A Message From The President

Dear Friends of American Prairie Reserve,

Snow is upon us on the prairie and we are looking back on this year, feeling immensely thankful for all that occurred related to creating this beautiful reserve. Our bison herd grew by 32% this year with the addition of 11 new calves born on the prairie and 10 very cute yearlings that arrived from South Dakota, of Wind Cave National Park origin and sold to APF by The Nature Conservancy of South Dakota. The reserve itself grew by 39% in 2008 with the addition of 23,764 deeded and leased acres of grassland habitat. Our science partners at World Wildlife Fund Northern Great Plains made exciting progress with their studies of mountain lions and migrating pronghorn, and are moving forward with plans for a possible 2009 reintroduction of swift foxes, which have been absent since the early 1900’s. We are pleased to provide you with many new additional images of the prairie, located on APF’s website. This spring, reservations for our science field trips, attended by local school children from Hi-Line towns and the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation, are nearly full.

All in all, we couldn’t be more pleased with all of this progress, which is of course completely enabled by our supporters like you. Thank you for sticking with us and we hope you can come enjoy the Reserve very soon.

Sincerely,

Sean Gerrity
APF President

New Bison Calves Arrive at the Reserve

This fall, American Prairie Foundation welcomed ten bison calves, acquired from The Nature Conservancy’s Lame Johnny Ranch near Wind Cave National Park, to our Reserve. The Nature Conservancy (TNC) received the cows from Wind Cave last year and is dispersing some of their bison due to drought, and also as a means of establishing other satellite herds.

It was a great trip to the Black Hills; even the two extra days the APF team spent waiting to get clearance from the Montana Department of Livestock were put to good use by touring some nearby bison operations.

Additonally twenty-two miles of new bison fence, built around our Box Elder pasture, has just been completed. This pasture stretches from the American Prairie Reserve Headquarters east to the Yurt Camp and Reynolds Hill Road. The entire herd will be moved there in early March, where they will stay until the following December. The herd of 87 animals previously roamed on 4,500 acres. Once allowed into the new area, they will enjoy a full 14,000 acres - an area the size of the island of Bermuda.

WWF Update

A scientific study and reintroduction of swift fox on the nearby Fort Peck Reservation has important implications for American Prairie Foundation’s efforts in restoring a fully functioning ecosystem on American Prairie Reserve.

The swift fox, a small and charismatic endemic predator of the Great Plains, was drastically reduced throughout much of its historic range by inadvertent poisoning and fur over-harvest in the late 1800s. Four years ago, scientists from World Wildlife Fund (WWF) began studying and reintroducing swift fox on Fort Peck lands. They worked with Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks (MFWP) to translocate ten foxes from a population in northcentral Montana in September 2006.

Based on retention, survival and reproduction rates, scientists believe the foxes are doing well in their new home, which confirms that the reservation is quality fox habitat. As they continue their adaptive restoration approach, they believe that a robust fox population on the reservation could play an important role in the ecoregion by connecting disparate fox populations. American Prairie Foundation plans to work with MFWP and WWF to determine the feasibility of swift fox translocations on American Prairie Reserve in 2009. Read more about the Fort Peck swift fox at.

What We're Reading Now

Jackalope Dreams, by Mary Clearman Blew

Jackalope Dreams gives great insight into the culture and landscape of the Montana prairie and foothills. Although we generally feature non-fiction books in this section, there’s nothing like well-written fiction to give you that intimate sense of place.

Mary Clearman Blew is the great-granddaughter of homesteaders in northern Montana, and in this, her first novel, that intimate knowledge of the culture and traditions of rural Montana is strongly evident. The heroine, Corey, feels lost after the one-room schoolhouse she’s taught in for the past 30 years is suddenly closed and her domineering father—a celebrated war veteran and renowned rodeo star—commits suicide. When Corey looks around, she finds herself to be a bit of an anachronism, riding her horse to town and living in a falling-down ranch house with no plumbing. She turns to her true passion, painting, to find solace, and also ultimately to find herself. This is a quirky, enjoyable story about coming-of-age a little late.

Also by Mary Clearman Blew: All But the Waltz

New Website Feature

Many visitors to American Prairie Reserve are surprised by the abundance and variety of flora and fauna they see - whether it is their first visit to a grasslands ecosystem or they have experienced the Reserve many times. Check out our new gallery to learn about the mammals, birds, reptiles and plant species commonly found on and around American Prairie Reserve.

Fall on the Prairie

It was a magical fall on the prairie with bugling elk, seasonal bird migrations and stunning autumn foliage. For those of you not lucky enough to experience it first hand, we’d like to bring a bit of the prairie to you. Please visit our photo page and view the “Fall on the Reserve” gallery.