A Message From The President

Dear Friends of American Prairie Reserve,

There is undeniably a great deal of sobering news about the financial markets these days which makes us all the more grateful to be involved in this important project that thankfully is characterized by much good news. We are enjoying a great deal of “up and to the right” progress including increased youth involvement in education programs, much more knowledge being gained about key wildlife species, a steady increase in our bison herd numbers and an unprecedented number of scheduled visits to the Reserve. Thirty-five visiting members of The China Protected Areas Leadership Alliance Project will be our guests in May when we host them for a reserve tour, and in early May, APF and Montana Outdoor Science School (MOSS) will present outdoor education programs to local students both in-school and on the Reserve. At World Wildlife Fund, our science partners have preliminary results that include surprising new findings in their on-going study of pronghorn migration.

We want to thank each and every one of you who, even in these challenging times, have chosen to continue your financial support and help create the strongest start to a new year that we have ever had since this project’s inception. I hope you will join us as we look forward to an exciting new season of amazing people and programs on and around our American Prairie Reserve.

Sincerely,

Sean Gerrity
APF President

China Protected Areas Leadership Alliance to Visit APR in May

This May, APF will host a tour of the Reserve for the China Protected Areas Leadership Alliance Project. This project is a five year initiative to expose selected Chinese nature reserve managers and government officials to innovative conservation and management issues and strategies. After a week’s preparation in China, the group will travel to Washington, D.C., New York’s Adirondack State Park, American Prairie Reserve and Yellowstone Park. Finishing their tour at the East-West Center in Honolulu, they will discuss lessons learned and possible applications to Chinese protected areas. At the Reserve, they will learn about project highlights and be introduced to prairie-based flora and fauna, and visit the Philips County Museum, Dinosaur Field Station, Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge and Bowdoin National Wildlife Refuge. We are thrilled to be a part of this project and look forward to the arrival of our Chinese guests.

APF & Montana Outdoor Science School Teach Outdoor Ed

During the first week of May, over 150 Malta and Fort Belknap area fifth and seventh grade students will participate in an educational program with APF and Montana Outdoor Science School (MOSS). This year’s programs have several new aspects: first, MOSS will go into the schools for in-class activities prior to the students traveling to the yurts for the outdoor experience; second, students from the tribal schools will particpate in both aspects of the program; and third, the program has expanded from three days to five days.

Many area schools have expressed interest in attending these quality outdoor programs. In the future, we hope to expand this program even more since this outdoor educational opportunity is unique to northeastern Montana.

Photos by D. Lingohr

World Wildlife Fund Update: Pronghorn Migration Study

WWF; Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks; Bureau of Land Management and the University of Calgary found interesting preliminary results and succeeded in a second round of collaring in their ambitious collaborative study of pronghorn ecology and conservation planning. The project began in January 2008 in northern Montana when 22 females were fitted with GPS collars. Pronghorn require large areas of intact native prairie - annual movements of 500 miles have been documented, and pronghorn are second to caribou in North American migrations. The project will assess antelope use of this transboundary landscape and how native rangelands keep these populations healthy and connected. Defining movement corridors across prairie landscapes and sites of critical habitat will be other significant outcomes of this project.

In early January 2009, WWF Senior Fellow Dr. Kyran Kunkel, UC PhD student Andrew Jakes, FWP biologists Mark Sullivan and Kelvin Johnson led the team of collaborators in collecting 19 collars from the pronghorn captured last winter that had dropped off as planned. Two collars dropped significantly south of the winter range they were captured on, and one was found on American Prairie Reserve lands only 6 miles north of the Missouri River. The severe winter likely caused these animals to migrate farther south than last year. Such information likely further indicates the value of large connected landscapes for pronghorn. In Alberta, pronghorn used areas exceeding 8 million acres on an annual basis. The data has now been downloaded from the collars and will be analyzed.

In mid-February, 49 pronghorn were captured in north central Montana and Saskatchewan. Twenty were collared in the same winter range as last year in northern Phillips County; another twenty were collared in wintering herds near Glasgow and Nashua in northern Valley County (an area with lower development pressure than northern Phillips county and that provides good connectivity to conservation areas in Canaada). Nine animals were collared in southern Saskatchewan. This is the second year of a four-year study, which is now the focus of Andrew Jakes’ PhD research at the University of Calgary, Alberta, and receives significant funding from WWF’s NGP office. Additional collaborators include provincial counterparts in Alberta and Saskatchewan, University of Montana, and the Alberta Conservation Association.

What We’re Reading Now...

Winter in the Blood
by James Welch

Welch’s first novel, Winter in the Blood, is the sensitive story of a young Native American living on Montana’s Fort Belknap Reservation. Facing lost heritage and personal tragedies, a young man working on his family’s ranch consoles himself with alcohol and women as he searches for an alternative to despair. Although haunted by the deaths of his older brother and father, he receives an ironic epiphany that anchors him to the lands of his ancestors.

James Welch attended Blackfeet and Fort Belknap reservation schools and studied under the University of Montana’s legendary writing teacher, Richard Hugo. He is widely regarded as a master of American prose. Welch expertly captures the unique and spectacular prairie landscape, which American Prairie Foundation seeks to protect.

Swainson’s Hawk (Buteo swainsoni)

Found in prairies and open grasslands, Swainson’s hawks summer in the western half of North America and winter in eastern Argentina, Paraguay, and southern Brazil. With the second longest migration of all raptor species, these hawks migrate in huge flocks often numbering into the thousands, and can make the 10,000 km (6214 miles) migration trip in less than two months, averaging 200 km (124 miles) each day. Swainson’s Hawks soar with their wings held up slightly in a dihedral; they are medium-sized with stout bodies and broad, pointed wings spanning up to 4 1/2 feet.

During the breeding season, these beautiful hunters, also known as Grasshopper, Brown and Black hawks, swoop down from perches or walk along the ground to hunt their prey of mice, rabbits, reptiles, birds and ground squirrels. They may even hunt in teams and will stay close to prairie fires in search of fleeing prey. During the winter, they have an unusual diet for raptors, relying heavily on insects, especially grasshoppers and dragonflies.