The Return of the American Prairie

On thousands of acres in eastern Montana, the great American prairie is coming back—nurtured by a determined group of citizens.

Watching bison up close is mesmerizing, like watching a grass fire about to leap out of control. With their huge, wedge-shaped heads and silver-dollar-size brown eyes, the 2,000-pound animals are symbols of another place and time. More than 100 bison now roam the 30,000-acre American Prairie Reserve in eastern Montana—the first time they've inhabited that region in a century. Direct descendants of the tens of millions of bison that once populated the Western plains, they represent an epic effort: to restore a piece of America's prairie to the national grandeur that Lewis and Clark extolled two centuries ago. During that famous expedition across the Western states to the Pacific, the two explorers encountered so many bison that they had to wait hours for one herd to pass. Back then, the grizzly bear was also a creature of the prairie, feeding on buffalo carcasses and calves. Vast villages of prairie dogs provided tasty meals for hawks, eagles, and the now-endangered black-footed ferret.

Most of the big predators—bears and wolves—are all but gone from the prairie. But in Phillips County, south of Malta and north of the Missouri River, the land itself is in remarkably fine shape. Native grasses, a natural habitat for badgers and coyotes, still thicken the sod. There are few mineral deposits. So far, not many vacationers have put in stakes, as they have to the south, in Wyoming.

And the region remains a trove of biodiversity. Plovers, curlews, and dozens of species of songbirds breed here. Sage grouses, though greatly reduced in number, still do a fancy fandango of a mating dance on the springtime prairie.

In its quest to protect what's here and reintroduce long-gone wildlife (something the World Wildlife Fund is helping with), the American Prairie Foundation began purchasing land from local ranchers in 2004. It now owns 30,000 acres and has grazing privileges on another 57,000. Its goal over the next 25 years is to assemble three million acres, the largest tract of land devoted to wildlife management in the continental United States.

Already, herds of elk, deer, and pronghorn antelope roam the grasslands, where visitors can camp, hike, and bike. Cottonwoods and willows are thriving along streams, creating habitats for bobcats, beavers, and other animals.

And of course there are the bison. "I'm hoping we can fix up a little mini-migration when we have maybe 400 to 500 of them," says Bill Willcutt, the reserve's original manager. "That'll be something to see."

Not everyone shares APF's vision. Some residents of Phillips County (pop. 3,904) worry that the area could become a prairie Disneyland, overcrowded with tourists. But the biggest obstacle is the ranchers themselves, whose cattle compete with prairie dogs and bison for grass and space.

"People like me have no intention of selling their ranches," says Dale Veseth, who heads the Ranchers Stewardship Alliance of 35 families in Phillips County and whose family has been ranching here since 1886. "They've been a labor of love through the generations." Instead, he wants APF to pay or subsidize ranchers to raise bison. This would be far less costly for the foundation, he argues, than buying the land outright.

It may just be a waiting game. "We see this as a long, slow process," says Sean Gerrity, the foundation's president. His strategy for wooing the ranchers is to be neighborly, shop locally, and offer a fair price for the land, using money donated by individuals and foundations with an interest in conservation. Ranchers who sell to APF can also stay on the ranches as long as they like and keep their cattle if they wish.

George Horse Capture Jr., who lives on the Fort Belknap reservation, 50 miles from the reserve, hopes more ranchers will sell eventually. "If we have enough of these oases around, people can glimpse what was and imagine what could be," he says. "It makes me smile when I think about it."

From Reader's Digest - October 2009

 

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