The Kentucky Department of Parks is accepting bids on six bison at Big Bone Lick State Historic Site in Union, Ky. Bison Coordinator Paul Simpson says Prairie Bison are as much a symbol of the United States as the Bald Eagle and was named the national land mammal in 2016.
“Bison have been part of the valley for the last 10,000 years,” Simpson said. Until hunted to near extinction--the last wild bison spotted was around 1800. The park’s herd is an effort to reestablish the animals at Big Bone Lick.
The bison are considered “a living link to the ice age, which is one of the areas of time that we focus on.” Said Simpson. “We have a lot of megafauna activity, whether it be the Mastodon the Mammoth, the Ground Sloth that is now extinct--but the descendants of the Bison, the Bison antiques, is what we keep on the park as that living link.”
The park has an exhibition license through the U.S. Department of Agriculture that attracts about 300 visitors a day between April and August, to see the bison. The conservation plan allows for 10-15 animals for the 24 acres set aside for the bison.
“So, each year we need to make room for our new calves and also for genetic purposes we try to diversify the herd.” Simpson said one method is by culling, or selling part of the herd.
Because of the commercial use of bison the recovery is estimated at between four and five hundred thousand animals, only one percent o the 40 to 60 million that once existed according to Simpson. The park will be auctioning bison in three groups of two.
The remaining bison can be seen “from dawn to dusk, 365 days a year” for free, said Simpson.
The animals, which can weigh up to 2,000lbs, are migratory and once performed a key role in ecosystems by tearing up vegetation to allow new plants to grow.
The three pastures set aside for the bison are seeded with native grasses. “One pasture is designated just for warm season prairie grasses, which is more of native grasses that bison would have had 200 or 300 years ago in America.” Simpson explained, “As a matter of fact, last year we started a three year program on one of our pastures […] to reintroduce prairie grasses and some legumes.”
Other pastures have cool season grasses, like clover. Simpson said these grasses grow quickly and can be annual or perennial varieties.
But it’s “the Big Bluestem Indian-Grassgrasses that Bison thrive on,” said Simpson.
It can takes as long as three years for the pasture to be completely established, he explained. “We are very proud of our conservation program and probably at the end of our three years we will have double our exhibition area and people can actually come to not just see the bison but to see the plants that would have existed here two to three hundred years ago.”
Up for bid are three calves, a bull and two heifers. Simpson sid market values vary between $1200 and $2000 per animal. The department is accepting sealed bids through Feb. 19.
Bids must include your name, address and daytime telephone number. A $100 deposit is required with all bids (check or money order); the deposit will be returned to all non-winning bidders. Checks should be made out to Big Bone Lick State Historic Site.
For questions and plans to see the bison, contact Paul Simpson at the park in Boone County: paul.simpson@ky.gov
