List of bison conservation herds in North America explained

Conservation of American bison is heavily tied with conservation herds and the protected areas they roam. American bison occupy less than one percent of their historical range with fewer than 20,000 bison in conservation herds on public, tribal or private protected lands. The roughly 500,000 animals that are raised for commercial purposes are not included unless the entity is engaged in conservation efforts.^{[1] [2]}

Name	Location	Operator	Herd size
		American Prairie Foundation	800+
Antelope Island State Park^[3]	Utah	Utah State Parks	200
Badlands National Park	South Dakota	National Park Service	1000
Banff National Park	Alberta		36
Battelle Darby Creek Metro Park	Ohio		10
Bear Butte State Park	South Dakota		small
Bear River State Park			10
Blue Mounds State Park	Minnesota			100
Broken Kettle Grasslands Preserve	Iowa		200
Buffalo Pound Provincial Park	Saskatchewan	Saskatchewan Environment, Parks Branch
		USMC (Camp Pendleton Game Warden's Office)	90
Camp Wainwright	Alberta	Department of National Defence (Canada)
Caprock Canyons State Park		Texas Parks and Wildlife Department	150
Catalina Island bison herd			100
			3
Clymer Meadow Preserve	Texas	The Nature Conservancy
Chief Mountain Wilderness Unit^[4]	Montana	Blackfeet Nation	25
Chippewa Cree Tribal Buffalo Pasture			11
Chitina herd	Alaska	Alaska Department of Fish and Game
Copper River herd	Alaska	Alaska Department of Fish and Game
Crane Trust	Nebraska	Crane Trust	50+
Cross Ranch Nature Preserve			200
		Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes	500
Custer State Park	South Dakota		1500
Daniels Park			30
Delta Junction herd	Alaska	Alaska Department of Fish and Game
Elk Island National Park	Alberta		315
Farewell Lake herd	Alaska	Alaska Department of Fish and Game
Fermilab bison herd	Illinois	U.S. Department of Energy	28
Finney Game Refuge	Kansas	Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks
Fort Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge	Nebraska	U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service	350
Fort Peck Indian Reservation		Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes	400
Fort Robinson State Park	Nebraska		150
			18
Genesee Park			33
Grand Teton National Park–National Elk Refuge bison herd			1000
Grasslands National Park	Saskatchewan		300
	Alberta		400
Henry Mountains bison herd	Utah	Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Bureau of Land Management	400
Hot Springs State Park			15
House Rock State Wildlife Area	Arizona	Arizona Game and Fish Department
	Alaska	U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service	94
Janos Biosphere Reserve	Chihuahua		138
	Indiana		90+
Konza Prairie Biological Station	Kansas	The Nature Conservancy, Kansas State University	300
Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area	Kentucky	U.S. Forest Service	50
Maderas del Carmen	Coahuila		19
	Kansas		150
Medano–Zapata Ranch	Colorado	The Nature Conservancy
	Illinois	U.S. Forest Service	50
			30
	Illinois	The Nature Conservancy	130
Niobrara Valley Preserve	Nebraska	The Nature Conservancy
Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge	Iowa	U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service	50
	Saskatchewan		115
Ordway Prairie Preserve	South Dakota	The Nature Conservancy
Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park		Florida Department of Environmental Protection	10
Pink Mountain	British Columbia	British Columbia Department of Water, Lands and Air Protection
Prairie State Park			100
Primrose Lake Air Weapons Range	Alberta–Saskatchewan	CFB Cold Lake, Department of National Defence (Canada)
Prince Albert National Park	Saskatchewan		400
Raymond State Wildlife Area	Arizona	Arizona Game and Fish Department
Riding Mountain National Park	Manitoba		40
		U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service	150
Sandhill Wildlife Area			15
	Kansas		51
Smoky Valley Ranch	Kansas	The Nature Conservancy
			100
			12
	Kansas		90
Tallgrass Prairie Preserve	Oklahoma		2500
Theodore Roosevelt National Park			800
	New Mexico and Colorado		1200
	Saskatchewan	Wanuskewin Heritage Park Authority	12
Waterton Lakes National Park	Alberta		6
White Horse Hill National Game Preserve	North Dakota	U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service	20
Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge	Oklahoma	U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service	650
Wildcat Hills State Recreation Area	Nebraska	Nebraska Game and Parks Commission
			400
			100
Wood Buffalo National Park	Alberta and Northwest Territories		3000
			4800
colspan"4"	Commercial herds are not included. Listed herds remove excess bison on a regular basis which may be slaughtered for commercial purposes.

Notes and References

1. Web site: 2019-11-17 . To Save Species from Extinction, We Must Consider More than Just Numbers . 2024-12-03 . In These Times . en.
2. Web site: Nargi . Lela . Bison meat is hot. Ranchers are struggling to keep up. . 2024-12-03 . Mother Jones . en-US.
3. Boyd . Delaney P. . Gates . C. Cormack . Spring 2006 . A Brief Review of the Status of Plains Bison in North America . Journal of the West . 45 . 2 . 15–21.
4. Web site: Scott . Tristan . 2023-06-28 . Blackfeet Bring Bison Home to Chief Mountain . 2024-12-03 . Flathead Beacon . en.