OUTDOOR CORNER: ONCE THRIVING BISON NUMBERS USE TO ROAM WILDS OF MISSOURI

Imagine an animal that is 2,000 pounds of powerful muscle and fur. Also imagine that it can withstand the coldest blizzards, toughest droughts, and is intimidating enough to ward off most predators. Now ask yourself why such an animal no longer resides in our state.

Oh we're not discussing some prehistoric monster here. No, this critter is still alive and well, but not in Missouri anymore. The animal of discussion is the bison commonly known as a buffalo.

Bison formerly occupied two thirds of North America. They are well associated with the Great Plains and the wild west. Less well known is that bison ranged all the way to the Appalachian mountains and traveled through forested lands.

Only in the Great Plains did their numbers reach truly amazing status as described by a northwestern Kansas settler in 1869; "The herd was not less that 20 miles in width (we never saw the other side) at least 60 miles in length, maybe much longer, two counties of buffaloes! There might have been 100,000, or 1,000,000, or 1,000,000,000 I don't know! " He goes on to say, "Seven thousand head of cattle was not a drop in the bucket as compared with that herd of Buffalo."

Such enormous herds were restricted to the large prairie regions and thus not all of Missouri was witness to such grandness. Smaller herds did roam freely over the state and even crossed the Mississippi River if it suited their desire.

As Bison traveled the Ozarks, they helped to maintain the landscape that attracted them. The Ozarks of 200 years ago was a more open scene with little undergrowth.

Glades, small prairies, and savannas contained many of the same plants a hungry bison would be accustomed to in the plains. A feeding bison would not only eat grasses and wildflowers but small saplings would be eaten as well. This aided in keeping the forest open and barren' as the early settlers described it. Because savannas and prairies were more common back then, bison were seldom without appropriate habitat in which to live.

Browsing and trampling worked hand in hand to regenerate the prairies and savannas. Browsed grassland allowed native grasses and forbs to have successful seed germination. This was due to the warm sunlight now able to hit the ground. Bison aided in seed dispersal and even returned nitrogen to the soil in the form of their dung.

The activity of Bison differs from domestic cattle today in that bison did not congregate in one area year after year. They would move around and thus their impact was on a 3-5 year cycle. Bison would eat the native grass and by doing so would help to manage it.

Southeast Missouri's lowland swamps were even visited by the mighty bison. Some of the landscape was prairie and would attract bison, but very little. To discover what might attract bison to such a moist place you only need to look as far as river cane. Canebrakes were very common in the lowlands and sometimes lived in massive clumps that were difficult to get through.

The river cane is a grass that has a woody stem. Because it is green all year, cane was a great food source for traveling bison. A short dry period was all it took to allow the massive herbivores to enter the swamps and dine on North American bamboo! Bison were sighted and hunted in the southeastern swamps by early explorers and settlers of the region.

Bison were removed from our borders by a variety of methods. Unintentionally settlers made life difficult for bison by converting prairies and savannas into farmland and towns that would no longer support a large herbivore.

Unrestricted hunting was also a problem. Seasons for harvesting game were not in place and bison suffered due to that. More bison were harvested than woodland populations could tolerate. But no one at the time knew this would happen. They thought they had an endless supply of wild game.

Shamefully, the bison were also killed intentionally for spite and sport. This is in contrast to legitimate hunting where the animals are used for leather and food. These killings left carcasses where they fell. The demise of the bison, it was thought, would lead to the end of the Indians.

Looking back you can't help but wonder was there another choice? We will never have those decisions to make again but perhaps we can learn from this to prevent it from happening to another organism.

If we could travel back in time, we would see how differently Missouri looked. We would also see that Bison were a part of Missouri's natural system. The removal of bison took a jewel from the crown of our natural heritage. It also halted an important ecological force.

Now all we can do is imagine what it must have been like to see a bison herd roaming within our state. Are memories and imagination a good substitute for our natural heritage?

A.J. Hendershott is an education consultant with the Missouri Department of Conservation.