ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Wood bison, North America's largest land mammal, could reappear in their native U.S. habitat soon.
If the weather cooperates, Alaska wildlife officials on Sunday plan to move the first of a new herd to a rural village for eventual release into the Innoko (in-NOH'-koh) Flats about 350 miles southwest of Fairbanks.
Wood bison were native to Alaska but disappeared more than a century ago. They're larger than plains bison, the other subspecies of American bison.
Alaska Department of Fish and Game biologist Cathie Harms says 100 will be trucked from a conservation center in Portage to Anchorage for an hour flight to the village of Shageluk (SHAG'-eh-luk).
The Alaska animals were obtained from stock in Canada.
Wood bison feed on grasses, sedges and Alaska's abundant willow.
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