Badlands National Park Day 1

September 29, 2014

Badlands National Park Day 1

I have heard tales of the bison roundup at Badlands National Park since my first stay here as Artist in Residence in 2012. In many years this has included having riders on horseback comb the Sage Creek Wilderness and drive bison up to the Sage Creek Rim Road while park staff and local volunteers then use trucks to push them from north of the Rim Road up to the corrals. Anyone who is familiar with the badlands topography can imagine the challenges and dangers involved in chasing down hundreds of wild animals that weigh up to one ton (or more) across the treacherous terrain.

This year, things worked a little differently, and a bit more simply. The herd migrates around the wilderness, and periodically grazes up near the corrals. Park staff watched for bison to show up near the corrals, and herded the animals into the pens. Using this method over the last 1-2 weeks, there are now roughly 1,200 bison ready to be driven through the chutes, weighed, measured for height, then pushed into the mechanized squeeze chute where they are carefully secured. Here, with the head restrained for safety, park staff and veterinarians work quickly to do blood draws, vaccinations, take DNA samples (tail hairs), check teeth for age, tag ears, and implant a microchip if the animal doesn't already have one. Depending on age, gender, and if female, whether she is nursing or not, the bison are released into certain pens for holding. The park needs to cull a large portion of these animals in order to keep the herd size healthy for its habitat. Blood samples are over-nighted to the lab, and if tests come back clean, the first batch to be culled can ship out mid-week.

It was a long first day of roundup. I headed to the biology building at 5:30am to meet park staff and drive the 45+ minute route to the corrals. We wrapped up the day after 6pm and drove back to park headquarters. My job was to bag and label tail hair samples, which involves working with the other record keepers to make sure everyone is labeling each bison properly and no steps are missed. From my work station, I had a direct view of each bison coming into the squeeze chute, which is about 10 feet in front of us. I know a fair bit about bison and their athleticism, but it's still quite a thing to watch these animals jump straight up, kick back, rear up, and generally make their discontent known. We're all careful to keep things calm and quiet for them; animal safety and comfort is a top concern. At the end of the day, we accurately processed 182 animals. Only about 1,000 yet to go.

There are four more days of roundup this week to write about, so I'll end today with a list of some facts about bison you may or may not already know.

-This year's calves now weigh around 300-350 pounds

-Adult females can weigh about 1,000 pounds

-Adult males can weigh up to 2,000 pounds, or one ton

-Adults stand 6-6.5 feet and are 10-12.5 feet long

-Bison can run up to 40 miles per hour and pivot quickly

-Bison can jump their height from standing, about 6 feet vertically

-The large hump behind the head is muscle that attaches to long vertebrae. This muscle supports the head and gives bison the strength to plow away snow in the winter in order to reach grasses and shrubs.

-There were once 30-60 million bison ranging from Canada to northern Mexico, but by 1890 roughly just 1,000 remained.

One more tidbit: these animals are bison. Buffalo are animals that live in Africa and Asia; the name was used here when Europeans encountered the animals and thought they resembled the water buffalo they were familiar with.

Cold, rainy, and muddy, it was a rough day for many working out in the elements, and made for some slick driving in the corrals. With a dozen or more trucks, we worked to move more animals from the corrals into the waiting area for tomorrow's batch of processing. Quite the thing to coordinate safely: getting enough bison moving as a group in the right direction, being ready to change direction when the group veers or turns back, regrouping when they disperse, and facing them down as they charge back at the vehicles. All the while making sure no one hits anyone else as we zip along side by side. Speedy, bumpy driving and low light made for less than idea photography conditions, I'm hoping for some cleaner shots later in the week.