park resources, such as water, vegetation, soils and archaeological sites, and says it hopes to quickly reduce the bison population through a combination of “lethal culling with skilled volunteers and non-lethal capture and removal.” It says it hopes to reduce the size of the herd in three to five years.
The agency has opened a 30-day comment period, which will close June 7. The Park Service will have three meetings during that period:
» Tuesday, from 6 to 8 p.m., at the DoubleTree by Hilton, 1175 W. Route 66 in Flagstaff.
» Thursday, from 5 to 7 p.m., at the Ben Avery Shooting Facility, 4044 W. Black Canyon Blvd. in Phoenix.
» May 23, from 6 to 8 p.m. Utah time (5 to 7 p.m. Arizona time), at the Holiday Inn Express and Hotel, 217 S. 100 East in Kanab, Utah.
The NPS also plans to hold one informational web-based meeting on May 30, from 5 to 6 p.m. That meeting is not open to public comment.
To read the environmental assessment, or to make comments electronically, go to parkplanning .nps.gov/grca_bison. Comments may be mailed to Grand Canyon National Park, P.O. Box 129, Attn: Bison Management Plan EA, Grand Canyon, AZ 86023.
herd reduction is now available for public review and comment.