Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/496918
h i s ' N T h a t By The Editors T S P O R T I N G C L A S S I C S 1 3 Where the Wild Buffalo Roam (Again) The United States has an enigmatic history with its iconic wildlife: The bald eagle, our national bird, was endangered until 1995. The Rocky Mountain elk, a symbol of the West, only recently gained a foothold in a few areas of its former range. But the bison, perhaps the most inherently American beast, has yet to fully recover. Safari Club International, the Alaska Department of Fish & Game, and the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center have been working to correct this. For nearly a decade the organizations have together fought to restore wood bison—North America's largest bison subspecies—in Alaska, where they haven't roamed in nearly a century. As Discover notes, wood bison were considered nearly extinct until 1957, when a small number were found in Canada. In 2008 AWCC brought in 53 wood bison from the Canadian herd to raise at its reserve, hoping to bolster a healthy population in the US. This year, with 135 wood bison now at the AWCC compound, the organizations focused on the next phase in their project: Get bison into the wild. Between March 22 and 24, 100 wood bison were transferred from Girwood, Alaska, and released on the plains outside Shageluk, a remote community in the Yukon– Koyukuk Census Area, where the animals once thrived. For the first time in roughly 100 years, wood bison again walked the Alaskan wilderness, a major victory for the species and US conservation. Reintroducing America's largest mammal (bull wood bison weigh upwards of 2,000 pounds) does more than just restore an American icon to a portion of its original range. They feed on grass and their hooves cultivate the soil, supporting the biodiversity of mammals (such as prairie dogs and wolves) and plants within the ecosystem. Environmental thinker Ed Abbey once wrote, "A world without huge regions of total wilderness would be a cage; a world without lions and tigers and vultures and snakes and elk and bison would be—will be— human zoo. A high-tech slum." Abbey's anxiety has played out in the wood bison crisis, but let's hope that citizens and organizations in Alaska and the Lower 48 will continue to cull their resources, so bison—a symbol of our pride and strength and wildness—can again roam the country that it represents. —Andy Arick 36th Blue Book Available The 36th edition of the Blue Book of Gun Values is now available. In recent months, double-action revolvers from both Colt and Smith & Wesson have fluctuated significantly in price, but the 36th Edition contains updated values and information reflecting these and other changes in the industry. Makes and models for 2015 are included, along with updated values on discontinued and antique guns. The new Blue Book edition has more than 2,500 pages and includes nearly 1,500 manufacturers and trademarks, almost 20,000 gun model descriptions, and more than 175,000 prices. In addition to the printed O ne-hundred wood bison have been released near Shageluk, Alaska, where North America's largest animal has been absent for more nearly 100 years. iStock