Today is the first National Bison Day…created by a coalition made up of the Colorado-based National Bison Association, the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society and the South Dakota-based Intertribal Buffalo Council.

The coalition agreed earlier this year to designate the first Thursday of each November as National Bison Day as part of their Vote Bison campaign to convince Congress to designate the bison as the National Mammal of the United States.

Lawmakers from 8 states….Nebraska,Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota and Rhode Island…have given support to a bill that would make the designation official.

The National Mammal designation would not give the bison any extra protection, but the coalition says it would give the species…the largest land mammal in the United States…a higher profile and let it join the bald eagle as a symbol of the United States.

The Vote Bison campaign says the bison…or the more common, but incorrect buffalo…helped shape the Great Plains and the lifestyle of the Native Americans who lived there, and are now found in all 50 states.

The coalition has its own website…votebison.org…with more information about the campaign and about contacting members of Congress to sign onto the National Bison Legacy Act today.

The Act has bipartisan support in Congress, with the Senate version introduced by Wyoming Republican Mike Enzi and South Dakota Democrat Tim Johnson.

The House version began with Nebraska Republican Jeff Fortenberry and Missouri Democrat William Lacy Clay, who were then joined by South Dakota Republican Kristi Noem and New York Democrat Jose Serrano