The Buffalo Commons

Although the storm has long since died down, the Popper's Buffalo Commons seems ironically to be coming into existence on its own. Since the idea was proposed, the bison population in the U.S. has increased to approximately 300,000 animals as ranchers and consumers alike have realized the benefits of bison. In North Dakota, the state with the greatest bison comeback, 12,000 animals a year are slaughtered, the state bank now lends money to bison ranchers, and many people now see bison ranching as the industry that will save the Plains.

In addition to the growing popularity of bison ranching on the Plains, others have modified the Buffalo Commons idea to incorporate wind energy. The Plains are famed for their endless wind, and with the search for American energy independence growing in urgency, some are turning to this great natural resource. Could the American Plains be the next Saudi Arabia?

Why raise bison? There are many reasons, but basically they all boil down to one big reason: bison are native. Unlike cattle, bison evolved on the Great Plains and they are therefore perfectly adapted to survive on them.

Bison are hardier than cattle. Healthy bison can survive winter storms that kill whole herds of cattle. They are better winter foragers, which means that they rarely require supplemental winter feeding of hay or grain. They also tend to have fewer health problems than cattle and rarely require human intervention in birthing. Finally, although this is not advised for obvious reasons, bison are known to survive on range so marginal that it would starve cattle.

The grazing patterns of bison are also healthier for American rangelands. If bison do not have enough room to roam or if too many bison are placed in a single pasture they are in as much danger as cattle of over-grazing and damaging the range. However, with enough space and a proper ratio of bison per acre, bison can actually improve the range. For one thing, they spread out across a pasture more than cattle, grazing more equally and being less likely to stress certain sections of pasture while ignoring others. They eat a wider range of grass species than cattle, which also allows them to utilize the range more evenly and efficiently. There are even accounts of bison pulling up weeds and using them to play with!

Because bison evolved with the Great Plains, they are an integral part of its ecosystem. A habit of bison that seems initially undesirable and damaging to the range - their fondness for dust baths, which causes them to tear up certain sections of pasture - has now been shown to help in the maintenence of "blowouts." Blowouts are areas of largely open ground. In traditional ranching, blowouts are discouraged because open ground does not feed cattle (or bison). However, as blowouts heal and rejoin the grassland around them, they become home to a number of plant species that can survive in such a marginal environment. Discouraging blowouts has caused a number of these species to become endangered through habitat loss and one, the blowout penstemon, is now one of the rarest plants in America.

In purely economic terms, the demand for bison still outstrips the supply. There is a large market for breeding stock and bison meat sells for about 50% more than beef. Many bison ranches also sell hunting rights, hides, and skulls for good profit.

Bison meat can be prepared in the same way as beef. However, because bison has a lower fat content than beef, it cooks faster and can easily be over-cooked if prepared exactly the same way as beef. When cooking bison meat, go for "low and slow." Cook the meat at a lower temperature than you would for beef in order to slow the cooking process and prevent the meat from becoming tough.

The Intertribal Bison Cooperative recommends cooking bison meat at low or medium temperatures until the internal temperature reaches 155 to 170'F in order to ensure the best, most tender meat. Tender cuts of meat, such as sirloin, should be cooked via a dry heat method such as grilling, broiling, roasting, or stir-frying. Less tender cuts, such as briskets and stew meat, should be cooked via wet heat: braising, stewing, using a slow cooker or crock pot, etc.

You can also find bison cooking tips, recipes, and cookbooks at the National Bison Association.

Wind energy is both free and inexhaustible. It provides more jobs per dollar invested than any other energy technology. It is also one of the most environmentally sound sources of energy. A single utility-scale (750 kW) wind turbine can prevent the emission of 5000 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere each year. It would take 500 acres of forest to absorb that much CO2. Currently, California wind plants save the energy equivalent of 4.8 million barrels of oil per year.

Wind energy has the very great advantages of being local and stable. Greater reliance on wind energy would reduce our dependence on foreign oil and thus, our involvement in world and particularly Middle Eastern affairs.

Wind energy could be a lifeblood for the Plains. It will surprise no Plains resident to learn that all of the top ten (lower 48) states in wind energy potential are Plains or prairie states. Wind energy also combines well with farming and ranching activities and is a good way for farmers and ranchers to get extra income. A 25-MW wind farm may cover between 475 and 1,150 hectares of land, depending on the arrangement of the turbines, but the machines themselves only require 5-10% of that area, leaving the remainder for agricultural or range use. In Buffalo Ridge, Minnesota, a number of farmers have leased their land to wind companies to install turbines and some of the farmers report earning more than 10 times what they would have on the same land if they were solely growing corn. A growing number of voices are suggesting the possibility of a Wind Energy Buffalo Commons, combining large-scale bison ranching and wind farms, to revitalize the Plains economy and its environment at the same time.

Perhaps no landscape in America seems so much a part of who we are as the prairie. To speak the word conjures images of a vast sea of waving grass where, in the words of Willa Cather, "the earth is the floor of the sky", of American Indian hunters following thundering herds of bison, of prairie schooners and pioneers. To lose the prairie would be to lose not just a beautiful and vital ecosystem, but also an important part of our heritage as a nation.

The prairie ecosystem is a national treasure for its role in the creation of our nation, but it is also important ecologically as a biome of astounding diversity and ecological significance. Prairies once covered 400 million acres of North America, stretching from Canada into northern Mexico and from the Rocky Mountains to Indiana. Tallgrass prairies are one of the most diverse ecosystems in North America. Approximately 80% of the foliage consists of grasses, of which there are 60-80 varieties. The remaining 20% is made up of over 300 species of wildflowers and legumes. In damper areas near streams and rivers, various species of trees and woody shrubs grow, and there are over 100 known types of lichens and liverworts found in the ecosystem.

The prairies are also home to numerous species of animals, including many types of grazing animals, large predators such as the wolf and the grizzly, and countless species of rodent, insect, and bird. The importance of the prairie ecosystem as a summer home for many songbird species has only recently begun to be well understood.

Sadly, the the tallgrass prairie ecosystem one of the most endangered in the world, with only 1% of its original area remaining, most of that concentrated in the unplowable Flint Hills of Kansas. Further west, in the short- and mid-grass prairie regions, the original grasslands survive in a form far closer to what they once were. Even here, however, over-grazing and unwise use threaten some species. Just 40% of the original northern mixed-grass prairie ecosystem remains, and in the south, the percentage is just 25%.

The goal of the Buffalo Commons is to build a Great Plains that is not only economically sustainable, through tourism, agriculture, and alternative energy, but also ecologically sustainable, by encouraging the conservation and restoration of the native prairie ecosystem.