Northern Great Plains

Nebraska ranchers work to protect the greater prairie chicken.

71 bison released to their ancestral home on the American Prairie Reserve.

Once thought to be globally extinct, black-footed ferrets are making a comeback.

When great minds collaborate, conservation happens. In this case, World Wildlife Fund partnered with federal agencies and other conservation groups to relocate black-tailed prairie dogs living on the interface of federal and private land residence within Wyoming’s Thunder Basin National Grassland to designated land for future black-footed ferret restoration. The relocation effort is in response to the recently revised Thunder Basin National Grassland management plan that uses lethal and non-lethal tools alike to manage prairie dogs and their habitat.

American Prairie Reserve’s first bison calf of the season was recently born on the greening prairie of Northeastern Montana. Only hours after the newborn’s arrival, the mother, brought to American Prairie Reserve in 2006 as part of WWF’s bison reintroduction project, was using her hoof to help the calf stand up on all four legs.  Since the first calf, nine others have been born, bringing the total number of bison on American Prairie Reserve to 206.

The result of several years of collaboration with WWF and other partners, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) recently released American Bison: Status Survey and Conservation Guidelines 2010.

Springtime on the plains brought more than just the year’s first rains and prairie grasses, as WWF’s bison reintroduction project welcomed five newborn calves (and counting) to Montana’s American Prairie Reserve.  The Reserve and reintroduction are joint projects between WWF and our partner the American Prairie Foundation. 

The vast semi-arid grasslands of the Northern Great Plains are laced with some of the longest stretches of free-flowing rivers in North America. These freshwater ribbons of life are habitat for species such as river otters, beavers and the endangered pallid sturgeon. Like many rivers and streams worldwide, they are challenged by dams and reservoirs, the diversion of streams for irrigation and unsustainable cattle grazing.

In the plains of Montana, WWF is a partnering with the Gros Ventre, Assiniboine and Chippewa-Cree communities to learn how the restoration of cougar populations would affect the residents and economies of the Fort Belknap and Rocky Boys Indian Reservations. The Fort Belknap Reservation is home to the Gros Ventre and Assiniboine tribes, while the Chippewa-Cree live on the Rocky Boys Reservation.

This spring on the great American prairie brings more than the year's first rains and renewed prairie grasses. WWF recently welcomed three newborn calves to Montana's American Prairie Reserve. The two females and one male are now part of a conservation herd originally from South Dakota's Wind Cave National Park. With the arrival of these spring calves, there are now 42 bison in the American Prairie Reserve herd.