LUVERNE, Minn. — Oct. 27, 2026 (Minnesota Nice News)
Out on the Montana plains, a free-roaming bison herd just passed 1,000 animals for the first time. Back home, Minnesota bison have been staging a quieter comeback in a handful of prairie parks, one shaggy calf at a time.
The conservation nonprofit American Prairie now counts 1,016 bison on its Montana reserve, Good News Network reported Oct. 16. Organizers believe a herd of 5,000 is within reach, and that with more room the prairie could support tens of thousands.
That is a lot of hamburger-shaped good news. Here is how the bison bounce-back is playing out in Minnesota.
The Montana milestone
American Prairie calls itself the largest private conservation project in the country. Its reserve spans more than 603,000 acres, with a long-term goal of 3.2 million acres of connected prairie, Impactful Ninja reports.
Passing 1,000 bison is a milestone for an animal that once covered the Great Plains. The group’s grazing on some public land is being sorted out in federal court, where a judge temporarily blocked an order requiring its bison to be removed from those allotments, according to Good News Network.
Minnesota’s own bison herd
Minnesota has been rebuilding its bison numbers since 2012, when the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and the Minnesota Zoo teamed up to start the Minnesota Bison Conservation Herd, KEYC reports.
The herd now totals about 150 bison spread across four sites, according to KEYC. The long-term goal is 500 animals statewide, the DNR says.
Here is where you can find them, according to the DNR:
- Blue Mounds State Park: about 80 to 90 bison on roughly 530 acres. This herd started in 1961 with two bulls and a cow.
- Minneopa State Park: about 30 to 40 bison on about 325 acres.
- Minnesota Zoo: 12 to 15 bison on six acres.
- Spring Lake Park Reserve: six bison on 160 acres, brought back in spring 2023.
Camden State Park near Marshall is planned as a future home for the herd, no earlier than fall 2029, the DNR says.
From nine bison to a growing herd at Minneopa
Minneopa State Park near Mankato joined the program in 2015 with nine bison and had 28 by this summer, KEYC reported in June.
“It’s been really kind of wildly popular,” said Molly Tranel Nelson, a resource management program supervisor for the DNR in southern Minnesota. She said both park visitors and partner groups have been eager to bring back a native grazer to the prairie.
The bison are also helping restore the land itself. Crews are working to open the park’s trees back up to the way the prairie used to look, Tranel Nelson told KEYC. “It’s really a step back in time,” she said.
Sharing bison across the country
Minnesota’s bison travel, too. Each fall, yearlings and some other bison are moved between sites or to partner herds to keep the herd’s genetics healthy, KEYC reports. Partners include the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Park Service, tribal partners and the Minnesota Bison Collaborative.
Those genetics are in good shape. Annual testing finds the herd carries about 2% cattle DNA, which the DNR says makes it highly diverse and similar to historic wild herds. All modern bison carry some cattle DNA, the DNR notes.
Why every bison counts
There are about 370,000 bison in North America today, but only about 31,000 live in conservation herds, according to the DNR. Most of the rest are raised as livestock.
That makes every conservation herd, from a reserve in Montana to a state park in southwestern Minnesota, part of the same big comeback. Pretty good for an animal that was nearly lost.
See them for yourself
The Minneopa bison trail was open daily except Wednesdays from 9 a.m. to 8:30 p.m, with a $7 park fee, KEYC reported.
Blue Mounds State Park near Luverne is home to the oldest of the state’s bison herds. Bring binoculars, stay in your car or on the trail and give them plenty of room. A bison is roughly the size of a small pontoon and about as easy to argue with.
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EDITOR’S NOTE:
Sources
Montana
Good News Network, Largest Private Conservation Project in the US Hits Major Milestone as Free-Roaming Bison Pass 1,000 American Prairie’s 1,016 bison, the 5,000 goal and the federal court ruling.
Impactful Ninja, How a Private Conservation Project Grew Its Bison Herd Past 1,000 the 603,000-acre reserve and the 3.2 million-acre goal.
Minnesota
KEYC, Minneopa State Park reports rising bison population after decade of conservation work the 2012 start, about 150 bison at four sites, Minneopa’s nine to 28 bison, fall transfers and partners, trail hours and fee and the Tranel Nelson quotes.
Minnesota DNR, Minnesota’s Bison Conservation Herd the 500-bison goal, herd sizes and acreage at each site, Blue Mounds’ 1961 start, the Camden State Park plan, 2% cattle DNA and North American bison numbers.
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