It’s always exciting to see large herbivores restored to a prairie, and here’s the latest case. The Broken Kettle Grasslands managed by the Nature Conservancy in Iowa has just re-introduced 30 bison. Initially the bison will be held in a 125 acre “trap pasture” during the winter, but then they’ll have the rest of the grasslands 3000 acres to recreate in.

Of course, most remnant prairies don’t have 3000 or even 300 acres and so aren’t candidates for bison. An alternative in use in a quite different situation in California are goats. To avoid over-grazing, careful herding obviously is necessary. If enough remnant prairies could be organized in relatively close proximity, this would seem to offer an interesting opportunity to someone with goat herds in need of grazing.

These two items came to us via the regular newsletter of the Society of Ecological Restoration. This group is definitely worth joining so you get their newsflashes directly, but we’ll continue to re-post news of interest here.