Bison Are Running Free In Indiana For The First Time in Almost 200 Years

By Anthony Todd in News on Dec 8, 2016 4:19PM

Photo via Shutterstock.

The Bison (ahem, not the buffalo) is one of the most potent symbols of American nature, and anyone who has seen a herd of them thundering across the landscape understands why: These are powerful, beautiful and (honestly) slightly scary creatures.

Unfortunately, there aren't very many of them left, especially in herds. Well, thanks to the Nature Conservancy, bison are roaming free in Indiana again.

As part of their restoration of the Kankakee Sands Preserve, The Nature Conservancy has been planting native prairie and marsh plants since 1997, slowly restoring thousands of acres from farmland to their native state. Earlier this fall, the first herd of bison were released onto the land. Now 23 bison roam the prairie. Want to learn more? There's a bison FAQ page!

Aside from being super cool to watch, the bison also help with prairie restoration. They keep down tree saplings, which stop the prairie from becoming forest, they eat grasses but not native wildflowers, which lets those plants get ahead, and they cut furrows in the dirt with their hooves, which make seed dispersal easier.

The last bison was killed in Indiana in 1830. Now, maybe, things are turning around. Definitely add Kankakee Sands Preserve (which has a viewing area specifically for the bison) to your local road trip list.