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American Prairie

American Prairie is working to connect, conserve, and share more than 3 million acres of prairie grassland in Montana's Northern Great Plains.

12/06/2026

The coyote (Canis latrans) is the only large predator that never left the Northern Great Plains. Wolves and bears were eliminated from most of their historical range. The coyote stayed, and quietly covered a lot of the ecological ground those larger carnivores left behind. They feed mainly on rodents and rabbits, keeping prey populations in check in ways that directly benefit the ranches and farms they share the landscape with.

Fun fact: Coyotes hunt alone when prey is small, but will pair up, or form loose family groups when the situation calls for it. Biologists call it behavioral plasticity, and it’s one of the reasons they’re still here.

| A weekly look at what’s happening on the prairie when no one’s watching.

10/06/2026

Everybody’s favorite habitat restorations specialist is back with a behind the scenes look at one of our habitat restoration projects!

A willow cutting only needs a few things to take root: about 12 inches of stem, a dormant bud, moist soil, and Beau.

Beau’s job was straightforward—cut dormant willow stems, plant them in the ground, and let nature do the rest. Those dormant buds first grow roots instead of leaves, building a strong foundation below the surface before leafing out above.

A few years later, that single cutting becomes a thriving willow that can provide new cuttings for future planting projects, helping revegetation spread farther downstream to the next bare stretch of creek. 🌿💧

09/06/2026

We love our trails, but every outdoors enthusiast knows that the best trails aren’t always marked on a map! Some people call it ‘land snorkeling:’ wandering with no destination in mind, following riverbanks, game trails, and your sense of curiosity. The concept was developed by Montana artists Clyde Aspevig and Carol Guzman, long-time friends of American Prairie. Land snorkeling doesn’t require any elaborate gear, or itinerary, just you and acres of wide-open Montana.

Last Saturday was National Trails Day, and we hope you got to spend it outdoors. But, we hope your summer plans also include some land snorkeling. We invite you to visit the prairie, hike the interpretive trail at Antelope Creek, bike the two-track ranch roads, or put a canoe in at the Missouri. You won’t regret it 🙂

Plan your trip at: https://americanprairie.org/plan-your-trip/ -to-do

08/06/2026

The red dogs are here ❤️

In the midst of everything lately, some beautiful things have happened out on the prairie, too: the first bison calves of 2026 have officially arrived!
Every spring, bison calves are born with bright rust-colored coats, so vivid against the grasslands that early ranchers nicknamed them “red dogs.” By the end of summer, they’ll grow into the deep brown of the herd, but right now they’re impossible to miss.

We caught this behind-the-scenes glimpse of one of the newest members of the herd and wanted to share it with you. Just a friendly reminder that out on the prairie, it’s spring, the calves are here, and the herd is carrying on exactly as it should. 🦬

05/06/2026

The prairie rattlesnake (Crotalus viridis) is one of the Northern Great Plains’ most misunderstood residents.🐍 They aren’t so much aggressive as they are efficient. The rattle is really more of a warning. Given the choice, they’d rather disappear than deal with you.

Prairie rattlesnakes also do important work on the prairie. Because they eat mice, voles, gophers, and other small mammals, they help naturally regulate populations of animals that can damage crops and stored grain.

Fun fact: they don’t hear sound the way you and I do! Rattlesnakes sense vibration through their jaw and detect heat through pit organs located between their eyes and nostrils. It’s essentially a second pair of senses that works in total darkness, so by the time you notice them, they’ve probably known you were coming for a while.

| A weekly look at what’s happening on the prairie when no one’s watching.

29/05/2026

What does restoration work look like in Montana’s Northern Great Plains? A couple thousand willow cuttings, one dog who’s mostly carrying sticks, and a decade of patience.

Beau and Tuco are out planting willow cuttings along a stretch of creek that doesn’t have any yet! Willows carry their own rooting hormone, so a dormant cutting pushed two-thirds into moist soil is really all it takes to get things started.

The goal? Get beavers interested. 🦫 Once they move in and start doing what beavers do (like building dams and slowing water) this whole riparian zone will start to recover on its own, and this spot will become a “mother site” for future plantings downstream.

14/05/2026

On Friday, May 8th, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced its final decision regarding our bison grazing permits, directing American Prairie to remove our bison from federal public lands by September 30, 2026—lands where we have responsibly grazed bison, with the BLM’s express permission, for the past twenty years.

We strongly disagree with this decision, plan to appeal it, and remain hopeful that it will not ultimately require removing our herd from the public lands they currently inhabit.

At the same time, the BLM has announced broader changes to federal public lands policy that roll back conservation efforts and propose redefining public lands grazing to exclude all animals except domestic livestock like cattle and sheep. Together, these developments introduce new uncertainty not just for American Prairie, but for the future of conservation on public lands across the West.

Many of you have asked how you can help. One of the most meaningful ways to support our herd right now is through financial support. Preparing for multiple possible outcomes—including legal action, ongoing animal care, and potential herd relocation—requires significant resources from our team and organization. To support our herd or learn more, visit https://americanprairie.org/bison-belong-here/

Last year, our bison program celebrated twenty years. When that first group of 16 bison set foot on our land, it marked the end of their 120-year absence from the region and the start of an exciting chapter for us at American Prairie. In that time, our team has learned a great deal from our bison. They have taught us about community, persistence, and weathering difficult moments. When storms roll across the prairie, bison walk directly into them. By facing the storm head-on, they spend less time beneath it. Our bison remind us that survival on the prairie has always been dependent on resilience, on moving together, and on meeting hardship with steadiness.

In moments like this, we are committed to doing the same.

08/05/2026

Restoring bison means restoring grasslands, biodiversity, and cultural connection. We’re honored to be part of a broader movement highlighted in this Smithsonian story about the return of America’s national mammal.

Read the full article here https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/the-bison-is-americas-national-mammal-heres-how-indigenous-tribes-and-conservationists-aided-its-return-to-the-prairie-lands-after-near-extinction-180988683/

04/05/2026

Stories from the Prairie | American Prairie Journal Vol. 02

Writer and photographer Max Lowe set out to paddle one of the last truly wild stretches of river in the lower 48 — 47 miles of the Upper Missouri Breaks, uncrossed by roads, unchanged by time.

He and his wife Lia spent three days tracing the same current that carried Lewis and Clark, the Lakota, the Aaniiih, and generations of Montanans before them. They launched sunflower yellow canoes into a mid-August rainstorm at Coal Banks Landing and didn’t look back. They camped beneath a full Sturgeon Moon, listened to coyotes echo off canyon walls, and stood at the base of the White Cliffs — the same sandstone formations Meriwether Lewis once described as rivaling the grandeur of human architecture.

But the river wasn’t just about the landscape. At every bend — tipi rings half-hidden in the grass, cattle grazing the monument flats, the Sun Prairie bison herd moving along the distant bank — they met the layered story of this place. A country where the past doesn’t fade. It just waits for you to float by.

Read the full story https://americanprairie.org/publications/

27/04/2026

Behind the scenes of bison work isn’t always what people expect.

In Montana, bison are legally classified as livestock (except in Yellowstone and on some Tribal lands). That means vaccinations, disease testing, and fencing. The same regulatory requirements as cattle.

But bison aren’t cattle. They’re a keystone species, the animal that shaped this prairie long before we got here, and the one most capable of restoring it. So the work becomes a balance: meeting those requirements without losing sight of what bison actually are.

We call that “dancing the line between management and restoration.” We take our responsibilities as livestock managers seriously, going beyond what’s legally required when it comes to things like disease testing. It’s important, not only for the health and safety of our herd but also our neighbors’ herds.

Low-stress handling. Working with their natural movement instead of against it. And sometimes, making space for the older animals that don’t exactly cooperate, because their role in the herd matters too.

Every decision comes back to one question: what do the bison need from us? Get that right, and they do the rest, shaping plant diversity, soil health, and the movement of other wildlife in ways no other animal can.

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+14065854600

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https://www.americanprairie.org/, https://coreli.ai/americanprairie

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