Home on the training range: Herd of bison roam Camp Pendleton
An adult bison stands firm between her calf and wildlife biologists observing the herd from a nearby dirt road at Camp Pendleton. About 150 animals roam free here in the remote northeastern part of the Marine Corps training base. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)
Oak savanna and wide-open grasslands provide an ideal habitat for the wild bison that roam free on the Marine Corps base at Camp Pendleton. The 150 animals are among the few free-roaming genetically pure bison herds anywhere in the United States. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)
One of the estimated 150 bison that roam Camp Pendleton grazes near a pop-up target on a weapons training range. Marines hold their fire until the animals can be scared away with air horns. In the mid-1970s, the San Diego Zoo gave Pendleton a dozen bison to roam the vacant spots of the big base. Now the herd is treated like a celebrity. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)
A huge old male bison ambles slowly across a gravel road on one of Camp Pendleton’s remote training ranges. If any of the herd of 150 wander near range targets, training officers sound an air horn to hasten their retreat. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)
