Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie Celebrates National Bison Month
Photo submitted by Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie
It’s been five
years since the National Bison Legacy Act established bison as America’s
National Mammal in 2016. That same year, bison calves were born at Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie. Special conservation education programs will take
place throughout July, including a study of journalist Eliza Steele’s field
notes recorded in a prairie near Chicago in 1840 at 6 p.m., July 7, with Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie archaeologist Joe Wheeler and botanist Michelle
Pearion.
A bison web cam
was installed in 2016 so that millions of people around the world could see
bison. This year, a webinar program will provide live feeds from two historic
buffalo jumps: First People’s Buffalo Jump, in Montana, and Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump World Heritage Site, in Alberta, Canada.
At Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie volunteers, partners and staff work to restore
land where the Joliet Army Ammunition Plant was active during WWII back to
natural habitat for grassland birds and migrating birds. The bison experiment
is based on the different preferences in grass lengths of grassland birds for
nesting, foraging for food and more. Through bird surveys, they are looking to
see if bison grazing, wallowing and other natural tendencies is encouraging the
return of native Illinois prairie species. The presence of bison seems to be
making a difference: Red-tailed hawks, loggerhead shrikes and more have been
seen through the bison web cam.
To register for a program, call
815-423-6370 or email: [email protected]. For more information, visit Tinyurl.com/z5xjad9v.
