45,000 seek opportunity to hunt Grand Canyon bison
When Teddy Roosevelt looked upon the Grand Canyon as president in 1903, the barrel-chested adventurer and war hero said the site “fills me with awe.” He implored his fellow man, “Do nothing to mar its grandeur, sublimity and loveliness.”
His words were apparently ignored by a herd of bison.
As many as 500 bison, which can stand 6 feet tall and weigh 2,000 pounds, have recently taken up full-time residence in the northern part of Grand Canyon National Park and are causing havoc with the ecosystem, say park officials, who want to reduce the herd to 200.
Now for the first time, they are planning to let a small number of volunteers kill bison inside the park.
More than 45,000 people had applied for 12 slots by the deadline Tuesday. Each person selected gets to kill one bison during the program, which is expected to begin in the fall. The rest of the herd reduction is expected to be achieved by capturing and relocating live bison and through state-run hunts that take place outside the park.
Twenty-five finalists will be announced later this month, and the first 12 who submit complete, accurate and qualified applications will be selected, said Kaitlyn Thomas, a spokeswoman with the National Park Service.
Volunteers must be in good physical health, pass a marksmanship proficiency test and be “willing to haul bison carcasses out of wilderness on foot without motorized assistance.”
The herd is in an area that is managed as if it is designated wilderness, Thomas said. That means stock animals and motorized vehicles are not permitted, she said. “And we are not willing to violate the management practices that we already have in place.”
Hence, the requirement that applicants be physically fit.
“We’re talking about walking perhaps miles with 100 pounds per person in a pack, above 8,000 feet of elevation,” Thomas said. “So it will be very strenuous work.”
The area of the park where the hunt will take place, known as the North Rim, is full of tall ponderosa pine, quaking aspen trees and pools of water.
“If you were standing even 100 yards from the Grand Canyon, you wouldn’t know that the canyon is there,” Thomas said. “You would just assume that you were in an Alpine valley.”
Park officials say the bison have altered vegetation patterns, damaged archaeologically valuable sites and even threatened the water supply for animals and humans in the Grand Canyon.