Most historians have focused their attention on two elements about the restoration of the American bison: western ranchers who started the earliest private herds and eastern conservationists who raised funds and lobbied for the creation of the first national preserves. However, no one was a more effective popularizer than William F. Cody, despite his belief that bison neither could nor would recover. Buffalo Bill's "Wild West" exposed millions of North Americans and Europeans to live buffalo; it provided a market for fledgling buffalo ranchers; and, to a lesser degree, the "Wild West" raised awareness of the precariously low population of American bison. Buffalo Bill Cody is not the first name that comes to mind when one considers preservation of the American bison, primarily because he is best known for killing them.