In all, 45 bison will be introduced onto public lands in the Book Cliffs. The DWR reintroduced 14 of the 45 animals donated by the Ute Tribe into the rugged, remote, roadless area of the Book Cliffs in August 2008.

The final 31 bison were captured from a free-ranging herd managed by the DWR on the Henry Mountains in southeastern Utah. The 16 bison released on Jan. 14, and the second group released on Jan. 15, were reintroduced on Steer Ridge and Moon Ridge respectively.

The releases started with a helicopter capture on Jan. 10 and 11 on the high plateaus of the Henry Mountains. After the bison were captured, they were placed in large bags and flown to a staging area where blood and other samples were taken to be tested for disease. The bison were then loaded into trailers for transport to a quarantine station on Antelope Island State Park. After passing their disease testing, the bison were loaded up one more time for an eight-hour drive to be released on "the edge of nowhere."

"All of the bison were given ear tags at the capture site. And before they left Antelope Island, we fitted some of the bison with radio collars," said Dax Mangus, DWR biologist on the Book Cliffs. "The tags and radios, which can be read from the ground or from the air, will help us monitor the herd and track its movements. We'll also watch to see how well the habitat holds up, and we'll test [the bison] periodically for disease.

"I've been asked when the area will be open for bison hunting," Mangus said. "Yes, eventually hunting of the herd will be allowed, but that's still years away. Most of the
animals we released were yearlings and calves, so it will be a couple years before the calves reach maturity."

Mangus said the management plan for the Book Cliffs calls for 450 bison on the public land. "That is so incredible," Bunnell said as he watched two bulls work their way up a snow-covered slope and then silhouette themselves on a ridge against the blue sky.
"They belong here."