July 2011 River Ranch Diary

At the beginning of the third week of June I met with a group and conducted a tour of the Cheyenne River Ranch. This tour was by no means the first of these with which I have been involved, but this one ranks right up there with the best.

If my memory serves me correctly, there were twenty-four rising high school seniors and six adult sponsors from Westminster Christian Academy in St. Louis, Missouri. The group was/is led by Warren Smith and five others: Ann Heyse, Kelsey Walton, Anne Westhoff, Chris Knerr, and Dan Burke. The reason for the tour was to be one of the events on the students’ Summer Seminar Program. They will be H.S. Seniors in the Fall of 2011. As members of the seminar, they have spent some time in South Dakota, read BUFFALO FOR THE BROKEN HEART, and other works. They did some backpacking in the Badlands National Park, some bicycling in the Black Hills, and hopefully got to do some kayaking in either the White or the Cheyenne River.

They spent about half of a day on the ranch on a rainy day, which curtailed some of what we could have done, but which in no way dampened their spirits.

We met in the shop after they arrived at the ranch for a talk about prairie grasslands and buffalo restoration and tried to plan a workable agenda, given the very wet conditions we were facing. Nobody wanted to have a vehicle stuck in the mud, and we don’t want our pastures rutted by vehicles. We’re dealing here with four minivans and thirty-one people—counting me. After a little discussion of the history of the buffalo rescue and restoration to the prairie, we set off to see the herd in 4-wheelers and a pick-up truck.

We were actually able to drive into one of the pastures and approach the herd without tearing up the ground. Once there I tried to explain how to see what they were looking at and to point out some of the behaviors within the social dynamics of the herd.

At that time we were in a high pasture that overlooks the Cheyenne River valley and into which the herd could simply go over the edge of the bluff and down through the breaks into the valley below where we could not venture. As we approached, the cow with the youngest calf became uncomfortable and led her calf and the rest of the herd over the edge, down, and away. That put an end to that part of the tour. We returned to the shop at the ranch, and Dan came out to visit with the group and to answer questions and to talk with them.

They asked questions and made comments about what they had seen and done and about which they had read. We all had plenty to talk about, and the tour on all our parts begrudgingly came to a close, but I do not think our goodbyes were the end of the session. I sincerely hope not. Personally I had a great time—wet, muddy, undampened.