Prairie Reserve’s happy dance

In case you missed it, the American Prairie Reserve (APR) recently reported through various media outlets that one of its trail cameras photographed a grizzly bear that wandered onto the PN Ranch owned by APR. The bear’s appearance was hyped as a win for APR’s Wild Sky rewilding effort to bring large carnivores back to the prairie.

The press release reflected APR’s happy dance and welcome of a grizzly bear that traveled many miles to grace the PN Ranch with its presence. APR erroneously claims that “this is a powerful and historic discovery, as it provides some of the first evidence of grizzly bears in the Missouri River Breaks in about 100 years.” Actually, there have been multiple recent sightings of different grizzlies in Fergus County, so APR’s claim that the PN sighting was a first is totally bogus. 

American Prairie Reserve’s working theory is that a fully functioning prairie ecosystem can only be had by the restoration of all the native wildlife species, including free roaming bison and associated top predators such as wolves, lions and grizzlies. So, where did APR get an entitlement to help re-wild our prairie with grizzlies?