It started with an idea: a wild and wide open prairie, for wildlife and people, for generations to come.

We are a Montana-based nonprofit working to preserve and rewild more than 3 million acres of Montana’s Northern Great Plains—one of the last remaining temperate grasslands in the world. 

Our strategy is simple: we purchase private land to strategically connect fragmented public lands, creating a collaboratively managed network of protected prairie.

With our innovative and collaborative approach, a little goes a long way. Each new land acquisition creates critical wildlife corridors and ensures the longevity and biodiversity of a vital biome. But it doesn't end there. 

Our various rewilding initiatives and our partnerships with other organizations like the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) and the Intertribal Buffalo Council expand the impact of keystone species, repair damaged grasslands, restore streams, and lessen the impact of invasive species.

We are committed to public access—for you, your children, and your children's great-great grandchildren.

At American Prairie, we believe that both wildlife and people benefit from access to wild and wide open spaces. We are proud to contribute to the long and important legacy of public lands and public access in Montana.  

Our land is always open to the public. Every year we welcome thousands of visitors who enjoy activities ranging from wildlife watching and wandering, to hiking, hunting, biking, paddling and horseback riding. We offer several seasonal and year-round hut, campground, and dispersed camping options, and we enroll 82,000 acres in the FWP’s Block Management hunter access program (BMA), making us one of Montana’s top five BMA participants by acre.

We are working to restore and rewild the Northern Great Plains, so you can experience the prairie as it was meant to be—wild and wide open.

Before we called it a prairie, thousands of unique species called it home.

Some of America's most iconic wildlife once called this place home. Plains bison, pronghorn, black-footed ferrets, sage grouse, swift foxes, and beavers are just a few of the prolific species that once sustained a thriving prairie ecosystem.

Today, many of these animals are absent from the landscape or fewer in number. In collaboration with our partners, fellow land managers, tribes, and neighbors, we are working hard to expand the impact and presence of several keystone species.

Through evidence-based initiatives like wildlife friendly fencing, building beaver dam analogs, and sustainable grazing practices, we work to restore habitat so that animals can once again thrive in a wild and wide open prairie.

This work won't end with us.

We use the prairie as a living laboratory to inspire the next generation of scientists, conservationists, and stewards of the prairie and the planet.

At American Prairie, we understand that our mission won't end with us. The long-term impact of our work is dependent on future generations of leaders and land stewards. 

The American Prairie Field School fosters curiosity and wonder through hands-on learning that exposes K-12 students to the richness and diversity of ecological, cultural, and historical elements unique to the Northern Great Plains. 

Our National Discovery Center offers learning opportunities and programming for every age, making it not just a central place for folks visiting the prairie, but also a valued educational resource on the global importance of grassland ecosystems.

Conservation requires community.

Conservation at this scale is never the result of just one organization. Our vision is a large, thriving grassland prairie—collaboratively managed and forever wild. 

Our ability to restore and rewild the Northern Great Plains is made possible through the collaboration and hard work of all kinds of folks—from scientists, researchers, to local ranchers, land managers and agencies, and neighboring Indigenous communities.

As we work to nurture diverse, thriving ecosystems, we know that equally diverse communities of people have always been, and will always be, a part of the past and future of the grasslands. 

From rent-for-wildlife contracts in our Wild Sky program to shipping more than 500 bison to tribal conservation herds; from interns building beaver dam analogs and revitalizing streams to the ranching families who lease grass from us; from collaborating with federal agencies to sovereign Indigenous nations to NGOs; from sharing bison to sharing fences, we can’t do it alone.

Today's wild ideas are tomorrow's solutions.

We are land managers. But our ability to manage land well depends on our ability to make informed decisions, respond wisely, and act collaboratively.

While shortgrass prairies have long been understudied, the data we do have has allowed us to successfully implement evidence-based management practices and develop effective conservation initiatives.

That's why American Prairie is proud to open up our land to researchers from all over the U.S. whose work contributes to our understanding of shortgrass prairie ecosystems. From university students and researchers to scientists at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute, their work helps contribute to the global understanding of prairie ecosystems—giving us, and prairie stewards around the world, the information we need to restore and revitalize one of the fastest disappearing biomes on the planet.

This place is more than the plants and animals that live here, it's also the many histories, cultures, and communities that have called the prairie home for generations.

It is hard to underestimate the impact this landscape has had on the lives of the people who’ve called it home. At American Prairie, we understand that part of caring for and sharing this landscape is stewarding the many histories and legacies that make up the prairie.

Our National Discovery Center offers education and programming about this region’s long legacy of stewardship, including the cultural heritage of the prairie’s original Indigenous stewards, as well as modern day ranching and conservation initiatives. Visitors can view the preserved 100+ year old Prairie Union School house on our Sun Prairie property, or camp at the soon-to-be Judith Landing State Park on 100 acres donated by American Prairie to the Montana State Parks Foundation in 2024. Our interpretive guiding program with the Aaniiih Nakoda Community offers visitors a chance to understand and experience this landscape, and connect with stories old and new.

The prairie’s story is as deep, interconnected, and resilient as the roots of an old sagebrush. We’re proud to honor, celebrate, and share the many legacies and stories of people on the prairie–past and present.