Nonprofit American Prairie's Bison Herd Passes 1,000 for the First Time: Annual Calf Count Reaches 1,016 as Federal Judge Blocks BLM Removal Order
American Prairie, a nonprofit conservation organization on Montana's northern plains, announced in mid-October that its annual calf count put its American bison herd at 1,016 animals, the first time the herd has passed 1,000 since the organization's founding more than 20 years ago. According to Good News Network's October 16 report, American Prairie has been reintroducing bison since 2005 across land it owns and public land it leases, and its organizers believe a herd of 5,000 is a very achievable aim; its ultimate land package target of 5,000 square miles could in theory support tens of thousands of bison.
American Prairie is one of the largest private land conservation projects in the United States, stitching fragmented public lands together by purchasing private land. The restoration has not been smooth: in Montana, bison are classified in law as livestock rather than wildlife, and their movement and grazing are regulated accordingly. In May 2026 the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) revoked the organization's bison grazing permits on three federal allotments in the northeast of the state and ordered the bison removed. The organization said that absent court relief it would have had to cull or relocate roughly 300 bison by a September 30 deadline.
On September 4, a federal judge granted a preliminary injunction blocking the BLM from enforcing the removal order. The dispute turns on the Taylor Grazing Act of 1934: the BLM's new interpretation holds that grazing land under the Act is solely for commercial production of food and fiber, while American Prairie argues the Act contains no such distinction, noting that the BLM has authorized its bison grazing under the Act since 2005 and that the agency's own field assessments credited the bison with improving rangeland cover and riparian health. 'That is not how the rule of law is supposed to work,' the organization said in its complaint.
Against that backdrop, the count of 1,016 is a milestone for the organization: researchers say a herd near 1,000 animals is the scale needed for long-term genetic viability. Bison were reduced from millions to roughly 1,000 animals by the mass hunts of the 19th century and have since recovered to an estimated 400,000 to 500,000 nationwide. American Prairie's bison also supply tribal partners, food banks and community harvest programs, and since 2016 its annual public hunting program has produced about 75,000 pounds of meat from some 370 bison. The court case continues, and the herd's long-term future on the allotments has not been finally decided.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：草原上的美洲野牛群（资料图，非 American Prairie 牧场实景）。图片：美国鱼类与野生动物管理局 USFWS Mountain-Prairie 摄，公共领域（Wikimedia Commons）。Photo: An American bison herd on the prairie (file photo, not American Prairie's ranch). Credit: USFWS Mountain-Prairie, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
