HMU if you want to resurrect this lil subreddit to full prairie glory

https://preview.redd.it/ap0del3jywq21.jpg?width=2990&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=182373eba6d8c5005d0ab08f16a71a89175a189a

Download: https://oembed.libsyn.com/embed?item_id=7848029

Download and show notes including photos: https://museecology.com/2018/12/08/episode-4-the-buffalo-field-campaign-protecting-the-last-wild-bison/

This episode of Muse Ecology is the first in this five part series beginning to explore humankind’s relation to the bison in the Great Plains of North America. This buffalo series features diverse voices of folks involved in the bison’s return that Alison and I met on our buffalo investigation journey in February 2018. While the next three episodes feature entrepreneurs (Tanka Bar) and ranchers (777 Bison Ranch and Wild Idea Buffalo Company) who are working to restore bison to the landscape, this first episode features voices of wildlife advocates who see the buffalo as a wild elder whose right to roam long precedes our recent human constructs.

The first visit on our buffalo journey was with the Buffalo Field Campaign, a volunteer-run organization that exists to defend the dignity and freedom of the last continuously wild herd of buffalo in North America, in Yellowstone National Park. Founded over 20 years ago by Lakota Grandmother Rosalie Littlethunder and videographer Mike Mease, through documentation and advocacy, the BFC seeks to promote awareness of the story and management of the Yellowstone bison, and to influence policy to allow them to roam free like the other wild ones.

At just over two and a half hours this episode ended up a bit long, but felt like one story to be released together, so I divided it up into chapters like an audio book or radio play, and created a table of contents with minute and second, to make it easy to restart if you have to take a break.

Buffalo Field Campaign Table of Contents

00:00:52         Introduction to the Buffalo Series

00:09:17         Arrival at BFC

00:09:46   Chapter 1: The Rosalie Littlethunder Memorial Walk

00:15:44       Rosalie Memorial Circle

00:29:27   Chapter 2: Buffalo Awareness in Bozeman

00:29:31        More Words From Karen Littlethunder and Cheryl Angel

00:35:04        Awareness Rally Grooves

00:38:53   Chapter 3: Ski Patrol and Share Frog

00:38:55        A Daily Meeting

00:45:55        Buffalo Patrol

00:52:96        A Wild Lullaby for Share Frog

00:57:05   Chapter 4: Jimmy Brings an Important Message

01:09:46   Chapter 5: A Conversation with Stephany Seay

(I mispronounce her last name in this episode, FYI.  It’s pronouced “sea”.)

01:11:24        Conversation with Stephany

01:35:14   Chapter 6: A Conversation with Mike Mease

01:36:05        Details about the March webinar

01:36:46        Conversation with Mike

02:36:11        Closing Rumination and Introduction of Tanka Bar Episode

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You can connect with the Buffalo Field Campaign, to follow their work or arrange to volunteer for a while, at www.buffalofieldcampaign.org

Michael DiGiorgio recorded the banjo-bird jams I’m using in the intro and ending. You can find his amazing nature art at https://www.mdigiorgio.com. Mike says that if you’d like to buy the album of his nature-banjo jams, you can find his email on his website and he can mail you a CD.

You can support the Muse Ecology podcast at patreon.com/museecology

Kind of random thought, this looked like a good sub to share it in.

Tl;dr: it bugged me that prairies are no longer called steppes. One thought led to another.

Looking at WWF ecoregion designations, reading the articles in Wikipedia, indicates to me that steppe is not a term we commonly apply to prairie grasslands. Yet back in the day I remember an equivency in steppe with shortgrass and mixed grass prairie. We still use hybrid steppe designations in North America like steppeshrub, sagebrush steppe.

A pattern I picked up is that the North American prairie articles often discuss the importance of fire in the prairie ecosystem. They often mention anthropogenic fire management as key to the character of the prairie observed by pioneers. Eurasia steppe articles never mention a fire component.

Is that a pattern anybody else is tuned into? What does it mean?

I am looking for other people to help me mod this sub, preferably people from Prairie so that you can decide the direction you want to take your sub in. We need news, flag ideas, memes, etc.

Thanks