The SDSU Bison Conservation Innovation Grant (CIG) research project is looking to bring nationwide recognition to the university and provide students with more opportunities.
The project was funded nearly $2 million by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to support bison managers in Midwestern states and other grasslands. The areas include: South Dakota, Nebraska, North Dakota, Montana, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Texas.
The Bison CIG project will be looking for SDSU student interns soon because the project begins this spring.
“There will be lots of internship opportunities for SDSU students, so reach out,” Assistant Professor/Coordinator-Wizipan Program Rachel Short said.
The university will not only be gaining nationwide attention through this project, but it will be building partnerships with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resource Conservation Service and the National Bison Association. This project wants to highlight the need and power for partnerships.
The overall goal for the bison CIG project is to provide bison producers with new resources that do not exist. The resources will include preparing bison managers for climate extremes such as drought and how bison feces may build better soil.
South Dakota is the leader of bison production in the nation. With about 30,000 privately owned bison and some 15,000 bison owned by federal agencies and reservations.
“There are only about 400,000 bison left on the planet. They need our attention and help,” said Jeff Martin, assistant professor of bison biology and management and extension bison specialist. “We want to help bison producers and do something good.”
The bison CIG project affects not only bison producers, but cattle ranchers, South Dakota residents and especially South Dakota State University and its students.
“South Dakota is the place for bison research and SDSU is home to two of the leading bison experts in the country,” Lora Perkins, natural resource management professor, said.
The project will impact the people and landowners of South Dakota along with people and landowners across the nation. The project will educate and create an understanding about how much grazing animals influence our country’s landscapes.
The project is designed to educate producers of any sort of grazing animals about the benefits bison grazing has to the ecosystem such as healthy landscapes, better soil and more wildlife.
“We might see more uniform vegetation and plant diversity,” Perkins said.
Said Martin: “We will use two different techniques of winter bale grazing, measure bison body condition and measure soil organic matter.”
Much of the research will take place on a 5,000-acre ranch with about 200 head of bison in Alliance Nebraska and is set to start in April or May.
Producers will be educated by training the trainer workshops, some of which are at Custer State Park. This allows producers to have a say in what they need and allows them to actively participate in these sources.
This project will have a profoundly positive impact, not only for bison producers across the country, but grazing animal producers nationwide. Additionally, it will significantly benefit the residents of South Dakota, as well as the faculty and students at South Dakota State University.
The SDSU Bison CIG project will be a “community practice,” Short said.