A Message From The President

Dear Friends of American Prairie Reserve,

That wonderful time of year is finally upon us, that phenomenon where snow showers turn to rain, the returning grassland birds begin to show themselves again and plans for the spring and summer loom large on the Reserve calendar. We are excited about the activity happening in just the next few months. Here is a sampling:

Last Sunday morning the growing bison herd rumbled through a gate and spilled out onto their new 11,000 acre range -- a huge milestone in our efforts to give them more room to roam as naturally as possible. Artist and APF Board member Clyde Aspevig will present a new suite of images, in New York City in early May, helping to raise awareness about the extraordinary beauty and importance of this piece of America. APF Managing Director Dick Dolan attended the 2009 Grasslands of the Worlds Conference to help us continue to learn from the wide range of successful and important grassland wildlife projects in Africa, Mongolia, South America and elsewhere. Below are new images we think you will enjoy, as well as a reading suggestion and some fun facts on eagles. We hope spring is coming to you wherever you are and that news of this project, which you so generously support, will bring some satisfaction and joy to your month.

Sincerely,

Sean Gerrity
APF President

Photo by D. Lingohr

APF Bison Release A Major Day for History Buffs

On April 5, a glorious spring Sunday, about 40 bison supporters of all ages, mostly from Montana and the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation witnessed a joyous and momentous point in both APF and Native American history. Eighty-seven APF bison, directly descended from those hunted to near extinction by 1897, thundered onto their expansive new range on APF land and public land leased from the Bureau of Land Management and Montana’s Department of Natural Resources and Conservation. The bison soon wandered onto nearby ridges where their wooly heads dropped to munch on spring prairie grasses. As Junior Horse Capture of the White Clay people said so eloquently: “Today the Ghost Dancers’ prayers from the 1890’s to ‘dance the bison back’ home were answered... we’re all involved here today in mending some fences and setting things right and that’s really, really awesome”.

Photos by D. Hargreaves

“The Next Horizon” - Paintings by Clyde Aspevig

A new painting by Clyde Aspevig called “The Next Horizon” is one view of American Prairie Reserve. A celebrated Montana artist Clyde is also an APF Board member. Along with many other paintings of the prairie, this piece will be on exhibit at The National Arts Club in New York from May 5-17, 2009. An artists’ reception will be held on Thursday, May 7 from 6 to 8PM, and viewing at the club is available on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 10AM to 12PM and from 3 to 5PM. Tuesdays, the exhibit is open from 2 to 5PM.

Photos by D. Hargreaves

WWF Update: Cougar Conservation in the Northern Great Plains

WWF is working with the White Clay, Nakota and Chippewa-Cree tribes to learn how restoration of cougar populations might impact the residents, ecology and economies of the reservations. Early in February, the team collared the second lion of the winter in the Bears Paw mountains, a large male. So far the team has fitted eight cougars with GPS collars: six on the Rocky Boy Reservation and two on the Fort Belknap Reservation – northwest of American Prairie Reserve. Of those, four have been recovered and WWF is beginning to analyze the data. Future plans for the project will depend on funding, but the team hopes to collar 5 to 10 more cougars over the next two years. WWF recently posted Program Officer Jørgensen’s first-hand account of the collaring along with video footage, podcasts, and stunning photographs online. To learn more about this program and to follow the scientists in the field, go to “Lions in the Mountains”.

Photos by D. Lingohr

Grassland Foundation Conference

APF Managing Director Dick Dolan recently attended the “2009 Grasslands of the World” meeting hosted by the Grasslands Foundation, Denver Zoo and World Wildlife Foundation in Lincoln, Nebraska. Speakers from around the world discussed efforts to conserve grasslands and shared their conservation strategies, both successful and unsuccessful. As the least protected biome on earth, grasslands worldwide face increasing pressure from urbanization, drought, and agricultural development, but it was heartening to hear of the widespread effort to conserve and restore the most ecologically important areas in Africa, North and South America, and Mongolia, and to learn of conservation approaches that may be applicable to APF’s work in northeastern Montana.

Photo by D. Hargreaves

What We’re Reading Now...

American Buffalo: In Search of a Lost Icon
by Steve Rinella

While hunting in Montana, Steve Rinella found a bison skull that led him to ponder the meaning, history and tragic demise of North America’s once most populous land mammal. He explored his fascination in the Alaskan wilderness while hunting wild bison, and his tale of the hunt is a true adventure. Rinella contemplates his own place among 14,000 years’ worth of buffalo hunters, as well as the bison’s place in the American experience; the resulting blend of history, biology and natural world facts and observations is a fascinating book.

It is especially timely to contemplate the iconic status of the bison as we released our own soon-to-be 100-plus herd onto a 11,000-acre grassland this month. American Buffalo recounts tales of the last wild buffalo in Montana—indeed in North America, and it’s inspiring to know there are bison roaming their historic range again.

Greater Sage-Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus)

First noted by Meriwether Lewis at the Marias River in 1805, Greater Sage-Grouse live in open sagebrush plains at elevations from 4,000 to over 9,000 feet. This large, chicken-like bird is almost entirely dependent on sagebrush for roosting cover and food. Its mottled coloring is camouflage from predators such as raptors, badgers and ravens. On openings known as leks, male grouse perform courtship displays by strutting with tails fanned and air sacs inflated to attract females during the spring breeding season. Greater Sage-Grouse return to the same leks each year; some have been in annual use for hundreds of years. Females lay clutches of 7-8 eggs once a year and the average lifespan for Greater Sage-Grouse is from 1- 1.5 years.

Photo by D. Lingohr

Interactive Panorama Images Now Available Online

One of the most striking things a visitor experiences on their first trip to American Prairie Reserve is the vastness of the open prairie – the land unfolding in front of you as far as you can see and the sky enveloping you. We aim to give you a true sense of the beauty of the prairie through photographs and video. Now we’ve discovered a new way to bring the prairie to you – through interactive panoramas. Please visit our website for a great view of winter on the prairie. We plan to share panoramas like this with you every few months and we’d like to extend our gratitude to Diane and Steve Hargreaves for these images.

Photo by D. Hargreaves