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Cover page titled "BISONOMICS" over an oil painting of a bison herd wading and drinking in a river at sunset, with calves among the adults and a canyon landscape in the background. The PERC and Buffalo Nation logos appear at the bottom.

Bisonomics: The Story Behind America’s Comeback Species

Bisonomics: The Story Behind America’s Comeback Species

Bisonomics is a companion publication to Buffalo Nation, the landmark exhibition at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West celebrating America’s national mammal. Produced by PERC (the Property and Environment Research Center), the exhibition’s lead Nonprofit Partner, this richly illustrated magazine chronicles the private stories—historical and modern—that have always been at the heart of bison conservation in America. From a population of roughly a thousand animals in the 1880s to more than 400,000 today, the bison’s recovery stands as one of the great conservation stories in history, driven first and foremost by the ranchers, tribal members, and entrepreneurs who saw value in saving the species. Through historical art, photography, and firsthand storytelling, Bisonomics explores that legacy and the people still carrying it forward today.

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Cover page titled "BISONOMICS" over an oil painting of a bison herd wading and drinking in a river at sunset, with calves among the adults and a canyon landscape in the background. The PERC and Buffalo Nation logos appear at the bottom.

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A lone bison stands in a sagebrush meadow, dwarfed by rolling green foothills and a dramatic range of jagged, snow-patched mountain peaks behind it.

Bisonomics

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llowe@atomicdust.com
Roughly two decades ago, I sat in a booth at Ted’s Montana Grill in Tallahassee, Florida, with Beau Turner, splitting a plate of bison sliders. Beau is the youngest son of the late Ted Turner. He also manages wildlife projects for Turner Enterprises, which includes oversight of biodiversity projects and ranching for the nearly 2Continue reading “Bisonomics”
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Close-up profile of a shaggy bison's head and neck in tall golden grass, with two horses standing in the background of the prairie.

The Bison, the Horse, and the Cow

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llowe@atomicdust.com
Today, more than 400,000 bison grace North American landscapes. Those magnificent animals represent a victory for people who care deeply about preservation of the species, a feat shaped by rapid economic and technological change on the western frontier.  European colonization of the continent brought two transformative technologies that had momentous ramifications for Native Americans: theContinue reading “The Bison, the Horse, and the Cow”
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Aerial view of a mixed herd of black-and-white and red-and-white dairy cattle scattered across a lush green pasture, most looking up at the camera.

A Long Shadow

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llowe@atomicdust.com
In a laboratory at Colorado State University, Jennifer Barfield has spent more than a decade solving a problem that has vexed bison managers for the past century. Barfield studies animal reproduction, and the bison she works with descend directly from Yellowstone National Park’s wild herd. They also carry brucellosis, the disease that could threaten cattleContinue reading “A Long Shadow”
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Alt text for this image: A two-photo composite: on the left, a bison grazes in golden backlit grass at sunrise with three small birds perched along its silhouetted back; on the right, a close-up of a cow facing the camera with tufts of grass hanging from its mouth, lit by the same warm morning light.

When Bison Conservation Becomes Grounds for Losing Grazing Permits

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llowe@atomicdust.com
The bison was saved by visionary ranchers. More than a century later, the federal government aims to use the Taylor Grazing Act—the 1934 law that has governed the American West ever since—to prevent bison ranching from restoring the American prairie. Bowing to politics, the Bureau of Land Management has used a short-sighted and ahistorical interpretationContinue reading “When Bison Conservation Becomes Grounds for Losing Grazing Permits”
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