American prairies were once home to as many as 60 million bison. But when ranching and agriculture displaced elk and bison from the prairies, America’s grasslands all but disappeared. Now, the Nature Conservancy manages the largest remaining protected tract of tallgrass prairie in the entire world, the Joseph H. Williams Tallgrass Prairie Preserve in northeastern Oklahoma.
This 40,000-acre expanse is much more than grass. It is a biologically rich habitat that harbors a diverse collection of plant and animal species—more than 750 species of flora and 80 different mammals. This prairie is also a vital component in nature’s fight against climate change. The key to keeping the prairie healthy? Bison.
The Nature Conservancy reintroduced 300 bison to this prairie in 1993, and the herd has grown to more than 2,000 animals today. They graze on the majority of the preserve, playing an important part in enhancing the prairies. Combined with a method of land management known as patch burning—preserve managers torch about a third of the acreage every spring, summer, and fall, mimicking ancient seasons of fire—the tallgrass prairie is thriving.
The Nature Conservancy and bison:
https://www.nature.org/en-us/get-involved/how-to-help/animals-we-protect/american-bison/
Subscribe to PBS Terra! – https://bit.ly/3mOfd77
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American Prairie Reserve
Website: https://www.americanprairie.org/our-story
The Herd on American Prairie Reserve
We restore bison to their original habitat on American Prairie Reserve lands, providing visitors a chance to witness the majestic species that astounded the earliest explorers and played a central role in the culture and spirituality of Native Americans. Thanks to donors and collaborators, we reintroduced bison on our lands in 2005, returning a species that had been gone from the landscape for more than 120 years. Learn more about the herd: https://www.americanprairie.org/sites/default/files/2004%20APR%20Bison%20Reintroduction%20Plan.pdf
History
Since the 19th century, a variety of efforts have been undertaken to ensure that America’s Great Plains remains intact for future generations.
In 1999, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) published Ecoregional Planning in the Northern Great Plains Steppe, which, for the first time, pinpointed specific, critical areas of the Northern Great Plains that were the most viable for conserving the existing diversity of plants and animals. The region just north of the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge in northeastern Montana was identified as a top priority for grassland conservation, owing to the relatively pristine condition of the land and the diversity of wildlife species in the area.
Shortly after TNC published its findings, World Wildlife Fund decided to initiate a conservation effort in the Montana Glaciated Plains, one of the key areas identified by TNC. They determined that an independent entity, capable of focusing all of its time and resources on the preservation of Montana’s Northern Great Plains, would be the best vehicle through which to initiate a large-scale conservation effort. In June 2001, The Prairie Foundation was officially formed as an independent non-profit organization, later named American Prairie Foundation and now simply American Prairie Reserve. World Wildlife Fund’s Northern Great Plains Program was an active and valued science contributor to American Prairie Reserve during the first decade of the Reserve. Specifically, WWF provided on-the-ground scientific support conducting inventories (plants, streams, birds and wildlife) and wildlife migration studies, monitoring and protecting prairie dogs, reintroducing bison, restoring streams and riparian areas.
Today, American Prairie Reserve is a freestanding Montana-based nonprofit that started to assemble land in 2004. Our main focus is to purchase and permanently hold title to private lands that glue together a vast mosaic of existing public lands so that the region is managed thoughtfully and collaboratively with state and federal agencies for wildlife conservation and public access.
The idea of preserving a unique area of the American prairie, to be enjoyed forever and by all walks of life, has been worked on diligently, and in a variety of ways, for well over one hundred years. At American Prairie Reserve, we view our work as continuing the legacy of a long line of talented people and committed organizations as well as honoring a landscape that has helped shaped the vitality and character of our country.
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WHY CONSUMING BISON IS KEY TO BISON PRESERVATION
125 years ago bison were on the brink of extinction. Today, nearly all of the bison in the world can be traced to the five foundation herds assembled in the late 1800’s by people such as Charles Goodnight of the Goodnight-Loving cattle trail fame, showman and entrepreneur Charles “Buffalo Jones,” Native American Samael Walking Coyote, partners Michel Pablo and Charles Allard, and “Buffalo King” Scotty Phillip. These ranchers saved the species. Canada had home-grown saviors of the bison as well.
These ranchers struggled to economically sustain their efforts. Charles Goodnight spent $7,000 filming an elaborate Indian buffalo hunt, but couldn’t market the footage. Pablo had offered to sell his herd to the U.S. government for $250/head, and had been shunned. Phillip leased 3,500 acres of unclaimed government land along the banks of the Missouri for $50 annually to be used as a tourist attraction, but the herd outgrew the pasture.
In the first half of the 20th Century, there was little perceived economic value in bison. The new preserves fostered by the American Bison society, the State of South Dakota and the federal government, provided the only significant outlet for the excess animals in the private herds. Animals from the herds of Pablo Allard, Goodnight and Jones were acquired by Yellowstone National Park in 1902 to restock the herd that had nearly been decimated by poaching that had continued until the mid-1890s. Thirty four bison originally from the Pablo Allard herd were purchased by the American Bison Society in 1909 to serve as the nucleus of the National Bison Range in Montana. Phillip’s heirs sold 36 bison to the state of South Dakota in 1914 to serve as seed stock for the Custer State Game Preserve herd. Phillip’s heirs struggled unsuccessfully to find private buyers for the remainder of the Buffalo King’s herd. With options exhausted, the family began to liquidate the approximately 700 bison in 1924.
Custer was renamed a state park in 1919, and soon began to attempt to manage its growing bison population by conducting annual field harvests in the park’s buffalo pasture. The meat was likely distributed in the community for the Christmas season. In 1922, 125 bulls were hunted in the park. Other animals were shipped from Custer to other parks in the East and the West. In the 1930’s, a slaughterhouse was constructed for bison to help dispose of surplus animals. Still, the herd had grown to 2,500 animals by the early 1940’s.
World War II provided a market boost for bison meat from Custer State Park and the adjoining Wind Cave National Park. Prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt had established the Office of Price Administration, which began to impose severe rationing of several types of food-stocks, including beef.
“Wild Game,” including bison meat, was exempt from the rationing. Demand surged. In the winter of 1942, Custer State Park’s slaughter plant failed to meet its orders, and work began on a new processing plant in the park. Meat from Custer State Park was marketed across the country, including in some of New York City’s finer restaurants. Sales of buffalo meat from the park continued to increase after the war. By 1953, meat sales generated nearly seventy-five thousand dollars for the Park.
Read more
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National Bison Association
The National Bison Association has nearly 1,000 members who range from ranchers to processors, marketers, conservationists and bison enthusiasts from across the globe. Together we are working to restore the bison to the American landscape.
8690 Wolff Ct. #200
Westminster, CO 80031
Phone: (303) 292-2833
Fax: (303) 845-9081
info@bisoncentral.com
Bison ranching consultancy
Frasier Bison L.L.C.
Procurement, Management & ConsultationFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/frasierbison/
Frasier Bison LLC is a consulting bison specialist management service and facilitation company located in Texas. We are all about bison. Our tagline is “Helping Buffalo with People- 1995”, and it’s true. Specializing in showing people how easy they are to raise, handle and market, along with help in buying and selling. We operate according to a company code of ethics written for the Texas Buffalo Exchange. We are dedicated to engaging all models that benefit the species. Services include facility design, humane handling, training, bison management, procurement, market facilitation and program development.
