"It was a dream," Dwight Bunnell said of the time about 30
years ago when biologists started talking about putting bison back
on the Book Cliffs in eastern Utah.
"When we started, many felt there would never be a chance to
return bison to public lands here," he said. "But this is proof
dreams can come true."
A retired Wildlife Section chief for the Utah Division of Wildlife
Resources, Bunnell was among about 60 people on hand to see the
historic reintroduction of 16 bison onto public lands in the Book
Cliffs. (Continued Below)
Everyone in attendance at the Jan. 14 release seemed to agree.
"This is exciting!" said Bill Christensen, Utah director for the
Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. "This is historic. Bison have
returned to the Book Cliffs!"
1941 was the last year a new bison herd was started on public land
in Utah. "This is why the RMEF got involved in the Book Cliffs
Conservation Initiative," Christensen said. "[This is] why we
helped purchase two of the three ranches that were for sale from
willing sellers [on the Book Cliffs] 18 years ago."
Christensen said the place looks a bit different with all the
recent energy development, but the Book Cliffs is still a great
place for wildlife.
"I'm really proud to be a part of it," Christensen said. "The Book
Cliffs is the second largest project [in terms of acres for
wildlife] that the foundation was involved with.
"This introduction is another major achievement for the
partnership."
New herd starts with 45 bison
In all, 45 bison will be introduced onto public lands in the Book
Cliffs. Another herd, managed by the Ute Tribe, roams to the west
on the Hill Creek Extension of the Book Cliffs.
The DWR reintroduced 14 of the 45 animals donated by the Ute Tribe
into the rugged, remote, roadless area of the Book Cliffs in
August 2008.
Two bison explore their new home on the Book Cliffs. These bison
are among the animals biologists fitted with radio collars. Photo
by Ron Stewart.
The final 31 bison were captured from another free-ranging herd
managed by the DWR on the Henry Mountains in southeastern Utah.
The 16 released on Jan. 14, and the 15 scheduled for release on
Jan. 15, are being reintroduced on Steer Ridge and Moon Ridge
respectively.
Both of these areas are in the part of the Book Cliffs that has
roads in it.
"We felt this would be the best area [for the latest release] for
several reasons," said Dave Olsen, a biologist with the DWR. - (It)'s
open, it's remote and it has good forage. Several habitat projects
have helped prepare this area for the release. And a natural burn
has helped us even more.
"Also, Bert DeLambert, the landowner on this side [of the Book
Cliffs], was an integral part of the Book Cliffs Conservation
Initiative, and cooperative grazing and habitat developments
[associated with it]. He doesn't run many animals in this area,
and he has an interest in bison. He felt this would be good site
to release the bison and start the new herd. It's also as close as
we could get to the roadless area in the Book Cliffs in the middle
of winter."
A busy week!
The Jan. 14 and 15 releases started with a helicopter capture on
Jan. 10 and 11 on the high plateaus of the Henry Mountains.
After the bison were captured, they were placed in large bags and
flown to a staging area where blood and other samples were taken
to be tested for disease. The bison were then loaded into trailers
for transport to a quarantine station on Antelope Island State
Park where they stayed for several days. After passing their
disease testing, the bison were loaded up one more time for an
eight-hour drive to be released on "the edge of nowhere!"
"All of the bison were given ear tags at the capture site. And
before they left Antelope Island, we fitted some of the bison with
radio collars," said Dax Mangus, DWR biologist on the Book Cliffs.
"The tags and radios, which can be read from the ground or from
the air, will help us monitor the herd and track its movements.
We'll also watch to see how well the habitat holds up, and we'll
test [the bison] periodically for disease.
"I've been asked when the area will be open for bison hunting,"
Mangus said. "Yes, eventually hunting of the herd will be allowed,
but that's still years away. Most of the animals we released were
yearlings and calves, so it will be a couple years before the
calves reach maturity."
Mangus said the management plan for the Book Cliffs calls for 450
bison on the public land.
"That is so incredible," Bunnell said as he watched two bulls work
their way up a snow-covered slope and then silhouette themselves
on a ridge against the blue sky. "They belong here!"
