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About 3,000 bison make their home in Yellowstone National Park, according to a recently completed population estimate.

The low snowpack, which left bare patches of ground, made the aerial survey difficult to conduct this year and likely resulted in an underestimate of as much as 10 percent, the park said in a news release.

But even with the expected low estimate numbers, the park has seen an increase in the number of bison since last year. Last year's late winter population estimate was 2,900 bison.

Fifty-six percent of the bison are in the Northern Range herd, with forty-four percent in the Central Interior herd, according to the park.

State licensed and tribal hunters removed four bison this year. No other bison have been captured or shipped to slaughter, or otherwise removed from the population this winter, the park said.

This population estimate is used to inform adaptive management strategies under the Interagency Bison Management Plan (IBMP). The IBMP is a cooperative plan designed to conserve a viable, wild bison
population while protecting Montana's brucellosis-free status.

The five cooperating agencies operating under the IBMP are the National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, the Montana Department of Livestock, and the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks.