The National Park Service wants to use both lethal and non-lethal methods to cull a herd of bison living on the Grand Canyon’s North Rim.
The Park Service is taking comments through June 7th on an environmental assessment that evaluates ways to manage the herd, which is descended from animals brought to northern Arizona a century ago to be cross-bred with cattle. Now the bison roaming the Kaibab Plateau, which carry cattle genes, are estimated to number 400 to 600, up from about 100 in the 1990s, and the agency is concerned about impacts to water, vegetation, and archaeological sites. The preferred alternative in the assessment is to cull the herd to under 200 animals by killing some and capturing others for removal.
