Buffalo Calls, Prairie Dogs and Conservation Brawls
Post by Clemson student Maddison Tankersley
Picture this, it’s your first time camping your sitting in a tent in the middle of the Great Plains of Montana at 3am and your stuck in the biggest thunderstorm you have ever been in, along with the fact that thunderstorms are your biggest fear. This is a big change that you would have to face head on. Well, let me let you in on a little secret, that picture this moment was actually my real life on June 15th, 2025.
When we talk about the concept of change it can be scary and unpredictable. Change is all around us we live in a world that is everchanging with new technologies and ideas being developed every day. You may think of this only happening in big bustling cities not a place as remote as the Great Plains and prairies of Northeastern Montana. This is a very big misconception; these prairies are the epicenter of big changes right now with constant hard conversations and decisions between ranchers and conservationists being made each day. More specifically the development and change brought to light by the American Prairie Reserve in the recent years.
A little background on the issue/change at hand, the American Prairie Reserve is an organization aimed at conserving our prairies to create one of the largest nature reserves in the United States. While this project is being seen in many different perspectives of if it is a good or bad thing, one of the most important perspectives to look at is the one of ranchers which make up a large part of the community in Northeastern Montana where the American Prairie Reserve (APR) is trying to restore most of the land.
This leads to the question of: What is the Rancher’s perspective? Well, the simple answer to this question is that they are against the APR and its initiatives. After speaking to a rancher in Northeastern Montana he gave us an interesting perspective on how he is not mad about what the American Prairie Reserves mission is he is upset with how they brought it to light. While there are a multitude of different quotes that stuck out to me while talking to rancher Leo Barthelmess and conservation director Martin Townsend, two things really changed my perspective on ranchers and how they have been perceived as this negative factor when it comes to the APR.
One of these quotes was in a conversation asking about Leo’s feeling on Bison, at the end of this conversation he goes on to tell us that “if they paid us 100 dollars a month to run their bison it would be a done deal” and Martin follows up with “there’s 0.0 percent of ranchers that would say no to that”. At the end of the day, it seems that it isn’t the overall mission of APR it’s the economic factor and their way of going about the process that led to this hesitation. Reflecting on that statement it seems that if the APR could have communicated on the fact and actually talked to ranchers and went through the motion of working on a compromise then the feelings would not be as repulsive as they are.
Going back to change, this entire initiative by the APR is a huge change of standards from the typical way of life and something new to such a tight knit small-town atmosphere. Coming from a small town myself I understand this firsthand. My town recently had the addition of a huge automotive plant that has caused such a disruption and distrust from the locals. While we are all upset and hate to see our small town changing, it is a good change. I know that after speaking to people within my hometown where we wished that an automotive plant would have interacted with the locals at first and actually let us voice our opinions and concerns.
Although change is necessary, I believe that there is a right and wrong way to go about it. While this can be a grey area it’s an important area to understand just in the case as it can change the perspective for a long time. Opinion’s and first impressions are what shape America, although we can’t go back and change the past we can always push forward and help learn from the mistakes for the future. First impressions and listening to people’s ideas and intentions truly shape how people will few changes.
