RAPID: Returning bison to Blackfeet Nation grasslands: a unique opportunity to advance ecosystem science

The iconic American Bison (Bison bison) has historically played an important role in North American grasslands, particularly those known as Great Plains grasslands of central North America. Although bison ranged well beyond the Great Plains, knowledge is limited of their effects in these other grasslands. Therefore, the full effects of large-scale removal of bison from the grasslands of North America are unknown.

With new efforts to reintroduce bison to their historic habitats, there is a pressing need to understand the effects of these reintroductions. In 2024, the Blackfeet Tribal Nation in Northern Montana is planning to reintroduce free-roaming bison to 26,000 acres of montane fescue grasslands ~150-years since their extermination. This event provides a unique opportunity to examine how bison affect several aspects of ecosystem structure and function, as well as plant species composition.

This project has been designed in collaboration with the Blackfeet Department of Fish and Wildlife and Blackfeet Community College, who play important roles in the research. Further, this project provides improved ability to predict bison grazing effects on plant communities in other reintroduction efforts.

A grazing experiment in a previously unstudied montane grassland provides data about one of the largest bison restoration efforts on Tribal lands and the North American continent. In collaboration with the Blackfeet Community College, large, fenced exclosures have been established that prevent bison from accessing grassland areas that then can be compared to nearby areas that are open to bison grazing.

Both of the grazed and ungrazed areas will be surveyed for plant species and abundances, annual net primary productivity (ANPP, a common measure of plant growth), and nutrients in plant tissues and soils. Collectively, these data will provide a baseline understanding of these grassland plant communities prior to bison reintroduction, allowing Blackfeet Tribal Nation managers to monitor grasslands into the future and researchers to examine over time the effects of bison reintroduction in a previously unstudied fescue grassland.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.