Restoring bison to the prairie involves a wide range of collaborative work. Proper range management, meeting and exceeding government compliance, and leveraging scientific research to guide management decisions are all integral to bison being able to fulfill their crucial role in a grassland ecosystem.
As part of our Bison Restoration program, the Reserve team performs biennial bison handlings on our deeded property. In January, the team organized and operated a handling at Sun Prairie involving nearly 40 American Prairie Reserve employees, several volunteers, and ecologists from our partners at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute.
In addition to typical handling operations, we also deployed two exciting new technologies: National Geographic CRITTERCAMs and solar GPS ear tags funded by National Geographic Society. Our Wildlife Restoration team is now using this innovative technology to gain valuable insight into bison behavior and their impact on the ecosystem.
We just launched two blog posts detailing this work with photos from the handling and lots of great information about bison and how our efforts are advancing bison conservation across the country.