Volunteer Jon in the bison corral
From September 7-11, 2011, participants from 3 states (CA, MT, and TX) gathered for our first Volunteer Work Safari on American Prairie Reserve. Faced with a hot week under the big sky, volunteers Sue, Graham, Jon, Robbie and Justin worked hard – and joyfully, no less – to the Reserve on several projects.
With accommodations at Yurt Camp, volunteers awoke each cool morning to breakfast before heading out to project sites. The first day was filled with accomplishment as the bison handling facility was modified to get ready for 100 new bison in January. Part of a chute was disassembled to make way for a safer unloading and the process of expanding the main corral began.
Enjoying the moon over Fourchette Bay
It wasn’t all work, though! After a good day in the sun, volunteers and staff had dinner before heading to the overlook of Fourchette Bay to enjoy an evening complete with a rising, nearly-full moon and fresh homemade pie from nearby Malta.
Day 2 started by diving into groups – Justin and Graham headed back to the bison handling facility to help finish the corral expansion while Sue, Jon and Robbie joined a fence/windbreak removal
Volunteer Robbie affixing a new yurt window
project that helped to reopen an area to wildlife movement and scenic views once again. The groups reunited for dinner and an evening driving safari to see the bison herd – there’s nothing quite like watching and photographing them at sunset and twilight!
Yurt Camp was the location of work on Day 3 as volunteers helped to replace yurt windows that had been damaged in a summer hailstorm. Proud of all that had been done in a few days, the vehicles were loaded and everyone headed out for a grand tour of the Reserve and surrounding area before stopping for dinner and relaxation at the Slippery Ann elk viewing area in the C. M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge.
Heading back to hometowns and airports, many of the volunteers reflected on their time at the Volunteer Work Safari and shared their reflections with us. In closing, here is volunteer Robbie’s account of her time on American Prairie Reserve:
Everything about those fantastic four days was so extraordinary: the enormously satisfying physical labor, highlighted by Sue’s rattlesnake; the fairy-tale yurt camp (now my desktop picture); Sue, Graham, and Justin, our great fellow volunteers, hard workers and good sports every one; Katy, Siri, Christine, Meg, Bryce, Harry, Dennis, and Damien, the fun and incredibly attentive staff, with their endless wining and dining of us; the picture postcard evening overlooking Fourchette Bay, with the rising full moon reflected in the Missouri River; our adventure off road, tussling with a fence, with an attentive audience of bison looking on; the prairie dog town, bison jump, ferret land, and amazing amassing of elk at the elk rutt; all with the breathtakingly beautiful prairie itself as a back drop. We’ll never forget any of it. Or any of you. We hope to reprise the role again and again. And to see each of you again in the process.
Watching the elk rut in the C.M.R.
