National Bison Day 2024

Celebrate National Bison Day at AWCC with hayrides, naturalist talk, bison crafts, and activities. 

Bring the family for a fun filled day at AWCC celebrating bison. National Bison Day is an annual celebration of the American bison, restoration efforts for the species, as well as their ecological, cultural, and historical contributions as the national mammal of the United States. On this day AWCC celebrates the wood bison sub-species (Bison bison athabascae). Read the full history of their restoration HERE.

Schedule of Events:

All events listed below are FREE with admission!

11AM to 2PM Hay rides around AWCC

11AM – 2PM Educational Programs & Crafts in Bison Hall – Join the education staff in Bison Hall for arts & crafts, as well as fun educational programs. Activities will include watercolor bookmark making, bison themed games & biofacts, and more!

2:30PM FaceBook LIVE!  Can’t join us in person? Join us for a Facebook live at 2:30PM to learn about wood bison and get your questions answered in real time.

Discounts in the Be Wild Gift Shop

Enjoy 10% off Bison related products in the Be Wild Gift Shop!

Grab a gift for the bison loving friend in your life, or get something for yourself! As a non-profit, all proceeds from your purchase go straight back to the wildlife, so be like the bison and go wild!

Fun Facts about Wood Bison

Given their size as the largest mammals in North America, bison are surprisingly agile with an ability to swim well, jump up to six feet, and run between 35 and 40 mph.

Wood Bison are a species of Bison native to Alaska but due to unregulated hunting, ecological change, and interbreeding with Plains Bison their population declined until they were thought to be extinct by 1940. Seventeen years later, a pilot discovered a small herd of genetically pure Wood Bison in a remote part of Alberta, Canada. AWCC supports the conservation efforts of wood bison in Alaska by partnering with the state of Alaska to help reintroduce the species into their native habitat and learn more information about the species through our quality animal care practices.

Before the introduction process, AWCC provides quality animal care to each of the bison living in our care by providing a diet comparable to what they receive in the wild. A wood bison diet will mainly consist of grasses, sedges, and forbs. Bison will spend 9-11 hours a day grazing in the summer to gain most of their winter weight. The grazing of bison is beneficial for the ecosystem they live within by benefiting soil health, nutrient recycling, seed dispersal, and improving habitats for other native species.

AWCC supports the conservation of the wood bison species in Alaska by being one of few locations that breeds wood bison for release into the wild. Wood Bison will live in herds of about 20-60 bison. Cows will first breed when they are about 3 years old and gestations will last 9-months. Newborn bison calves are able to stand within 30-minutes of birth and are born red in color. At the AWCC, we rotate out the breeding male within the cow breeding herd to allow for greater genetic diversity within our wood bison breeding program.

The American bison is not only the country’s official mammal; the bison is also the state mammal of Wyoming, Oklahoma, and Kansas. President Obama, with the support of a broad coalition of Native American tribes, wildlife support groups, and concerned members of the Senate, signed a 2015 law making the proud and majestic bison our national mammal. This law helps to protect bison from extinction and encourages a return back to their native tribal lands.

Bison and buffalo are not the same. Bison are native to North and South America and Europe, while the traditional home of the buffalo is in Africa and Asia. At the height of their magnificence, there were between 30 and 60 million bison in the New World circa the 16th century. Today, there are currently half a million bison roaming happily across North America.

Fun Facts Source: https://nationaltoday.com/national-bison-day/