Wood Bison (Bison bison athabascae)
Policy Actions

1970

• Included in the US list of foreign endangered species under the Endangered Species Conservation Act (see pg. 6) (PDF 1,067 kB)

1973

• Listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA)

1998

• USFWS was petitioned to remove wood bison from the list of threatened and endangered species under the ESA
• 90-day finding on petition to delist stated that the petitioner did not provide sufficient evidence to warrant a classification review and delisting (PDF 21 kB)

2007

• USFWS petitioned to downlist wood bison from endangered to threatened under the ESA

2009

• 90-day finding on petition to downlist concluded that a classification review is warranted and has been initiated (PDF 45 kB)

2010

• USFWS notice of intent to prepare environmental assessment and proposed rule for designating wood bison in Alaska as a nonessential experimental population (PDF 53 kB)

2011

• USFWS proposed to downlist the Wood Bison from endangered to threatened (PDF 267 kB)
• State of Alaska comments on the USFWS proposed decision to downlist Wood Bison from endangered to threatened (PDF 66 kB)

2012

• USFWS publishes a final rule to reclassify the wood bison from endangered to threatened (PDF file)

2013

• USFWS publishes a proposed rule to establish a nonessential experimental population of wood bison in Alaska (PDF file)

2014

• USFWS publishes a final rule to establish a nonessential experimental population of wood bison in Alaska, 2014 (PDF file)

2015

• Management Plan for Lower Innoko/Yukon River Wood Bison in Westcentral Alaska finalized (PDF 1,322 kB)