It's been almost 200 years since they roamed free in Indiana. Bison now roam the prairies of Kankakee Sands.
Bison are just part of what one can view at Kankakee Sands. There are over 750 species of plants and 250 species of butterflies live in the prairie. This is one of the crown jewels of Indiana’s natural heritage.
Indiana Chapter of the Nature Conservancy acquired 23 bison from another nature conservancy in South Dakota.
These bison are now roaming free over 1,100 acres at the Kankakee Sands Nature Preserve in Newton County, which is in northwestern Indiana. To see bison roaming over a large restored prairie is something amazing. It took a lot of work, money and help from many people to accomplish this welcome event.
The Nature Conservancy has been planting native prairie and marsh plants since 1997, slowly restoring thousands of acres from farmland to their native state. Earlier this fall, the first herd of bison were released onto the land. Now 23 bison roam the prairie.
Aside from being super cool to watch, the bison also help with prairie restoration. They keep down tree saplings, which stop the prairie from becoming forest, they eat grasses but not native wildflowers, which lets those plants get ahead, and they cut furrows in the dirt with their hooves, which make seed dispersal easier.
Source
Bison are just part of what one can view at Kankakee Sands. There are over 750 species of plants and 250 species of butterflies live in the prairie. This is one of the crown jewels of Indiana’s natural heritage.
Indiana Chapter of the Nature Conservancy acquired 23 bison from another nature conservancy in South Dakota.
These bison are now roaming free over 1,100 acres at the Kankakee Sands Nature Preserve in Newton County, which is in northwestern Indiana. To see bison roaming over a large restored prairie is something amazing. It took a lot of work, money and help from many people to accomplish this welcome event.
The Nature Conservancy has been planting native prairie and marsh plants since 1997, slowly restoring thousands of acres from farmland to their native state. Earlier this fall, the first herd of bison were released onto the land. Now 23 bison roam the prairie.
Photo Source
Aside from being super cool to watch, the bison also help with prairie restoration. They keep down tree saplings, which stop the prairie from becoming forest, they eat grasses but not native wildflowers, which lets those plants get ahead, and they cut furrows in the dirt with their hooves, which make seed dispersal easier.
Source
VIDEO
What a wonderful story. I live in Indiana and I am proud to see a group working to return the land back to its original state. I love Bison and enjoy watching them and to know that they have returned is a really good thing.
Exciting news! :)
What a beautiful sight! Thank you thank you......Peace and Love
I am on a Bucket List Rode Trip and I left Florida June 9th and have arrived in California and have not seen any Buffalo!! I am going to take a trip after I get to Illinois to your wonderful Kankakee Sands to see these wonderful animals. Their history is so sad - I am so happy you have brought them back. Sharing on Facebook and will be taking photos to share when I visit. :)
This is wonderful news. 💛💚
We also have a White Bison herd in their own Sanctuary in Amesville, Ohio...Grandfather Whitewolf, Ambassador of the White Bison Society.
It's a Bisontennial!
So, these are full blooded bison? Not the cow-ffalo that we normally see today? (yes, I know buffalo are different from bison, but I needed it for the joke. Cowson just doesn't have the same ring.)
Have not been over there in a while and I remember no fences. What will keep the bison from running out?????
Will we need wolves too?
It is so right to see Buffalo roaming free on a restored prairie. These people seem to understand the Prairie the way we did. Little plots like this left on their own could regenerate the mighty herds of Buffalo and the majestic plains diversity of life. This land was not designed for single row crops, eventually the land gets hard panned aerobic bacteria and fungal life ends. With Buffalo there is a magical synchronicity of the power of life!
It was my dream to see bisons leaving free. Greetings from Poland!
Bison aren’t allowed to vote so please consider them when you sign for the usa irc governmental system and its CIA approved candidates. Make it count! #BisonsForBernie
Beautiful
Wow, they never originated here, they was brought here from the plains by native american, and used like cattle, the people that brought European bison to Indiana needed to actually do their history, Indiana was a wet lands otherwise known as a swamp, and marshes, the American buffalo was to heavy to migrate and too big for the thick forests, on top off american buffalo are extinct they no longer exist, So this was done by ignorant people that think they know something because they got a college degree, and now they are destroying our natural Eco system by introducing a foreign species to it. Get ready for those 750 plant species to be destroyed by an evasive species.
How can I help?
This is ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS!! I can't wait to take my Grandchildren to see this!!
Love this! Visited Bison In FL and just heard of this. Will visit them in the next few months. Thank you to Nature Conservancy and all the people whose hearts and limbs worked on this!€