The Bison Factor

(Abby Brown, the host of FIND Iowa is standing in the prairie at Neal Smith Wildlife Refuge. She is wearing a dark, pink polo shirt and her blonde hair is tied back in a pony tale at her neck. The wind is blowing her hair round like she's standing in front of a box fan.  The prairie grass is made up of all different shades of green from yellow-green to the dark green of a winter pine tree. It's  like looking at a painting made by putting small dots close together on a canvas to create a picture.)

[Abby Brown] There are quiet giant creatures here at Neal Smith Wildlife Refuge, and they are a very important part of this ecosystem.

(music)

(Eleven American bison standing on a hard-packed dirt road like guards guarding an imaginary gate.)

[Abby] Karen, what are these beautiful creatures and how did they get here?

(Karen Viste-Sparkman, Wildlife Biologist has shoulder length blonde hair and is wearing glasses with solid, dark frame. She is wear a light tan shirt with a patch on the upper left arm with dark brown pants.)

[Karen Viste-Sparkman]  Bison are native animal to the to North America, and they're actually the national mammal of the country. They were brought into Neal Smith in particular from the National Bison Range in Montana, And we brought them in to help restore the tallgrass prairie. They're part of the ecosystem.

(music)

(Tallgrass prairie and yellow and purple flowers swaying in the wind like dancers weaving to a slow tune.)

[Karen] Right now we have about 60 adults. We also have 11 calves. So we usually have between ten and 15 calves each year.

(music)

(Bison calf with light tan fluffy fur, small ears and a large black nose at the end of its little face.

An adult bison seen in the distance.)

[Karen] Bison eat grass, and so they actually help the plants to grow because the grasses really like it when they get cut off. So just like when you mow your lawn, it will come back. The bison eat the grass and it grows even more. Also, they wallow, which is when they roll around on the ground and they create a little indentation, depression in the ground, and that helps by... it gets rid of all the vegetation, the plants that are there. So there's actually bare spots in the prairie and that helps some wild animals. It's easier for them to find food there and then there's water can actually collect in those wallows. And so certain little, you know, little insects and things need that, those little pools of water.

(An adult bison covered in brown prairie dust getting up from a dry wallow that it made.)

[Karen] If there weren't any buffalo here, there would still be prairie plants, but they wouldn't do as well. It would be more work to keep this number of species here, the number of plant species that we have, and animals too. There are actually certain birds that really like the shorter grass that the bison help create by their grazing, eating, the grass and keeping it lower.

(music)

(An adult bison standing on the prairie.)

[Abby] Is there a difference between bison and buffalo?

[Karen] It's two different names for the same thing. Bison is a little more specific because there are other animals called buffalo that are in other parts of the world.'

(music)

(A herd of bison crossing a dirt road in the middle of the prairie. A car with it's headlights on is coming down a slight hill towards the herd.) 

[Abby] How should visitors act around the buffalo?

[Karen] Well, people need to be very careful. They are wild animals. And even if they look like they're just like grazing happily, they do have a big personal space, so they don't like people to get too close to them. So here at Neal Smith, we make people stay in their vehicles, in their cars, so that they don't get too close to the bison.

(music)

[Abby] So as time goes on, what are your hopes and dreams for this prairie and this herd of buffalo?

[Karen] Well, we hope to have more species of plants here and animals and more bison here.

(music)

(A herd of bison grazing on the prairie.)

[Abby] Plants and animals have always been able to help each other thrive and survive. The bison and prairie plants here at Neal Smith Wildlife Refuge are a unique example of just that.

(Abby stands in the tall prairie grass.)

[Abby] As you walk around your neighborhood, do you see how plants and animals interact? How do you think they help each other? Have fun investigating.

(Bison off in the distance grazing as close up the tall prairie grass with light brown tops like cat tales blows in the wind.)

[Announcer] Funding for Find Iowa has been provided by the following supporters

(text on the screen) FIND Iowa, The Coons Foundation, Pella, Gilchrist Foundation

(text on the screen) Iowa PBS Education