This article was originally published on Corporate Knights.
“In north-central Montana, pronghorn bound effortlessly over the landscape, the white blazes on their sides catching the sun. Clouds scud across the endless sky. A vast, unbroken sea of grass and sage stretches to the horizon, 100 miles distant. Through it all, the Missouri River cuts a deep cleft into the plains, snaking east from its headwaters in the Rockies. Hawks wheel overhead. The sound of wind is ever-present.
In many ways, this swath of the Northern Great Plains looks strikingly similar to when Lewis and Clark first ventured across it more than 200 years ago. There’s no denying that the place has changed – departed are the bison herds that once numbered in the millions, and gone are the grizzlies and wolves that trailed them across the miles. But vestiges of humans are few and far between, and much of the flora and fauna remains as it always was. Because of this, the region has become the focus of a unique, ambitious and controversial conservation project.
“We’re essentially attempting to preserve the Great Plains ecosystem,” says Hilary Parker, spokesperson for the American Prairie Reserve (APR). “And in order to preserve grasslands on an ecosystem scale, you need between 3.2 and 3.5 million acres.” Put into perspective, that’s roughly the size of the state of Connecticut, or 50 per cent larger than Yellowstone National Park…”
Read on at: Corporate Knights.
