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Bison return to prairie near Sioux CitySIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP)--Bison returned to a native prairie north of Sioux City for the first time in more than a century. The Nature Conservancy trucked 28 bison from South Dakota to the nonprofit group's Broken Kettle Grassland Preserve Oct. 20. The group wants to restore bison to the tallgrass prairie where they once lived before being wiped out by hunting. The hope is the animals will diversify the prairie as they mill about, tearing up ground so native plants can take root. "They are proven restoration vehicles," said Nature Conservancy spokeswoman Elizabeth Niven. "They eat anything. They aren't picky." The grassland preserve is open to the public, and the conservancy plans to set up viewing areas along a road. The animals will initially be confined to a 200-acre area but soon will be moved to a 500-acre area and finally the preserve's full 3,000 acres. The 28 bison originally came from Wind Cave National Park near Rapid City, S.D., one of two herds in the nation that show no signs of genetic material from cattle. The Broken Kettle bison are made up of 16 cows, seven calves and five bulls. It will be among the largest public herds in Iowa. North America once had tens of millions of bison, but their populations plummeted in the 19th century as settlers moved West and hunted the animals for food. Later, hired guns such as Buffalo Bill Cody killed bison by the thousands--both for sport and to supply hides to growing domestic and European markets. By the 1880s, only about 500 bison were left. 11/24/08 Date: 11/19/08
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