Ronald Bailey on How Private Conservation Is Creating a Vast Wildlife Park In Montana
Bringing the landscape and herds seen by Lewis & Clark back to life
"I asscended to the top of the cutt bluff this morning, from whence I had a most delightfull view of the country," wrote famed explorer Meriwether Lewis on April 22, 1805, as the Corps of Discovery journeyed westward through the newly acquired Louisiana Purchase. "The whole of which except the vally formed by the Missouri is void of timber or underbrush, exposing to the first glance of the spectator immence herds of Buffaloe, Elk, deer, & Antelopes feeding in one common and boundless pasture." The objective of the American Prairie Reserve is to use private money to recreate an untamed landscape on 3.5 million acres in Montana so that 21st century Americans can similarly be exhilarated by the sight of thousands of wild bison, elk, deer, and antelope roaming free over vast areas of unfenced, native prairie. Reason Science Correspondent Ronald Bailey reports on how private conservation is creating the largest wildlife park in the lower 48 states.
