Deal struck to reintroduce wood bison to Alaska wild

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Reuters

Deal struck to reintroduce wood bison to Alaska wild
By Yereth Rosen
ANCHORAGE | Thu Jan 17, 2013 10:40pm EST

(Reuters) - North America's largest living land mammals could roam the Alaska wilderness again by 2014, a century after they vanished in the state, under an agreement announced on Thursday to reintroduce wood bison to the lower Yukon River area.

State and federal officials said the deal used provisions of the Endangered Species Act to classify the bison as a "nonessential experimental population" in Alaska - meaning that protecting them would not hinder development, including oil drilling or mining. The animal is classified as threatened.

The population will be managed by Alaska state wildlife officials, who ultimately plan to allow limited hunts, officials told a news conference on Thursday.

Wood bison, larger than plains bison, once ranged the boreal regions of northwestern Canada and interior Alaska. In the early 1800s, the population may have been 168,000 in Canada, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/18/us-usa-alaska-bison-idUSBRE90H05E20130118?rpc=401&feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&rpc=401

[ROBROX]

1. JUST ANOTHER THING THE WHITE MAN CAN KILL

I think it is a good idea to see if the beast can live in th area. Who would want to SHOT a creature which is very limited in this area, but a GUN NUT.

The same thing is happening to th wolf which was introduced to some areas. The GUN NUTS want to shot the poor creatures. One wolf made it down to California and the gun nuts were SALIVATING with the thought of shooting one animal..............

[csziggy]

2. I don't understand trophy hunting but there can be reasons

To allow hunting for some species.

One reason waterfowl in the lower 48 states have lots of areas to live is that hunting organizations lobbied to protect areas for their members to hunt. For instance, Ducks Unlimited:

DU {Ducks Unlimited} got its start in 1937 during the Dust Bowl when North America’s drought-plagued waterfowl populations had plunged to unprecedented lows. Determined not to sit idly by as the continent’s waterfowl dwindled beyond recovery, a small group of sportsmen joined together to form an organization that became known as Ducks Unlimited. Its mission: habitat conservation.
http://www.ducks.org/about-du?poe=hometxt

If the hunters realize that habitat conservation is in their best interest they will join environmental groups in protecting the areas where the species they want to hunt live.

I am NOT protecting the idea of hunting for hunting's sake, but maybe we can use the hunters to add to the protected areas.