Excerpted from a post originally published on the NorthStar Bison Blog.
Northstar and Belwin joined forces in 2008 in an effort to help the nature conservancy improve their degrading grasslands which, at that time, were being managed through the common practice of rest, burning and chemical treatment.
They were losing the battle and the landscape was suffering greatly: Desertification (soil surface losing cover through receding vegetation), loss of native plant species diversity, invasion of non-native species demanding control through chemical intervention, minimal wildlife and insect prosperity, and the list goes on.
Something had to change…
Belwin made the bold move to go against the modern, conventional grain (no pun intended but I’ll take it!) to introduce bison back onto the Minnesota prairie under the management of Steve Hobbs.
Steve contacted us here at Northstar to see about working out a mutual agreement to provide bison for their prairie while under the watchful eyes of University of Minnesota students to observe interaction and grazing behavior.
A mutually beneficial deal was struck and bison were slated for delivery in June. Justin Sykora, a previous Land Manager at Belwin, recalled questioning the decision to essentially “flush all the years of management effort down the drain by introducing such destructive beasts.”
Justin, admittedly thankful in the years following, couldn’t have been more wrong.
The bison’s positive interaction with the landscape is now being supported by science (imagine that).
The fairly recent discovery of the phenomena of Mycorrhizal Fungi supports the challenges Belwin faced in managing prairie. (Bear with me as I nerd out a little here but it’s imperative to understand what is happening beneath our feet.)
Mycorrhizal Fungi is essentially a “nutrient subway station” in the soil, transferring nutrients for miles to plants that need it, when they need it. There are now recorded “colonies” of fungi that encompass 20,000 acres or more! If a plant asks for copper on one side of the ranch, Mycorrhizal will hunt it down and shoot it over.
Nature is designed to work in ways we can’t even comprehend! Tillage & chemicals destroy Mycorrhizal Fungi. Bison have a bacteria ingredient in their saliva that “plants” Mycorrhizal Fungi as they graze.
The decibels of the insects resonating from the bison pasture now drowns out the hum of I94 a 1⁄4 mile north. Wildflowers are prolific. Hawks, owls, coyotes, foxes and other predators hunt rodents the bison herd stirs up day and night. Whitetail deer frequent the pasture feasting on lush legume regrowth in the far corners of the pasture. Wild turkeys cruise through gobbling up protein-rich grasshoppers and crickets. Songbirds perch on the backs of the bison as they graze picking off insects buzzing by.
I challenge you to pick one morning this week to go out of your way to park in an obscure location (with your phone on airplane mode) for 15 minutes to ponder what our landscapes would look/feel/sound like with more bison.
It will be medicine for your soul.
Live well this week,
Sean Graese
