Enter your number to get our free mobile app Byron, MN (KROC AM News) - They are not just a familiar and popular part of Olmsted County’s Oxbow Park. They are also special because of their genetics. Clarissa Schrooten And now the park’s four bison are part of a statewide program aimed at preserving the country’s largest native animal. Clarissa Schrooten Oxbow Park’s animals have become part of the Minnesota Bison Conservation Herd, which is managed through a long-standing partnership between the Department of Natural Resources and the Minnesota Zoological Garden. The herd includes about 130 bison at four different locations: Blue Mounds State Park, Minneopa State Park, the Minnesota Zoo and now Zollman Zoo at Oxbow Park. The partnership’s long-term goal is a herd numbering 500 bison to ensure the herd’s long-term sustainability in Minnesota.