Pittsburgh Zoo welcomes 4 bison to its International Conservation Center
The male and three females, who were born this summer and are approximately eight months old, arrived at the conservation center in December.
"This is the beginning of an exciting breeding and reintroduction program that will repatriate bison to indigenous territories across the United States," said International Conservation Center director Ayeshah Al-Humaidhi in a press release. "The herd will also provide training opportunities for animal care managers across zoological institutions and our Native American partners."
Most bison today aren't pure bison but are genetically mixed with cattle. The zoo says its four bison represent the purest stock in North America because genetic integrity plays an important role in bison conservation.
Bison are listed as near threatened and ecologically extinct, meaning they no longer play a critical role in shaping prairie biodiversity, the zoo says. Bison once numbered in the millions, but hunting and habitat loss dwindled the population down to a little over a thousand at the turn of the 20th century.
The bison come to the conservation center through a partnership with a nature reserve in Montana called American Prairie. Both the zoo and American Prairie are part of an Association of Zoos & Aquariums program that aims to recover bison and restore their native habitat by merging the resources of AZA facilities and Indigenous groups.
"We are thrilled to partner with the ICC and contribute to this important new program to help grow bison populations across North America," Scott Heidebrink, American Prairie's director of landscape stewardship, said in a news release. "We have spent the past 20 years restoring bison to their native prairie home and look forward to seeing even more of these iconic mammals on this historic landscape."
The zoo says the bison will serve as ambassadors for their species at the conservation center, helping visitors understand the role they play in the ecosystem and the importance of preserving their natural habitats.
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The Homestake mine, once the largest and deepest gold mine in the Western Hemisphere, now sits barren in Lead, South Dakota, and is used for scientific research. Interest in Black Hills gold mining has soared along with the price of the metal. When the Homestake mine closed in 2002, gold sold for about $300 an ounce. Now it goes for about 10 times as much. Joseph Cavatoni, senior market strategist at the World Gold Council, attributes the price spike to global economic uncertainty. 'Gold tends to be a stable asset,' he said. 'That actually performs well in inflationary times, and holds its value in recessionary times. That's why gold as an asset in investment.' President Donald Trump also boosted the industry by issuing an executive order in March to increase American mineral production, calling for expedited permitting and reviews. Colin Paterson, professor emeritus of geological engineering at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, notes that Black Hills gold is encased in rock. To extract it, the rock is crushed and then a chemical like cyanide is used to dissolve the mineral and remove it. Coeur Mining runs the single active mine in the Black Hills, but the company Dakota Gold has plans for an open pit mine to begin operating in 2029. The company is also targeting the area near the old Homestake site to build an underground mine where workers would descend hundreds or even thousands of feet into shafts. Jack Henris, president and chief operating officer of Dakota Gold, estimated the open pit mine would create up to 250 jobs and result in the company paying the state up to $400 million in taxes over the life of the mine. Dakota Gold will conduct an environmental study and surveys of soil and vegetation to ensure safe operation, Henris said. 'Most of the people that work here are from this area and just love to live here,' he said. 'So we're a big part of the Hills and we love them just as much as other folks.' To a great extent, gold mining helped create the modern Black Hills region. The U.S. government signed a treaty in 1868 that recognized the Sioux Nation's right to the Black Hills, but the government seized the land after the discovery of gold and allowed settlers into the region. The U.S. Supreme Court later ruled the Sioux were entitled to compensation, but they have not accepted any and maintain their claim to the land. Tribes have largely opposed mining in the Black Hills. 'There's a central truth about mining in the Black Hills in that it was never the most mineral rich place there ever was,' said Taylor Gunhammer, local organizer with the Indigenous advocacy group NDN Collective and an Oglala Sioux, one of the Lakota people. 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'It's really important that people understand the exponential growth in mining activity that's been happening in the Black Hills over the last five years or so,' Jarding said. "There are currently active mining claims on 271,000 acres in the Black Hills. That's 20% of the whole Black Hills that is potentially going to be subject to mining.'
