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D.C. (NewsDakota.com) – Senators John Hoeven (R-N.D.) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Representatives Wm. Lacy Clay (D-Mo.), Jeff Fortenberry (R-Neb.), Kristi Noem (R-S.D.) and José Serrano (D-N.Y.) today announced that both the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives have now approved legislation to name the bison as the National Mammal of the United States.

The Senate passed the National Bison Legacy Act in December and the U.S. House of Representatives passed its version Tuesday night. The bill was introduced by Senators Hoeven and Heinrich in the Senate and in the U.S. House of Representatives by Reps. Clay, Fortenberry, Noem and Serrano. The Senate sponsors expect the Senate to concur with the House bill later this week and send the legislation to the president to be signed into law.

In addition to naming the bison as the U.S. national mammal, the National Bison Legacy Act recognizes the historical, cultural and economic significance of the bison, which is the largest land mammal in America and revered by many Native American tribes as a sacred and spiritual symbol of their heritage.

Here’s Senator John Hoeven.

More than 40 million bison once roamed across most of North America, but by the late 1800s, fewer than one thousand bison remained. The species is acknowledged as the first American conservation success story, having been brought back from the brink of extinction by a concerted effort of ranchers, conservationists and politicians to save the species in the early 20th century.

The bill sponsors thanked the Vote Bison Coalition, which is led by steering committee members the Inter-Tribal Buffalo Council, National Bison Association and Wildlife Conservation Society, for their advocacy and support to make the bison the National Mammal. The coalition counts more than 50 businesses, tribal groups and organizations who have banded together to support efforts to celebrate bison.