The Essence of Wildness: Lessons from Bison

In a previous book: American Plains Bison: Rewilding An Icon, Bailey pondered the issue of domestic vs. wild bison. He concludes wildness is more than a mere romantic notion, and provides a definition of wildness based on population genetics and evolutionary biology. Degree of wildness depends upon the preponderance of natural selection, a criterion that is measurable and operational in the practice of wildlife management. Bailey contends wildness may be the most ignored characteristic of wildlife, unrecognized in most wildlife law, and little considered in much management. With an emphasis on large mammals, he notes twelve categories of common management practices that weaken or replace natural selection. Bailey intends to communicate an academic topic to most owners of American wildlife, anyone who has had one good biology class. He discusses the sources of genetic diversity in wildlife populations and the selective and random processes that may alter population genetics. He then illustrates these interactions, noting how natural selection for wildness may be replaced or weakened, especially in populations that are not large or do not exist in large, diverse habitats. Bailey concludes with a plea for more and better examples of wildness amongst the increasingly domesticated environments of North America. Jim Bailey was professor of wildlife biology at Colorado State University for 20 years. His first book was Principles of Wildlife Management. His recent book on American Plains Bison led to a reassessment of wildlife management’s influences upon wildness in large mammals, ideas explored more fully in The Essence of Wildness.