Wildlife Nation Exclusive Clip: The Great Plains Join host Jeff Corwin on an epic adventure across the Great Plains of the United States on a mission to understand the connection between the incredible species that call it home. First, Jeff travels
Join host Jeff Corwin on an epic adventure across the Great Plains of the United States on a mission to understand the connection between the incredible species that call it home. First, Jeff travels to the Canadian border to help Native American tribes re-establish bison across tribal lands. Jeff learns how ancient bison herds once shaped the Great Plains and how modern conservationists are fighting to bring those herds back. Later, Jeff works with biologists to manage a delicate population of black-footed ferrets, a species once believed to be extinct. Jeff discovers how wild bison play a vital role in ferret survival and the survival of the Great Plains themselves.
Video transcript:
Jeff Corwin:
Welcome to Northeast Montana, home of the Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Indian community. I'm with Jonathan Proctor, from Defenders of Wildlife. It's now about minus nine. Look at our backdrop, we've got American bison. John, they are forever interconnected to this ecosystem.
Jonathan Proctor:
Yes, this is one of the most important keystone species in the entire Great Plains. This species had an outsized importance, numerous impacts on the environment that benefited a whole host of other wildlife.
Jeff Corwin:
The bison behind us are descendants of a great and ancient herd, over 30 million animals that moved like a living wave across North America. But this species was nearly wiped out with the western expansion of America and industrial hunting. The deliberate mass slaughter of bison was devastating to the Great Plains, and especially to the native tribes that depended upon them as a food and cultural resource. Tragically, at the start of the 20th century, fewer than 1000 American bison were left alive.
Jonathan Proctor:
The loss of the bison historically, about a hundred years ago, had ripple effects throughout the entire Great Plains. All of the predators and scavengers that depended on the bison for food disappeared as a result. Bison graze down the grass, which benefit prairie dogs, and so many other species depend on prairie dogs. So when the bison were removed, the whole system unraveled.
Jeff Corwin:
So, the big challenge we face is to reintegrate them into the ecosystem because this environment, the prairie needs the bison.
Jonathan Proctor:
To achieve that goal, we need to restore at least 10 large bison herds back to the Great Plains. When we get to that level, we will have truly saved the bison and the environment that it once evolved in and helped create.
Jeff Corwin:
Leading the charge is the Intertribal Buffalo Council, a group of 76 native tribal communities working to establish new and wild bison herds across the Great Plains. This morning, Robbie Magnan and his team are moving 56 bison from Montana to their new home in Oklahoma. Robbie, for the many tribal communities, bison are so very important, even today.
Robbie Magnan:
Yes, that's very much so. They're helping us restore our culture, because they've always been part of our culture. And now, we have our opportunity to reconnect with them and restore our culture with them.
Jeff Corwin:
But here's the thing, we can't get these bison to Oklahoma until we corral them, and that my friends, is going to be a challenge. You ready to do this?
Robbie Magnan:
Yeah.
Jeff Corwin:
All right, let's go.
Speaker 4:
All right, look sharp, stay together.
Jeff Corwin:
So, what is the plan, Robbie?
Robbie Magnan:
The buffalo are in a temporary holding pen that we have to round them up. Sometimes it's not so easy. Follow me!
Jeff Corwin:
Woo, hold on. So you can kind of see what we're trying to do, right here. It's a little bit of chaos, organized chaos. And what we're trying to do is move them into the corral, make sure they're healthy, and then share them with another Native American community. Ooh.
Robbie Magnan:
You okay?
Jeff Corwin:
Yeah. Ooh, rock. Rock.
Robbie Magnan:
Take what you got. Take what you got, guys. Take what you got!
Speaker 5:
Here they come.
Jeff Corwin:
Okay, so we didn't get the whole herd, but we've got about half the herd, right here. We're moving them down this quarter and into the corral they go. Robbie, who do I invoice my chiropractor bill to? Now that we've got almost half the herd into the pen, Robbie guides them into a series of smaller quarters. Here, they can be individually identified and have their final health checks before their trip to Oklahoma.
Robbie Magnan:
Okay, get in there.
Jeff Corwin:
All right, all right, there we go.
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