American Plains Bison
Rewilding an Icon
by James A. Bailey
published by James A. Bailey
- For many, plains bison are the embodiment of wildness and the pre-settlement American West. After millennia of evolution through natural selection, however, the species was nearly wiped out, only to be subjected to domestication for more than 100 years. Domestication alters the bison genome through inbreeding, crossing with cattle genes, shrinking genetic diversity and artificial selection. These forces continue to replace natural selection and valued wild characteristics of bison. Does the future hold only continued domestication for plains bison in the United States? With a view from over 50 years in the profession of wildlife biology, Bailey probes this and other questions in The American Plains Bison: Rewilding an Icon. The book presents his original and lively analysis of 44 conservation bison herds on native range in the United States. He focuses upon the gray area between wildness and domestication and sheds light on domesticating practices of Native American and government agencies, as well as commercial bison producers. He challenges the profession of wildlife management to expand its views on manipulating wildlife populations. For bison, Bailey makes a strong case for creating large reserves to restore wild bison and their natural contributions to our grassland ecosystems.
264 pages, 6 x 9, 43 b/w photos, 3 color photos, 8 map(s), index, 36 softcovers per case, perfect bound
softcover
ISBN 10: 1-59152-123-8
ISBN 13: 978-1-59152-123-5
$19.95
RELEASE DATE
December 2013
| American Plains Bison
Rewilding an Icon |
| "James A. Bailey's book, American Plains Bison: Rewilding an Icon, is inspiring and instructive. There is an urgency in American Plains Bison, given the many ways in which the shortgrass prairie is impoverished by the absence of bison and given that Bailey reports that bison are missing from perhaps 99% of their historical range in the contiguous U.S.
In American Plains Bison, we find an informative exploration of the bison issue, including their natural history, their dramatic decline due to mass slaughter in the 1800s, their biology and ecology, and the need to bring them back.... Bailey's book provides much food for thought. For instance, it's hard for me to hear an argument for hunting a species from an author who is contending that the species is biologically threatened. Predicting that reaction, he also warns that hunting bison should be subordinated to the goal of wild bison restoration. American Plains Bison is fascinating, both for its depth of detail and Bailey's impassioned defense of the wild, unruly, keystone species that is (or could be) the plains bison." -Nicole Rosmarino, Grasslands Gazette, Southern Plains Land Trust
"[James A. Bailey's] book explores the inadequacies of maintaining wild bison, and offers examples of places where contiguous public lands could be set aside for wild bison and other rare species." -Montana State of the Arts
"The plight of the bison should strike a chord with Bailey's intended general audience, but ecologists, evolutionary biologists, and wildlife managers will find this book an effective primer on practical conservation biology. It should be required reading for all wildlife students; I know it will be for mine." - J. Andrew DeWoody, Science Magazine, VOL 345 ISSUE 6200 PAGE 1009 |
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| Dr. James Bailey was a professor of biology at Colorado State University for 20 years, teaching big-game management and wildlife nutrition. His first book was Principles of Wildlife Management, published in 1984. In retirement, he became interested in the management of bison in Yellowstone National Park. This led to his survey of the conservation status of bison in the United States and reassessment of wildlife management's influences upon the future evolution of large wild mammals. | |