Published June 6, 2026 03:05AM<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Tall grasses blow in the gentle breeze, and the sounds of hooves pat the prairie below. A few small snorts escape the bison\u2019s noses, evaporating into the chilly air. The herd\u2019s youngest member, hardly a month old, frolics in the grasslands.<\/p>\n
This isn\u2019t Yellowstone. Or the Badlands. This growing herd makes itself at home on Burlington Prairie, a forest preserve 60 miles northwest of Chicago. Absent from these Native\u00a0lands for over 200 years, this little herd is bringing the prairie back to the Prairie State.<\/p>\n
Nearly 4.7 million visitors flock to Yellowstone National Park each year to catch a glimpse of the resident bison herd, which fluctates between 3,000 and 6,000 individuals. The Burlington Prairie herd is comparatively small, at just seven members, but the chance to see bison in their native\u00a0habitat, without mass crowds, makes this homecoming even more special.<\/p>\n
An Ancestral Return<\/h2>\n
Six bison tentatively walked off a trailer onto the snowy Burlington prairie on Dec 5, 2025, into their new fenced enclosure. With 38 acres to roam, Forest Preserve District\u00a0and American Indian Center of Chicago<\/a> (AIC) representatives welcomed them to their new home.<\/p>\n \u201cMost Indigenous people live far from reservation land,\u201d said Jessica Pamonicutt (Menominee),\u00a0president of the AIC, told Outside<\/em>.\u00a0 \u201cHaving the bison on the prairie is a way for us to connect with that piece of our indigeneity that\u2019s nearby. Urban Natives have a chance to understand this animal relative of ours and its significance in Indigenous history.\u201d<\/p>\n The initiative started as purely ecological, spearheaded by the Forest Preserve District\u00a0<\/strong>of Kane County\u2019s Executive Director Benjamin Haberthur and District Natural Resource Management Director Patrick Chess. Ecstatic about bringing bison back to the prairies, they knew there was a bigger story to tell once they dug deeper into the restoration project.<\/p>\n \u201cThe story of the bison is the story of the Indigenous people,\u201d Chess told Outside<\/em>. The team set out to find an Indigenous partner, one that could bring the project to a deeper level. Things moved fast from there\u2014AIC was the perfect partner because of its role within Indigenous communities and their connection to the land, and within months, the organizations began rolling out their plan to give bison a home on the prairie.<\/p>\n The project is a three-way partnership. The Forest Preserve District of Kane County owns the land, AIC stewards the bison, and Ruhter Bison, a local business with bison experience, manages the herd day-to-day.<\/p>\n The decline of bison tells a history of westward expansion and European colonization. In the 1800s, 30-60 million bison roamed across the Great Plains, the vast expanse of flat grassland that stretches from the Rocky Mountains to the Mississippi River. As colonizers moved west, they slaughtered bison in mass numbers. Indigenous cultures had long lived in tandem with the bison, and their near-extinction meant Native nations also faced displacement and extinction of Indigenous foodways.<\/p>\n Bringing bison back to the Prairie State in a meaningful way is a powerful chapter in the Midwest\u2019s history. These six bison come from an Illinois herd\u00a0whose heritage\u00a0traces back to the last remaining bison on the Great Plains.<\/p>\n \u201cOur ultimate goal is to let the bison be bison. As a keystone species, they and the prairie go hand in hand\u2014one doesn\u2019t exist without the other,\u201d Pamonicutt said.<\/p>\n While there are two additional places to view bison in Kane County,\u00a0<\/strong>Burlington Prairie Forest Preserve is unique because of its tallgrass prairie. The preserve in rural Burlington provided everything the team needed.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have bison on the prairie, rather than on a paddock,\u201d Haberthur said. \u201cIt\u2019s open to the public in a multi-purpose facility. The whole effort is publicly accessible.\u201d<\/p>\n The project is a one <\/b>\u00a0one, considering the Forest Preserve is a public, tax-based entity. Public spaces mean public access, and as of May, anyone can visit the bison, <\/strong>and observe them\u00a0from a respectful distance behind a fence.<\/p>\n Pamonicutt said the partnership with Kane County is represents a rekindling of people\u2019s relationship to their land.\u00a0\u201cThey have made sure our community is the priority when it comes to this herd, and respect our wishes in the way we want to do things with the bison.\u201d<\/p>\n Illinois, the Prairie State, as once almost entirely covered in prairie grasses. A drive through even the most rural parts of Illinois confirms\u00a0that\u2019s no longer the case, with less than one-tenth of one percent of prairie remaining.<\/p>\n The nature preserve is home to sedge meadow, wet prairie communities, mesic prairie, and cattail marsh, and over 215 native species. The Kane County Forest Preserve team surveyed the soil and ecological health of the area before reintroducing the bison. The team is waiting a full season to gather reliable scientific data on the project.<\/p>\n Anecdotally, the team is already noticing a positive impact. They\u2019ve noted that grassland birds are using\u00a0the shorter grazed grasses and are paying close attention to any new birdsong.<\/p>\n The bison\u2019s ecological significance to the area is also huge. Their grazing helps maintain healthy grasslands and potentially increases native wildflowers. They also dig into the earth with their horns and roll around in the dirt, creating bison wallows. These small depressions hold water, creating microhabitats for insects and other wildlife, and in turn, attracting more birdlife.<\/p>\n Bison have an extremely positive effect on their ecosystems. Their dung is full of nutrients for the soil, fertilizing and attracting beneficial insects as they go. Selective grazing is another benefit\u2014their patterns create mosaics in the landscape, allowing the prairie to grow and regenerate at different rates.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re trying to do this with minimal intervention, but also want to make sure we learn about our herd, their habits, and observe how they change the prairie,\u201d said Pamonicutt.<\/p>\n Many in the community say they are ecstatic about their new neighbors, and the area is experiencing unprecedented visitor numbers, many from out of the area.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve noticed that for out-of-towners, seeing the bison seems really personal,\u201d Michelle Blackburn, agricultural coordinator for the county, told Outside<\/em>. \u201cYou\u2019re visiting a beautiful vista, there are rolling hills and different landscape features that are so attractive when you visit these bison. It\u2019s special.\u201d<\/p>\n She also chuckled at the public\u2019s reactions to the size of the bison. \u201cThey comment on how they must be a mini-herd. They\u2019re not; they\u2019re just young. They\u2019ll grow.\u201d<\/p>\n While the preserve currently has equestrian trails, plans are underway\u00a0to expand the trail system, allowing a closer connection to the prairie.<\/p>\n The herd\u2019s already grown since its introduction six months ago. On May 9, a surprise graced the prairie: a baby bison was born. The team hopes for more calves in the coming seasons and plans to expand the herd by introducing more\u00a0bison this fall.<\/p>\n Those involved with the project say they will expand the enclosure by 30 percent, reaching 90 acres altogether. Chess added, \u201cThe ideal end goal is 150 acres fenced for the bison, getting up to 25-30 in the coming phases.\u201d<\/p>\n AIC is working on a community science program to teach the public about the bison and their relevance to Indigenous history. Pamonicutt\u00a0says connecting Indigenous communities, especially younger generations, with the bison is key.<\/p>\n \u201cYou connect bison to being Native. No matter where you\u2019re from, what tribe you\u2019re from, you can identify by bison.\u201d<\/p>\n For Pamonicutt, the true marker of the project\u2019s future lies in its sustainability. \u201cRestoration of the prairie is the ultimate success. We plan to increase the herd, diversify the DNA, build a community science program, and ideally acquire more land for them to roam.\u201d<\/p>\n As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary,\u00a0<\/strong>this project offers a framework for what the next 250 years could look like: collaboration, ecological healing, and Indigenous land stewardship. Out on Burlington Prairie, the young herd isn\u2019t just grazing. Step by step, wallow by wallow, they are quite literally reshaping the future of the Prairie State.<\/p>\n Burlington Prairie sits in the northwest corner of Burlington Township, a small rural community about 60 miles northwest, or an hour\u2019s drive, from the heart of Chicago. Parking is available on-site. Check the Forest Preserve\u2019s website<\/a> for track closures due to wet or snowy weather. There are three short trails in the reserve, but visitors can link the Wild Turkey Loop with the Horned Lark Loop for three\u00a0miles of easy walking through tallgrass prairie.<\/p>\n Visitors keen to see more of Kane County can cycle or walk the Fox River Trail<\/a>, a 32-mile track following the Fox River. Running from the Chicago suburb of\u00a0Algonquin to North Aurora, the meandering path winds through towns and public parks. Cross-country skiing is possible in the winter, too.<\/p>\n Ashlyn Oswalt is a New Zealand-based writer who grew up near the Burlington Prairie. Her adventures are typically on foot\u00a0or in a 4WD, and almost always result in a wildlife-centric hike. Her stories have appeared in <\/em>Lonely Planet, <\/em>NZ Herald, <\/em>Stuff, and more.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\nGhost Herd of the Great Plains<\/h2>\n
Free to Roam<\/h2>\n
Wallows, Wildflowers, and Birdsong<\/h2>\n
Visiting the Herd<\/h2>\n
![\"Yellowstone](\"https:\/\/cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/GettyImages-2277153624-scaled.jpg?width=3840&auto=webp&quality=75&fit=cover\"\/)
A Baby Bison Was Born<\/h2>\n
![\"Baby](\"https:\/\/cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/BisonMomAndBaby2-LM-scaled.jpg?width=3840&auto=webp&quality=75&fit=cover\"\/)
How to Visit Burlington Prairie<\/h2>\n