{"id":44011,"date":"2020-01-31T11:11:45","date_gmt":"2020-01-31T17:11:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jaspernewtonfoundation.org\/?p=44011"},"modified":"2020-01-31T11:11:46","modified_gmt":"2020-01-31T17:11:46","slug":"kankakee-sands-bison-are-changing-it-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jaspernewtonfoundation.org\/kankakee-sands-bison-are-changing-it-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Kankakee Sands Bison are Changing It Up"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Alyssa Nyberg<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

My drive to work involves one-stop sign and a herd of bison. It hasn\u2019t always been that way\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My commute used to involve one stop\nsign and several agricultural fields. That all started to change in 1996, when The\nNature Conservancy began planting 8,000 newly-acquired acres with native\nprairie grasses and flowers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In two decades, we made huge changes\nto the landscape and have seen extraordinary responses from plants and animals\nin this newly created habitat. Then in 2016, we brought bison to Kankakee Sands,\nand my drive to work got really interesting!      <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bison have been a game changer\nfor our Kankakee Sands prairies. Since the bison have set hoof on Kankakee\nSands ground, we have seen positive changes in the height of the prairie and\nthe different types of plants that are growing on the prairie. In the years to\ncome we hope to see increases in the number of grassland birds and the\ndiversity of grassland birds that utilize Kankakee Sands. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our bison herd is changing, too! As\nthe herd grows in number and the animals age, we are finding that the dynamics\nof our bison are changing to mimic natural bison behavior, which is very exciting!\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our bison are exhibiting something\ncalled \u201cseasonal aggregation\u2019 in which the herd comes together during \u201crut\u201d or\nmating season in the late summer, and \u2018seasonal segregation\u2019 in which the herd\nbreaks out into different groups when not in mating season. When you visit\nKankakee Sands this winter and spring, you will see that herd has broken out\ninto three main groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The matriarchal family group is comprised\nmainly of females and young bison. These family groups usually stick close\ntogether and form the main herd of bison that we see out on the Kankakee\nSands prairie. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A ‘bachelor pod’ of five to eight male bison has also\nformed. These males move out of the matriarchal family groups at about age\nthree and are often seen grazing together away from the main herd. It is\ntheorized that these males, being much larger in size than the females and\nyoung bison, require more forage and therefore move through the prairie at a\ndifferent rate than the matriarchal group. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then there is the lone bull. He is our oldest bull and\nprefers his personal space. He is almost always seen grazing alone, far from\nthe other bison. As bison bulls age, they typically become less and less social\nand remove themselves from the other bison. But when mating season comes\naround, as you might imagine, he can be seen grazing within the main herd of\nfemales.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These three groups move differently\nacross the prairie. The main herd, comprised mainly of females and young males,\nis very mobile – often moving to graze several different areas over the course\nof the day. The bachelor pods are much more stationary – they will often stay\nin the same general area for days at a time. And the lone male, well, there\u2019s\nno telling where he will be. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With these differences in movement\ncome different grazing patterns, and that results in greater plant diversity. This\nis good news to us, because we want our bison making similar grazing decisions\nabout what to eat and not eat as they would have done historically on the\nIndiana prairie. This helps make our Kankakee Sands prairies as authentic as\ncan be. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Visit Kankakee Sands. Enjoy the\nbeauty and be a part of the change that is happening here. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

___________________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Nature\nConservancy\u2019s Kankakee Sands is an 8,400-acre prairie and savanna habitat in\nNorthwest Indiana, open every day of the year for public enjoyment.  For more information about Kankakee Sands,\nvisit <\/em>www.nature.org\/KankakeeSands<\/em><\/a> or call the office at 219-285-2184.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Alyssa Nyberg My drive to work involves one-stop sign and a herd of bison. It hasn\u2019t always been that way\u2026 My commute used to involve one stop sign and several agricultural fields. That all started to change in 1996, when The Nature Conservancy began planting 8,000 newly-acquired acres with native prairie grasses and flowers. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":44012,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","inline_featured_image":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[150],"county":[11],"yoast_head":"\nKankakee Sands Bison are Changing It Up - Jasper Newton Foundation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.jaspernewtonfoundation.org\/kankakee-sands-bison-are-changing-it-up\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Kankakee Sands Bison are Changing It Up - Jasper Newton Foundation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Alyssa Nyberg My drive to work involves one-stop sign and a herd of bison. 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