This Morning Outside

by Diane Porter

October 29, 2010
Neal Smith NWR
Prairie City, Iowa

The bison roam freely on the prairie at a refuge in Iowa. They find their own food, make their wallows for water, and live and reproduce much as they did historically. They are protected from untoward interactions with the outside farming w0rld by a fence around their 740-acre enclosure.

I like knowing the bison are there. In the back of my mind is the thought that if we don't succeed in developing a sustainable culture -- if by dreadful chance we don't make it -- seed populations of bison like this one might find their way out of the enclosure and re-inhabit the plains. At least there would be that.

Photo copyright 2010 Michael and Diane Porter

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