alaska wildlife officials are preparing to release north america's largest land mammal into its native us habitat for the first time in more than a century the alaska department of fish and game plans to begin moving wood bison, which can weigh up to 2,000 pounds and stand six feet tall at the shoulder, from a conservation center near anchorage to the village of shageluk a hundred wood bison will be released into the innoko flats about 350 miles southwest of fairbanks in a few weeks after they're acclimated scroll down for video  the alaska department of fish and game plans to begin moving wood bison, which can weigh up to 2,000 pounds and stand six feet tall at the shoulder, to the village of shageluk so they can be released in a few weeks  the bison will be flown in 20 foot containers that can hold seven adult cows in individual stalls or up to 17 younger bison two containers will be trucked sunday to anchorage and flown by commercial carrier for the hour flight to shageluk a c 130 from lynden air cargo, one of the multiple corporate sponsors involved, can carry two containers each flight half the initial herd moved will be adult cows about 25 are pregnant the rest of the herd will be juveniles two years old or younger bulls will be barged to the area in summer wood bison feed on grasses, sedges and forbs and wider variety of other plants like the state's abundant willow  biologist cathie harms said: 'this has been an incredibly long project   23 years in the making,  'to say we're excited is an understatement' the state hopes to complete the flights by tuesday but will proceed slowly if there are snags wood bison are very large, very powerful wild animals, harms said she added: 'we're making them do something they don't want to do/' once in shageluk, the bison will be kept in pens several acres large before being released in two or three week after 'they're in good shape' wood bison are the larger of two subspecies of american bison but did not roam in lower 48 states the smaller subspecies are plains bison, which were not native to alaska but were introduced to the state in 1928, where they have thrived wood bison flourished for thousands of years in alaska but disappeared in the 1800s or early 1900s no one knows why they feed on grasses, sedges and forbs and wider variety of other plants, including alaska's abundant willow the state had a strong interest in reintroduction as a source of food for subsistence hunters and as a game animal for sport hunting, but plans ran into a political snag wood bison flourished for thousands of years in alaska but disappeared in the 1800s or early 1900s  in 2008, the state imported 53 wood bison from a national park in canada, adding to a smaller herd that was held at the alaska wildlife conservation center in portage however, wood bison are a threatened species and state officials worried that the federal government would designate their new home in the wild as critical habitat, requiring consultation with federal agencies before oil and gas drilling or other development could occur the problems were worked out the us fish and wildlife service in 2013 declared that wood bison reintroduced in alaska would be considered an experimental population not essential to the continued existence of the species the wood bison will be managed by state wildlife officials and exempt from certain restrictions in the endangered species act the fish and game department does not expect predators to be a problem biologist harms said: 'wolves don't seem to know what to do with them' alaska did not record a bear or a wolf killing a plains bison until nearly 30 years after they were introduced 87 years ago
a few weeks 1900s north america's thousands of years the 1800s or 2,000lbs
animals can weigh 2,000lbs and are north america's largest land mammal  flourished for thousands of years but disappeared in the 1800s or 1900s  100 wood bison will be released in a few weeks after they've acclimated  creatures eat grasses, sedges and forbs and wider variety of other plants 