This image is the cover for the book Theodore Roosevelt & Bison Restoration on the Great Plains

Theodore Roosevelt & Bison Restoration on the Great Plains

This history chronicles the 19th century plan to reintroduce wild bison into Western Montana and the rise of Roosevelt’s conservation movement.

In the late 1800s, the rapid depletion of the American bison population prompted calls for the preservation of wildlife and wild lands in North America. Following a legendary hunt for the last wild bison in central Montana, Dr. William Hornady sought to immortalize the West's most iconic species. Activists like Theodore Roosevelt rose to the call, initiating a restoration plan that seemed almost incomprehensible in that era. 

This thoroughly researched history follows the ambitious project from the first animals bred at the Bronx Zoo to today's National Bison Range. Glenn Plumb, a former chief wildlife biologist for the National Park Service, and Keith Aune, the former Wildlife Conservation Society director of bison programs, demonstrate how the success of bison repopulation bolstered Roosevelt's broader conservation efforts.

Keith Aune, Glenn Plumb

After a thirty-one-year career with the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Department, Keith Aune served as director of bison programs and a conservation fellow for the Wildlife Conservation Society in Bozeman, Montana. Following an award-winning career, Glenn Plumb recently retired as chief wildlife biologist of the National Park Service. Glenn currently serves as the chair of the American Bison Specialist Group for the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

The History Press