#national bison range

[techdriveplay]

14 Detour-Worthy Things to Do in Montana on a Road Trip

Montana might not be the first state that comes to mind when considering an epic American road trip, but this huge state should be on your travel radar. Having visited over 65 countries, I often say Mongolia is my favorite. Swap the nomadic tribes with cowboys and the sheep for bison, and Montana’s grassland steppe is the closest you’ll find to one of the least visited places in the…

[christophersirgo]

2023-07-29 - Bison

[sabistarphotos]

April 16, 2022

Smithsonian National Zoological Park

Washington, DC

[rabbitcruiser]

World Animal Day

World Animal Day is an annual celebration observed on October 4th of each year. The commemoration of the day is to raise the status of animals and to improve their welfare standards from around the globe. It is an international day for the animal rights and welfare. World Animal Day remembers and pays tribute to all animals and the people who love, care and respect them.

“If we’re destroying our trees and destroying our environment and hurting animals and hurting one another and all that stuff, there’s got to be a very powerful energy to fight that. I think we need more love in the world. We need more kindness, more compassion, more joy, more laughter. I definitely want to contribute to that.” – Ellen DeGeneres

History of World Animal Day

Heinrich Zimmermann first celebrated World Animal Day in the year 1931. The celebration of the day remembers the important role played by the animals in the world and the people who dedicate their lives solely to work for protecting and caring for those animals. The mission of the World Animal Day is to raise the status of animals. It also focuses on improving their welfare standards globally. The celebration the day make the world a better place for all animals by uniting the animal welfare movement and mobilizing it into a global force. Irrespective of nationality, religion, faith or political ideology, World Animal Day is celebrated in different ways in every country.

With the increased awareness and education we can create the world where animals will be accepted as sentient beings. They will be regarded and given welfare. The World Animal Day focuses on drawing attention to the protecting natural habitats, endangered species, and supporting the animal welfare. The history of the World Animal Day date back to 1925. Heinrich Zimmermann, the German writer, and publisher of the magazine Mensch und Hund/Man and Dog originated the day. On March 24, 1925, he had organized the first World Animal Day at the Sports Palace in Berlin, Germany.

The event was originally scheduled on 4th October. It was the feast day of Saint Francis of Assisi, patron saint of ecology. But the venue was not available on that day and was held at Sports Palace. More than 5,000 people had attended this first event. For the first time in 1929, the event was moved to 4th October. Initially, Heinrich Zimmermann found a following only in Austria, Germany, Switzerland, and Czechoslovakia. The tireless work of Zimmermann each year made the promotion of World Animal Day. Finally, his proposal to make 4th October as the World Animal Day universal was unanimously accepted. It was adopted as a resolution on May 1931 at a congress of the International Animal Protection Congress in Florence Italy.

How to Celebrate World Animal Day

Celebrating World Animal Day can be done in many unusual ways. Indulge yourself in protecting and saving the animals. Bring awareness to the people about how to protect animals. Eat vegetarian foods and don’t buy products made from animals and tested on animals.

Source

[thorsenmark]

Standing in the Middle of the Road and Soaking in the Views of Bison Peak and Spreading Peak (Icefields Parkway) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: I'm sure I've had many a chances to take in this view during my visits to the Icefields Parkway over the years. On this Sunday morning, there was a few cars out so at times I had the road to myself. Here I had plenty of time to compose the image, capturing not just the road going off into the distance but also attempting to fill the mountainsides off in the distance as completely as possible. At times that day, the skies would open up and add to the view with beautiful blues skies and clouds.

[warriorgentleman]

[rebeccathenaturalist]

The American bison (Bison bison), once numbering 60 million strong, was very nearly wiped out by disease and hunting in the late 1800s, and by 1889 fewer than 550 individuals remained. Their native range, which once stretched from Alaska to the Gulf of Mexico, west to Oregon and east just shy of the Atlantic, was reduced to a few pockets here and there. This was a deliberate move on the part of both the U.S. government and the railroad companies to disempower Native American communities on the Great Plains, as the bison was the backbone of their food security as well as being culturally important.

The past couple of decades have seen an increase in bison herds being managed by indigenous people. While the Yakama Nation, based in Washington, was not one of the Great Plains communities, they would travel to where these animals could be found in great herds to hunt them and bring them home. They also received bison from other indigenous communities as part of massive trade networks spanning across the continent.

The Yakama have maintained a herd of bison since 1991, and a couple of years ago they added over two dozen bison from the Yellowstone herd, which lacks the large infusion of cattle genes most other surviving bison have. This crossbreeding will strengthen the Yakama herd's genetic diversity. And it helps the Yakama themselves maintain healthier diets based on leaner bison meat as opposed to beef.

We're a far cry from the 60 million bison that once roamed freely across the continent. But the Yakama's bison herd is just one example of where indigenous management of the land and its wildlife is making changes for the better.

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this press release from the Department of the Interior:

The Department of the Interior’s U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Parks Canada, Environment and Climate Change Canada and Mexico's Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources recently signed a new agreement to strengthen cooperation and coordination for the conservation of the American bison across its range in North America. Through a Letter of Intent, the countries will work to pursue bison conservation, restore ecological processes, and support traditional human use of natural resources with a particular focus on the unique historical connection between bison and Indigenous peoples.  

This Letter of Intent was worked on at the recent Canada/Mexico/United States Trilateral Committee for Wildlife and Ecosystem Conservation and Management held in San Diego, California and outlines additional collaboration across national borders towards the United States, Mexico and Canada’s shared goal of domestic bison conservation. The Trilateral Committee began in 1996 as a pioneering initiative among the three countries to align efforts safeguarding North America’s wildlife and ecosystems. The committee’s Species of Concern Working Table brings together state, federal and Tribal resource managers and non-governmental organizations to share their expertise and coordinate conservation of species that span the continent.   

The recently signed Letter of Intent outlines the various ways that the three North American nations will work together, including by:  

Improving collaboration on regional activities to promote policies, practices and effective methods in support of the ecocultural conservation of bison; 

Promoting joint work plans within the Trilateral Committee’s Species of Common Conservation Concern working table; 

Fostering transparency about the technical information that is developed jointly; and 

Streamlining reporting on activities conducted under the Letter of Intent with the Executive Table of the Trilateral Committee for its review.

These international efforts will continue to build on the Interior Department’s domestic bison restoration efforts, including the Grasslands Keystone Initiative. In 2023, Secretary Haaland issued a Secretary's Order and announced a $25 million investment to empower the Department’s bureaus and partners to use the best available science and Indigenous Knowledge to help restore bison across the country. The Order formally established a Bison Working Group (BWG) composed of representation from the five bureaus with bison equities: the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, and U.S. Geological Survey. The BWG is developing a Bison Shared Stewardship Plan, which will establish a comprehensive framework for American bison restoration, including strengthening long-term bison conservation partnerships. Central to the development of that plan will be robust engagement with Tribes, including prioritizing Tribally led opportunities to establish new large herds owned or managed by Tribes and Tribally led organizations.   

The American bison once thrived across the largest original distribution of any native large herbivore in North America, ranging from desert grasslands in northern regions of Mexico to interior Alaska. After North America’s European settlement, bison populations were reduced from an estimated 60 to 80 million to a mere 1,000 animals. These surviving bison were saved from extinction and became the founders of several protected populations that put the species on a path of recovery and conservation.  

Today, bison remain absent from nearly 99 percent of their historic range. Most of the bison in North America are in herds that are constrained by fences, isolated from each other, and have fewer than 1,000 individuals, raising concerns about their genetic integrity, wildness and long-term viability of the species.   

Approximately 31,000 bison are currently being stewarded by the United States, Canada and Mexico with the goal of conserving the species and their role in the function of native grassland systems, as well as their place in Indigenous culture.  

[xtruss]

Native Tribe To Get Back Land 160 Years After Largest Mass Hanging In US History

Upper Sioux Agency state park in Minnesota, where bodies of those killed after US-Dakota war are buried, to be transferred

— Associated Press | Sunday 3 September, 2023

The Upper Sioux Agency State Park near Granite Falls, Minnesota. Photograph: Trisha Ahmed/AP

Golden prairies and winding rivers of a Minnesota state park also hold the secret burial sites of Dakota people who died as the United States failed to fulfill treaties with Native Americans more than a century ago. Now their descendants are getting the land back.

The state is taking the rare step of transferring the park with a fraught history back to a Dakota tribe, trying to make amends for events that led to a war and the largest mass hanging in US history.

“It’s a place of holocaust. Our people starved to death there,” said Kevin Jensvold, chairman of the Upper Sioux Community, a small tribe with about 550 members just outside the park.

The Upper Sioux Agency state park in south-western Minnesota spans a little more than 2 sq miles (about 5 sq km) and includes the ruins of a federal complex where officers withheld supplies from Dakota people, leading to starvation and deaths.

Decades of tension exploded into the US-Dakota war of 1862 between settler-colonists and a faction of Dakota people, according to the Minnesota Historical Society. After the US won the war, the government hanged more people than in any other execution in the nation. A memorial honors the 38 Dakota men killed in Mankato, 110 miles (177km) from the park.

Jensvold said he has spent 18 years asking the state to return the park to his tribe. He began when a tribal elder told him it was unjust Dakota people at the time needed to pay a state fee for each visit to the graves of their ancestors there.

Native American tribe in Maine buys back Island taken 160 years ago! The Passamaquoddy’s purchase of Pine Island for $355,000 is the latest in a series of successful ‘land back’ campaigns for indigenous people in the US. Pine Island. Photograph: Courtesy the writer, Alice Hutton. Friday 4 June, 2021

Lawmakers finally authorized the transfer this year when Democrats took control of the house, senate and governor’s office for the first time in nearly a decade, said State Senator Mary Kunesh, a Democrat and descendant of the Standing Rock Nation.

Tribes speaking out about injustices have helped more people understand how lands were taken and treaties were often not upheld, Kunesh said, adding that people seem more interested now in “doing the right thing and getting lands back to tribes”.

But the transfer also would mean fewer tourists and less money for the nearby town of Granite Falls, said Mayor Dave Smiglewski. He and other opponents say recreational land and historic sites should be publicly owned, not given to a few people, though lawmakers set aside funding for the state to buy land to replace losses in the transfer.

The park is dotted with hiking trails, campsites, picnic tables, fishing access, snowmobiling and horseback riding routes and tall grasses with wildflowers that dance in hot summer winds.

“People that want to make things right with history’s injustices are compelled often to support action like this without thinking about other ramifications,” Smiglewski said. “A number, if not a majority, of state parks have similar sacred meaning to Indigenous tribes. So where would it stop?”

In recent years, some tribes in the US, Canada and Australia have gotten their rights to ancestral lands restored with the growth of the Land Back movement, which seeks to return lands to Indigenous people.

‘It’s a powerful feeling’: the Indigenous American tribe helping to bring back buffalo 🦬! Matt Krupnick in Wolakota Buffalo Range, South Dakota. Sunday 20 February, 2022. The Wolakota Buffalo Range in South Dakota has swelled to 750 bison with a goal of reaching 1,200. Photograph: Matt Krupnick

A National Park has never been transferred from the US government to a tribal nation, but a handful are Co-managed with Tribes, including Grand Portage National Nonument in northern Minnesota, Canyon de Chelly National Monument in Arizona and Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska, Jenny Anzelmo-Sarles of the National Park Service said.

This will be the first time Minnesota transfers a state park to a Native American community, said Ann Pierce, director of Minnesota State Parks and trails at the natural resources department.

Minnesota’s transfer, expected to take years to finish, is tucked into several large bills covering several issues. The bills allocate more than $6m to facilitate the transfer by 2033. The money can be used to buy land with recreational opportunities and pay for appraisals, road and bridge demolition and other engineering.

Chris Swedzinski and Gary Dahms, the Republican lawmakers representing the portion of the state encompassing the park, declined through their aides to comment about their stances on the transfer.

— The Guardian USA

[sitting-on-me-bum]

“Snow bison”

Location: Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, USA

“Max Waugh catches sight of a plains bison kicking up flurries of snow over its bulky frame.

From his vehicle, Max saw the bison start to head downhill towards the road, gathering momentum, and he drew up to give them space to cross. Max framed the bison tightly to create this original composition. Once abundant and wide-ranging across most of North America, bison were hunted to near extinction by the late 1800s. Numbers are slowly increasing, but they are confined to discrete populations, dependent on conservation management and constrained by land-use changes and land ownership.”

by Max Waugh, USA.

Wildlife Photographer Of The Year 2023

[flameo-fanfic]

Ripples of Destiny

Book 1 : Chapter 1 The Boy in the Iceberg

The south sun was rising on the snow-smattered ice and I was once again taking in the view, longing for the days when the rays had shone through vibrant leaves, for the days when my mother would call to me over the rushing river bends and my father would guide me home. The days are long here, and so are the nights, and they’re both just as cold. It has been just shy of three years of living in the Southern Water Tribe and I’m still getting used to the chill.

The voices of the village waking up filled the early air, gentle like the dawning light. Katara and Sokka were already out fishing for food. Knowing their bickering antics, it would take longer than intended, so here I sat in my own peace, awaiting their return so that I could begin feeding the many women and children who were also left behind by the warriors of the tribe. I spent many mornings like this, alone in my memories. Then, everything changed when a beam of light etched through the horizon, breaking my trance.

I wouldn’t have been surprised if the Northern Water Tribe saw that blast of light. The village was worried, we didn’t know what it was. Gran-Gran found me in her concern that Sokka and Katara weren’t back yet, so we waited agreeing if they weren’t back by nightfall that I would go out looking for them. When the siblings finally returned, our concerns ebbed as our questions were answered. It was an airbender.

“He was stuck in the ice?” I questioned my friends as we helped the unconscious boy take a rest in one of the extra tents.

“Isn’t it amazing? An airbender! Maybe he can teach us, Kaida.” Katara beamed almost as bright as that unnatural light at the thought of finally having a master. I had to admit, this was an exciting discovery and it would be nice to have a bending master fall right into our laps, but I couldn’t help but to be a little suspicious considering he bursted out of an iceberg.

“Let’s get to know him a little bit first, yeah Katara?” She didn’t seem to let my tepid response affect her mood. She’s always been a stubborn optimist.

We waited for the boy from the iceberg to wake up, and when he finally did we had all gathered around to meet him. I was actually quite nervous. I’ve always respected the air nomads, at least from what I heard of them through stories, but I never thought I’d get the chance to meet one.

“Aang, this is the entire village.” Katara gestured to our remaining people. “Entire village, this is Aang.” Everyone but me had cowered a bit, not being used to meeting outsiders, let alone one that was thought to have been extinct. A pang rang in my heart as I remembered the day I arrived at the Southern Water Tribe and how hesitant everyone was to accept me, so I decided to respond with my own bow of respect for our new guest.

“Uh, why are they looking at me like that? Did Appa sneeze on me?” He was checking his clothes for bison snot when Gran-Gran stepped forward.

“Well, no one has seen an airbender in a hundred years. We thought they were extinct, until my granddaughter and grandson found you.”

“Extinct?” Aang exclaimed. I couldn’t help but think this was a strange reaction considering the general knowledge was that the air nomads had been murdered by the fire nation, but I decided to keep my questions to myself.

“Aang, this is my grandmother.” Katara gestured towards the elderly woman, ignoring his shock.

“Call me Gran-Gran.” The interaction was deadpan.

Sokka walked toward Aang and abruptly snatched his staff out of his hands, examining it.

“What is this, a weapon? You can't stab anything with this!”

“It's not for stabbing! It's for airbending.” Aang snatched his staff back with a gentle gust of wind before revealing the red fans hidden within the staff.

“Wow…” I said, amazed and waiting to witness more.

“Magic trick! Do it again!” The little ones were just as excited as I was, they only expressed it more outwardly.

“Not magic, airbending.” He moved his glider around him, visually demonstrating what he was talking about. “It lets me control the air currents around my glider and fly.”

“Ya know, last time I checked, humans can't fly!”

This comment had me jabbing my elbow into Sokka’s ribs, earning me a baffled look. Aang smiled before challenging Sokka. “Check again!”

Aang grabbed hold of his glider and pushed himself off the ground, leaving Katara, Sokka, and me to cover our faces against the sudden wind. The village stared in awe as Aang made some loops and turns in the sky.

“He’s flying!” Aang made another loop and sped up to soar past the gazing villagers. “It’s amazing!”

Aang's shadow passed over Katara and I, who were smiling at him. Aang, intending to further impress the villagers, flew sideways and closed his eyes while grinning broadly. He promptly flew head-on into the village's watchtower, causing his head to be stuck in its side. Katara covered her mouth as she watched Aang struggle to extricate his head from the icy watchtower. Succeeding, he tumbled downward onto a pile of snow at the base of the tower that crumbled from the building. Katara immediately rushed to his side while Sokka stared in shock at the damage inflicted on his watchtower. “My watchtower!”

Aang lay covered in snow at the base of the partially collapsed tower. Katara and some other girls of the tribe, including myself, ran toward Aang, beaming.

Offering her hand to pull him out of the snow, Katara announced, “That was amazing!”

Sokka ran to his watchtower in an attempt to keep it from being damaged anymore, but ended up getting a huge glob of snow on top of his head.

“Great. You're an airbender, Katara and Kaida are waterbenders. Together you can just waste time all day long.” He wedged himself free from underneath the weight of the snow and stalked off muttering to himself.

Aang whipped his head towards Katara and me, “You’re waterbenders?”

“Well, sort of. Not yet.” Katara sideways glanced at me in what seemed to be embarrassment.

“We still have a lot to learn.” I said.

“All right, no more playing. Come on, Katara, you have chores.” Gran-Gran disrupted the excitement by leading Katara away from Aang and I. The rest of the villagers let them pass but formed a crowd around Aang almost immediately to study him.

Aang started showing off some tricks again before licking his staff, his tongue freezing to the wood. “See? Now my tongue is stuck to my staff!” One of the younger boys started yanking the staff trying to unstick Aang’s tongue from the wood. I couldn’t help but giggle at how silly the interaction was.

Eventually we dispersed, I left Aang to have fun with the villagers as I got to work doing my own chores alongside Katara. As I was bending the excess water out of the laundry I was washing, I overheard Aang ask Sokka and Katara a jarring question.

“What war? What are you talking about?”

“You're kidding, right?”

I stood up and walked towards the group as I began to ask “What do you mean what wa-“ I was cut off by Aang screeching at the sight of an otter-penguin in the distance, and he left my words in the wind behind his back. “Penguin!”

Sokka glanced at Katara and me with an annoyed, dumbfounded look. “He’s kidding, right?” Katara and I began our trek as we attempted to find the exuberant airbender. “We might have to put a bell on that kid.” I said before I began to jog in Aang’s general direction.

“Aang?” We found him in a field full of otter-penguins, chasing the cute animals over the dunes of snow. “Hey, come on little guy. Wanna go sledding?” Aang begs as he jumped on one of the penguins with little to no luck. He belly-flopped on the ice with a grunt before airbending himself back onto his feet to face us. “Heh heh. I have a way with animals.” Aang stretched his arms wide and imitated the sound and movements of the otter-penguins, making Katara and I both laugh.

“Impressive tactics.” I let out a sarcastic tease amid my giggles.

“Hehehe, Aang, I'll help you catch a penguin if you teach me and Kaida waterbending.”

Aang released the tail of a penguin that he had attempted to capture before responding to Katara’s request “You got a deal! Just one little problem ... I'm an airbender, not a waterbender. Isn't there someone in your tribe who can teach you?”

I looked over at Katara sympathetically “No. You're looking at the only waterbenders in the whole South Pole.” She said sadly, looking at her feet. “Kaida is the only one who has been able to teach me, but she hasn’t mastered waterbending, either.”

“This isn't right. A waterbender needs to master water.” He paused, and I knew what he was about to say. “What about the North Pole? There's another Water Tribe up there, right? Maybe they have waterbenders who could teach you.”

“Maybe, but we haven't had contact with our sister tribe in a long time. It's not exactly "turn right at the second glacier". It's on the other side of the world.” It was Katara’s turn to look at me with an understanding look. We’ve all lost people to the war, and it was easy to recognize it in others, even if we were only children.

“But you forget, I have a flying bison. Appa and I can personally fly you to the North Pole. Katara, Kaida, we're going to find you a master!”

Aang’s appearance in our humble lives here in the South Pole may have been a blessing. For once in my sixteen years in this world, hope was the strongest feeling in my heart. I had been yearning to go to the North Pole my entire life, yearning to learn more about my mother’s childhood, my mother’s family, and why she left home. “That’s a great idea, Aang!” I blurt out in a blitz of excitement, earning a smile from Aang.

“That's... I mean, I don't know. I've never left home before.” Katara spoke up timidly.

“Well, you think about it, but in the meantime, can you guys teach me to catch one of these penguins?”

Katara gave me a final look of consideration before turning back to Aang “Okay, listen closely my young pupil. Catching penguins is an ancient and sacred art.” She summoned a hidden fish out of her sleeve. “Observe!”

Katara threw the fish into Aang’s grasp and he stood uncomprehending as the penguins crowded him in a flurry of desire for the fresh treat in his hands.

Soon enough we were all mounted on our new rides at the top of an iceberg that we were using as a makeshift slide. The air was whipping past my ears as Katara, Aang, and I soared through the air before once again meeting solid snow. We raced down the steep slope and Aang used another iceberg as a ramp to propel him into the air, soaring over Katara and me. Our penguins bolted down the hill and we both turned onto the next iceberg, gaining a bit of speed and landing once again next to Aang as we all let out euphoric laughter.

“I haven't done this since I was a kid!” Katara gleefully shouted.

“You still are a kid,” Aang responded.

We all entered a tunnel of ice, Katara in the lead, constantly changing her direction to hold Aang and me back. Aang used his airbending to race over the ceiling past both of us, picking up the lead. There was no way Katara or I would catch up to him, so it was between us to take last place and Katara was still a bit ahead of me.

“If he can play dirty, so can I.” I thought to myself before waterbending a clump of snow into Katara’s face. My penguin flew past hers as she lost her ability to steer for a second, and I cackled in competitive pride as I watched Katara slow behind Aang and me in third place.

“That’s so unfair!” Katara lightheartedly scolded me while wiping snow off of her cheeks and waterbending her own ball of snow at me in protest of my cheating behavior. The ball had missed my face and hit my shoulder before I bantered with my friend and we used our bending to send more snow towards each other. A full-blown snowball fight would have ensued if Aang hadn’t interrupted us. “Whoa! What is that?”

Katara’s expression darkened, “A Fire Navy ship. And a very bad memory for my people.” Aang began to approach the wreckage. “Aang, stop! We're not allowed to go near it! The ship could be booby-trapped!”

“If you want to be a bender, you have to let go of fear.” I could see Katara taking his remark into consideration before stepping forward to join him. I reached out and grabbed her wrist. “Wait, Katara. This could be dangerous.” No matter how much fun I was having with my new airbending acquaintance and my best friend, I wasn’t certain venturing into an old Fire Navy ship was the best idea, and I didn’t want Katara to get hurt.

“It’ll be okay. You’re with me.” Katara gave me a gentle smile and squeezed my hand before I let go of her wrist.

“Fine. But no messing around in there, okay?” Katara and Aang nodded respectfully, agreeing to my conditions as we all slowly entered the old ship.

There was little life left in the abandoned vessel, only some small hamsters that I spotted scurrying against the edges of the walls. We soon entered a room stocked full of weapons. “This ship has haunted my tribe since Gran-Gran was a little girl.” Katara began as we spectated the weapons more closely. I picked up “It was part of the Fire Nation's first attacks.”

“Okay, back up. I have friends all over the world, even in the Fire Nation.” Aang picked up a guandao to inspect it. “I've never seen any war.”

This is the second time now Aang’s statements have confused me and I couldn’t help but feel a bit questioning of him.

“Aang, how long were you in that iceberg?” Katara asked what I was thinking.

“I don’t know. A few days, maybe?”

“I think it was more like a hundred years!”

“What?! That's impossible! Do I look like a hundred-twelve-year-old man to you?”

“No, Aang. Katara is right.”

“Think about it. The War is a century old. You don't know about it because, somehow, you were in there the whole time! It's the only explanation.” Aang’s expression was dooming as he slumped into the wall behind him.

“A hundred years! I can't believe it.” My heart broke slightly, looking down on this lost boy, one hundred years out of his time.

Katara, nurturing as she is, knelt down beside Aang. “I'm sorry, Aang. Maybe somehow there's a bright side to all this...”

“I did get to meet you.” Aang cheered up a bit, smiling warmly at Katara before averting his eyes towards me.

Katara offered him a warm smile of comfort. “Come on, let's get out of here.”

“Aang, let's head back, this place is creepy.”

“Agreed. This ship feels colder than it does out there.” I shivered, taking in my surroundings and rubbing my arms in an attempt for warmth. The metal walls felt empty and void of love, the complete opposite of the environment I was raised.

As we were heading towards the hole that we entered through, Aang tripped on an almost invisibly thin wire, causing metal bars to slam down and trap us inside.

“Huh?” Aang said as we all ran towards what would have been our exit. “What's that you said about booby traps?”

Just like Aang awakening from that iceberg, the gears of the shipwreck shifted to life. We all watched as the movements of the ship powered a flare high into the sky, exploding and alerting nearby inhabitants.

“Uh oh...” Aang looked up at a hole in the roof of the ship and took Katara in his arms. “Hold on tight!” Katara yelped as Aang hurled them upwards and out of the ship with his bending abilities before coming back for me. The shorter boy grabbed me by my waist in a flurry of incredible speed and suddenly I was being bolted out of the ship.

[thepastisalreadywritten]

Happy National Bison Day!

Bison and elk share winter ranges in the National Elk Refuge near Jackson, Wyoming, in this image from our archives.

4 November 2023

—

National Bison Day is an annual event that honors the American bison, also known as buffalo.

It highlights the cultural, historical, and ecological significance of these massive mammals in the United States and Canada.

The day encourages people to learn about bison, their role in indigenous cultures, and their vital contribution to the natural environment.

[christophersirgo]

2023-07-29 - National Bison Range, Moiese, Montana

[warcrimesimulator]

American badger (Taxidea taxus) mother playing with her kit. National Bison Range, Moise, Montana, USA.

Photo © Donald M. Jones / Minden / naturepl.com

[rabbitcruiser]

National Wildlife Day 

Visit a zoo or wildlife reserve, donate your time and money, spread awareness, and help save the numerous species of wildlife currently threatened or endangered.

Every year we lose numerous species to the growth and expansion of human holdings, but through the effort of zoos, sanctuaries, and preservation organizations that rate is being slowed. These groups do amazing work, educating and bringing awareness to people everywhere, all while preserving these precious treasures from Mother Nature. National Wildlife Day reminds us that there are creatures out there that cannot speak for themselves, so we have to stand up and be a voice for them. The animals will thank you for it, as will the generations to come who will still be able to enjoy them!

History of National Wildlife Day

In September of 2006, the world suffered a terrible loss. Steve Irwin, known colloquially as “The Crocodile Hunter”, died in an encounter with a sting ray that went horribly awry.

These normally docile and peaceful creatures pack a powerful punch in their tail, and instead of swimming away as Steve expected, it instead attacked him with its stinger. After hundreds of strikes, Steve believed he had sustained only a punctured lung, but the stinger had actually managed to pierce his heart causing him to bleed out. So passed an amazing man from the world.

What does this have to do with National Wildlife Day? Steve Irwin was an expert on animals, and spent much of his career working to bring attention to endangered species and aid conservation.

In his honor National Wildlife Day reminds us that the animals of the world are a precious resource, and of the many zoos, sanctuaries, conservatories, and organizations that work together every year to help preserve them for future generations.

If we don’t start taking care of them now, we’re going to lose them. Once an animal has gone extinct, they’re lost forever to future generations, it’s our responsibility not to let that happen.

How to celebrate National Wildlife Day

Thankfully there are plenty of options to help support endangered animals, and National Wildlife Day is a great opportunity to get out and do it! Almost every community has animal sanctuaries and zoos nearby, so take a trip with you, your family, and friends out to enjoy their exhibits.

While you’re there see what you can do to donate time and/or money, or even just spread the word about drives they’re doing. You can even contact them ahead of time and work to help them organize an event, you can even go to the local library to hand out flyers to spread awareness!

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[csny]

Hi do you know where I can go to see bison in the wild. You seem like you would know 🦬

most famous bison hotspot is yellowstone. there’s tons of them and it’s incredibly popular. you are certain to see dozens of bison if you visit yellowstone, but it’s also one of the busiest national parks. if you’re looking for a slightly more private bison exploration, another great place (that i actually prefer) is the bison range in the flathead reservation in montana. it’s a wonderful place and you can learn more about it here https://bisonrange.org/about/