I have often been asked…

…why I consider that this Cheyenne River Ranch and formerly the Broken Heart Ranch are different from other ranches beyond the fact of being buffalo ranches. In the past and in attempting to answer that question with at least a modicum of intelligence, I mentioned the fences, the restoration or conversion of agricultural land to native grass prairie, the difficulties and joys of enhancing habitat for the benefit of native species, and the ways we try to leave a minimal footprint on the land. But that never quite got to the heart of the issue and remained somewhat general and non-specific. In an attempt to remedy that situation I am going to try to offer you a kind of rough blueprint of what I perceive to be the goals of the Wild Idea Buffalo dream, an interconnected and diverse group of elements that both construct and reveal the success of that construction.

There is no way to discuss this dream in depth without having frequent references to Dan’s vision and his commitment to bringing the vision into reality; so bear with me as I try to present to you the machinery that makes this place tick—and without exaggerating or embarrassing the man or our friendship.

Several components, sometimes seemingly unrelated, power this machinery, the restoration of the prairie: an undying love of falconry, specifically in pursuit of the Sharp Tailed Grouse; a broad knowledge of wild animal species and their habitats and food bases; a knowledge of the history of the American Bison, what it was, how it was viewed, and what it has become with specific regard to the land on which it co-evolved and how the management of that land has been altered of the past two centuries.

The Sharp Tailed Grouse is a native species indigenous to the grassland prairies of the American northwest. It cannot survive in areas that have been overgrazed and/or extensively used by some modern and aggressive agricultural methods (with a few exceptions to be noted).The bird seems to have an expansive territory but does not migrate. It resides year round on its territories, which are in most cases identical to the traditional ranges of the American Bison on its Northern Plains territories. The presence of the Sharp Tailed Grouse is one of the signs of a healthy grasslands habitat; so many, many hours spent searching for this bird provides a kind of map of habitat quality. Part of those hours are spent before dawn in Springtime on some lookout watching the horizon for the birds coming to their dancing grounds or leks. When they gather and begin their drumming ad dancing, the general health of that grassland area can be assured.

So managing a ranch in such a way as to have grasslands pasture that sustains and supports a diversity of wildlife is the only way to maintain a productive ranch for the American Buffalo in particular and for ranching in general. But it is not only the grouse that reveals the health of the area; it is the diversity which includes many elements of bird, animal, insect, and plant species. On this ranch there are about one hundred and twenty plant species, including trees, shrubs, grasses, and forbs. In addition to that we find Mule and Whitetail Deer, Pronghorn Antelope, both jack and cottontail rabbits, skunks, badgers, and coyotes. There are at least six kinds of snakes and many bird species, some seasonal visitors, like the Burrowing Owl, Long-billed Curlew, and Sandhill Crane, Coopers Hawks and Golden Eagles, not to mention the finches, warblers, Nuthatches, Lark Buntings, Brown Thrasher, and many resident species including Crows Horned Larks and Hungarian Partridge.

Part of the process of establishing a healthy pasture requires returning land to native grasses which takes between two and four years to become well established. Rotating the grazing herd through a series of large pastures attempts to mimic the natural progression of a buffalo herd through its domain. The fenced private properties of the ranch and that of its neighbors restricts the absolutely free movement of the buffalo thereby occasioning the need to rotate the animals through the pasture system.

It is the way that all of these elements work together that allows the vision of the falconer/hunter/rancher/restorationist/writer to create or rather re-create a prairie as nearly native as is possible in this day with its restrictions imposed upon it by the modern requirements of private ownership. Beyond that the restoration of damaged riparian vegetation along waterways and wetlands that had been drained requires a good deal of effort and money; so much of the revenue that the ranch produces returns to the ranch for the enhancement of its wildlife diversity, which in turn produces a healthy environment for its once nearly extinct native American Bison residents, as well as its two-legged non-native latecomers. Without these practices supporting this vision there would be no Wild Idea Buffalo Company.