Zoology: Nachusa Bison

In 2014 the Illinois Chapter of the Nature Conservancy reintroduced a herd of wild bison onto the 3,500-acre Nachusa Grasslands prairie restoration site in Franklin Grove, Ill.  

The return of the bison was the result of more than 30 years of work by volunteers replacing an area once used as farmland with native plants and grasses. The group had been managing the land through a series of controlled burns. However, conservationists are hoping the bison, with their selective grazing habits, will serve to better manage the land.  

After raising the funds and readying the land, a team from Nachusa traveled to the Broken Kettle Grasslands Preserve in Westfield, Iowa and brought back with them Nachusa's herd.