CHASE COUNTY
Bison returned to the Flint Hills on Friday morning and were released onto 1,100 acres of the Tallgrass National Prairie Preserve.
The Nature Conservancy Kansas Chapter and the National Park Service were on site Friday for the release of the 13 bison onto Windmill Pasture, in an event that media were invited to document. The bison are from Wind Cave National Park in South Dakota, where they were rounded up and transported to Chase County.
The bison arrived in Chase County on Oct. 20, where they were placed in a holding pen to acclimate to the area. The preserve had hoped for 20 bison, but the ratio between bulls and calves was too high and it decided to take 13 instead. There is a possibility the preserve will get the other six later.
About half of the bison were released mid-morning Friday in sets of three. The last half of the herd was being held until the first half of the herd, which wandered off before the last half could be released, returns to the site. After being released, the first three bison lazily grazed on prairie grass seemingly unaware of the group of reporters, photographers and park personnel looking on. Shortly after the second set of three bison were released, the bison headed off into the Flint Hills, leaving the last half in the holding pen.
According to a press release provided at the site, an estimated 60 million bison once roamed North America. By the early 1900s, fewer than 1,000 remained. The bison at Wind Cave originate from 14 animals donated in 1913 by the New York Zoological Society and six more were donated in 1916 from Yellowstone National Park.
“The Wind Cave herd is one of only two known public herds without evidence of historic cattle interbreeding, making the herd prized by bison conservationists,” the press release stated. “The 13 bison released at the Tallgrass National Prairie Preserve will serve as a satellite herd for the larger Wind Cave herd.”
Before the bison could come to the preserve in Chase County, several steps had to be taken including the development of a management plan, completion of an environmental assessment and enhancement of fencing to contain the bison. Nature Conservancy State Director Alan Pollom said bison can jump fences so additional hot wire fence was installed to keep the bison inside the fence lines.
The public will be allowed to view the bison and hike onto the grounds where the bison were released.
Pollom said they won’t always be seen because of the vast 1,100 acre site they will roam. Visitors are asked to maintain their distance when viewing the bison.
“They do have this sense of personal space,” Pollom said.
The bison have been tested and are disease-free. They were tested by South Dakota veterinarians before the herd arrived in Chase County. The bison are tagged and have had genetic testing to identify them. For a period of time, the bison will be counted nearly every day and they will be rounded up about every three years.
The public is encouraged to visit the preserve and look for the bison. The preserve is located two miles north of Strong City on Kansas State Highway 177.
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Posted by jamesbordonaro (anonymous) on October 31, 2009 at 12:13 p.m. (Suggest removal)
This is great news! The prairie is beginning to look like it did before the arrival of Columbus. Hopefully, the entire ecosystem will return to a semblance of balance as the bison munch on native grasses and their droppings fertilize the thin top soil. While I had voted for an option which would have increased the overall number of animals, (the park superintendent decided on a smaller number), but at least the public was given the opportunity to comment on the plans. This is the beginning of the end of the final phase of a process of returning bison to our nation's heartland which was decided as a goal nearly a decade ago!
If native wolves become available, (the superintendant says the current American wolves [in Yellowstone for instance] are not the same subspecies as previously existed) I hope they too are reintroduced. However, the public needs to keep in mind that these are wild animals and as we saw this week in Nova Scotia even small predators like the coyote can sometimes kill humans.
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