RANGER
10 • Thursday, May 21, 2015
Bison are helping prairie at Nachusa Grasslands Visitors to Ogle County will definitely want to take a short side trip to the Nachusa Grasslands to see their latest addition—bison. As of mid-May, 11 bison calves have been born to the Grasslands’ herd, which arrived at the 3,500-acre prairie last October. “It’s been super exciting ever since the bison arrived and we are already starting to see success from bison grazing,” said restoration ecologist Cody Considine. “It looks like the bison are eating the grasses around the spring flowers and that’s pretty cool.” While the buzz may be about the baby bison boom, the real excitement is what the grown ups are already doing to help restore the prairie. Considine and other Grasslands volunteers and staff have have spent years and hundreds of hours pulling invasive plants, collecting prairie plants seeds, burning, and replanting the prairie. So far, they have already seen prairie plants doing better based on where and what the bison are eating. However, the study of the bison’s impact on the Grasslands will take several years to complete. Bison were reintroduced to the Grasslands in October 2014 when Considine and Bill Kleiman, project director, and Grassland volunteers, made three trips totaling nearly 3,500 miles to transport cows and bulls from established herds in Iowa and South Dakota to the Grasslands. The Grasslands’ herd is the first to live at a TNC preserve east of the Mississippi and also the first conservation herd in Illinois—with a primary purpose of helping the prairie thrive. And so far, the bison seem
Above, the herd of bison, complete with calves, grazes at Nachusa Grasslands, located nine miles south east of Oregon.
be fitting well into their new home. The first calf was born in early April, followed by 10 soon after, bring the Grasslands’ herd to 41 members. The Grasslands kiosk, located on Lowden Road, offers maps of the Grasslands including where the bison are located. “People are excited about the bison. Now people can come here and learn more about what we do and how they can contribute. They may or may not be able to see the herd, depending on where they are at. This isn’t a zoo. These are wild animals,” said Considine. Sometimes the herd can be seen grazing on the west side of Lowden Road or from the north side of Stone Barn Road or south from Flagg Road. “Sometimes the herd is where we have planned to sweep weeds with our stewardship groups. When that happens we just go somewhere else. We’re trying not to influence their behavior,” he said.
Plans are underway to build a self-guided interpretive center along Lowden Road, south of the Grasslands headquarters barn, where visitors can learn about the prairie and, of course, the bison. Those additions could be added by 2016. About the Bison For several months prior to the bison’s arrival, volunteers, staff, and contractors worked sideby-side putting up a 6-foot fence made with high tensile woven wire and reinforced with cast iron pipes and constructing a state-of-theart bison corral. But the real foundation for getting a conservation herd of bison at the Grasslands started years ago and was accomplished through hundreds of thousands of volunteer hours that helped reshape the farmland back into a habitat that could again support bison. The bison at the Grasslands came from TNC preserves like Wind Cave National Park in South Dakota.
The Nature Conservancy currently has 13 preserves with approximate 5,500 bison. Wind Cave bison are unique because they have not been bred with cattle. They bison were released into smaller pastures until they gradually acclimated to their new 500-acre home in the North Bison Unit. Eventually, there will be about 1,500 acres of land available to the herd. Some are fitted with a GPS
chips that allow scientists to easily track them and study their habits. Microchips will also contain data about each animal including, age, weight, vacation history, and its DNA profile. How they graze and what they eat is also being studied. Their diet is almost 99.9% grass. and that helps native forbs (flowers) thrive. For example, bison dung could help the Grasslands’ ornate box turtle population increase
and become healthier. The dung attracts beetles and turtles eat beetles. Bison’s grazing habits may give the turtles more lanes to walk, Considine said. Visitor areas, yet to be built, will eventually provide areas where the general public may be able to see the conservation herd. Programming will be added to help teach visitors about the bison and how they’ll help benefit the preserve.
Experience Grassland’s prairie The Nachusa Grasslands is much, much more than the new place where visitors can see bison roam. Located between Oregon, Dixon, and Franklin Grove, Nachusa Grasslands offers visitors a glimpse at what the pioneers probably saw when their covered wagons ventured into Ogle County many years ago. And the bison are helping complete that picture. Located on Lowden Road on the Ogle-Lee County
line, the Grasslands has been restored as a native prairie largely through efforts by volunteers who remove nonnative plants and gather and sow the seeds of desirable wildflowers, bushes, and grasses. Owned by The Nature Conservancy, the grasslands is the home of more than 700 native prairie plant species as well as many important birds, insects, and reptiles. Starting in 1986 with the purchase of 250 acres, The
Nature Conservancy has gradually recreated a vision of 1800 when Illinois was a mosaic of prairie, savanna and wetlands. In some areas, remnant prairie knobs were protected from the plow by an unfarmable overlay of St. Peter Sandstone. Hundreds of dedicated volunteers have collected seed to replant former corn and bean fields. Birds that can be found Turn to page 11