American Prairie (formerly known as American Prairie Reserve or APR) is a prairie-based nature reserve in Central Montana, United States, on a shortgrass prairie ecosystem with migration corridors and native wildlife. This wildlife conservation area is being developed as a private project of the American Prairie Foundation (APF), a non-profit organization. As of 2025, the reserve habitat base covers a total . This includes and of public land. The organization hopes to expand it greatly through a combination of both private and public lands.
The foundation allows public access to the land for outdoor recreation activities such as hiking, mountain biking, hunting, and fishing. The predominant economic activity in the region is the raising of cattle on homestead parcels along with adjacent rangeland leased from the federal government. Ranchers in the region are invited to adhere to wildlife-friendly standards on their ranches and required to follow specific rules when grazing their cattle on American Prairie's parcels. Within large but securely fenced areas, American Prairie is developing a bison herd with attention to heritage genetics and minimal cattle introgression. Wildlife-friendly fencing allows the natural movement of wildlife such as pronghorn. Animals like prairie dogs are welcome amidst the native vegetation.
Ecology Prairies are the dominant ecosystem of the Interior Plains of central North America. The main vegetation type of this temperate grassland is herbaceous plants like grasses, sedges, and other prairie plants, rather than woody vegetation like trees. Grazing is important to soil, vegetation and overall ecological balance. The ecosystem was maintained by a pattern of disturbance caused by natural wildfire and grazing by bison, a pattern which is called pyric herbivory.
Before the 1800s, bison were a keystone species for the native shortgrass prairie habitat as their grazing pressure altered the food web and landscapes in ways that improve biodiversity. The expanses of grass sustained migrations of an estimated 30 to 60 million American bison which could be found across much of North America. While they ranged from the eastern seaboard states to southeast Washington, eastern Oregon, and northeastern California, the greatest numbers were found within the great bison belt on the shortgrass plains east of the Rocky Mountains that stretched from Alberta to Texas.
The grasslands once included more than 1,500 species of plants, 350 birds, 220 butterflies, and 90 mammals. The bison coexisted with elk, deer, pronghorn, swift fox, black-footed ferrets, black-tailed prairie dogs, white-tailed jackrabbits, bears, wolves, coyotes, and cougars. The bison scoring the trees with their horns kept them from taking over the open grasslands. As bison grazed, they dispersed seeds by excreting them or depositing them from their fur as they wallow. The heterogeneous or varied landscape created by the roaming bison helps birds and millions still arrive each year. Long-billed curlews are a migratory shorebirds that rely on three types of habitats on the prairie – areas with short grass, long grass and mud – for completing their breeding cycle each year. Mountain plovers use bison wallows as nesting sites. Prairie dogs benefited from the tendency of the bison to graze areas around prairie dog towns. The bison enjoyed the regrowth of plants previously cropped by the rodents which reduced the grass cover, making it easier to spot predators. Bald eagles, ravens, black-billed magpies, swift foxes, golden eagles, grizzly bears, wolves, beetles, and nematodes benefited from bison carcasses.
Context
These are the traditional lands of the indigenous peoples of the Great Plains who hunted bison and pronghorn. The expansion of the United States with the Louisiana Purchase of 1803 doubled the country's territory. This area was commonly known as the Great American Desert and was considered dry, inhospitable and hostile. The fur trade in Montana came to the upper Missouri River from about 1800 to the 1850s. From the 1830s, the population of the indigenous people and the bison were quickly decimated through the actions of the government and those who came to the frontier. Under the 1862 Homestead Act, the U.S. government issued the expropriated land for free to settlers under on the condition that they build homes and run farms or ranches.
Prairies were considered areas to be settled and farmed with millions of acres of prairie land being put to the plow during the era of westward expansion. Extensive unplowed grasslands remained in this portion of northeastern Montana as the soil and climate were not suitable for farming. While the homesteaded parcels were generally insufficient to support a family, the grazing of cattle that extended onto adjacent rangeland owned by the federal government was viable. The Taylor Grazing Act of 1934 set up grazing districts for the management and regulation of rangelands. Invasive crested wheatgrass was introduced by the US government in the 1930s for use as forage for grazing cattle. The habitat for prairie dogs, black-footed ferrets, bison, wolves and grizzly bears shrank dramatically. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many national parks, national forests, and other federal lands were designated and protected. Prairies were generally overlooked as mountainous areas that were relatively unproductive for western settlement, or forest reserves that could provide the nation a steady supply of timber were recognized.
Eastern Montana's population has been falling since the 1930s. Nearly two-thirds of counties in the Great Plains declined in population between 1950 and 2007. Land is for sale as aging ranchers find it difficult for family members take over their spreads. Ranching is hard in this area with severe winter weather and hot summers. Rains can be heavy and hard or instead there might be an extended dry spell. Rural agricultural communities in Montana are challenged by trade policies, regulations and industry dynamics. Margins with cattle raising can be slim. Large spreads can be worth millions. Rural recreation counties with hiking, hunting and fishing opportunities are growing faster than counties without those amenities. In general, this region of the country is becoming less dependent on natural resource extraction and more focused on conservation, natural amenities, and recreation.
The Nature Conservancy determined in 1999 that the northern Great Plains were the most viable for restoring the region's habitats and conserving the existing diversity of plants and animals. The upper Missouri River and its banks within the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge (Russell NWR) had been designated a National Wild and Scenic River in 1976. The relatively pristine condition of the land and the diversity of wildlife species north of Russell NWR was identified as a top priority for grassland conservation. The adjacent Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument was created in 2001 with public lands that were mostly already managed by the federal government. The area, managed by the Bureau of Land Management, is series of badlands characterized by rock outcroppings, steep bluffs, and grassy plains; a topography referred to as "The Breaks" as the land appears to "break away" to the river. Shortly after The Nature Conservancy issued the report, the World Wildlife Fund decided to initiate a conservation effort in the Montana Glaciated Plains and determined that an independent entity was needed that would be capable of focusing all of its time and resources on the preservation effort.
History
The American Prairie Foundation was formed in 2001 as an independent, non-profit organization with the mission conserving the existing diversity of plants and animals as a refuge for people and wildlife. They ultimately envision a wildlife conservation area over through a combination of both private and public lands with a fully functioning mixed grass prairie ecosystem. With the Russell NWR and Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument together already encompassing nearly 1.3 million acres, self-sustaining populations of native wildlife with big migration patterns are possible. Native vegetation and prairie dogs are encouraged. It could also support the return of predators such as grizzly bears and wolves. Purchased from willing sellers, ranches come with associated grazing leases on vast expanses of public land managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). AP requests a livestock change under BLM rules, as bison are considered a class of livestock, along with a change to the allotment grazing season to year-round grazing. In many cases, fencing formerly used to manage cattle or delineate the boundary of the separate ranches, are removed to allow the natural movement of wildlife. A ranch can have hundreds of miles of fences. They intend to retain ownership in perpetuity which includes lease payments for BLM grazing lands and payment of property taxes to the local government.
The neighboring Indigenous communities, that provide opportunities for conservation and connection, include Fort Belknap Indian Community to the west, Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux to the east, and the Chippewa Cree Rocky Boy Tribes to the northwest. The Timber Creek property acquisition in 2012 of more than of deeded and leased public land shares a with the Russell NWR. While purchasing ranches, of leased-public land within the Russell NWR has been retired by returning it to wildlife management purposes after being used for cattle ranching. In 2021, the American Prairie Reserve was rebranded as American Prairie. In July 2022, the public's access was facilitated by the enrollment of nearly into the block management hunter program of the recently acquired 73 Ranch which supports healthy populations of elk, mule deer, pronghorn, turkeys, pheasants and waterfowl. The general public also began being able to travel throughout the property to an additional of public lands that were previously landlocked and unavailable. An adult grizzly bear was photographed in 2023 by a game camera on the PN Ranch northeast of Winifred. The roughly at the mouth of the Judith and Missouri rivers was purchased in 2016 and is the most westerly of AP properties. This is the farthest east a grizzly has been seen in Montana in more than 100 years. Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem where grizzlies roam mountain wilderness areas is more than west. Grizzly bears take advantage of river bottoms for cover and are well-adapted to life on the prairie as at one time they occupied most of the Great Plains. , 40 land acquisitions have been made. As of June 2024, the Reserve owns and controls the leasing rights on another state and federal acres. Their holdings increased in 2024 when they acquired the Lazy J5 ranch adjacent to the White Rock unit and another parcel near the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument.
Bison management, cooperative programs, and reactions