Eastern Montana's population has been falling since the 1930s. Land is for sale as ranchers find that family members are not interested in taking over their spreads. The Nature Conservancy determined in 1999 that the northern Great Plains were the most viable for restoring the region's habitats and conserving existing diversity of plants and animals. Bison are a keystone species for the native shortgrass prairie habitat as their grazing pressure alters the food web and landscapes in ways that improve biodiversity. The American Prairie Foundation developed a 7-point scale to evaluate land based on ten ecological conditions including plant diversity, grazing, fire, hydrology and predators to measure the impact of reserve management activities., 30 ranches have been purchased from willing sellers and the organization wants to buy about 20 more. the Reserve area consisted of in northeastern Montana, about one-fourth owned and the remainder leased.
Controversies
The majority of the opposition to the American Prairie Reserve stems from ranchers in the area that intend to continue grazing cattle. Ranchers in the region have been invited to adhere to certain wildlife-friendly standards and market cattle as “Wild Sky Beef" at a premium. They have also formed the organization, Ranchers Stewardship Alliance of South Phillips County.
Organization
The American Prairie Foundation believes that, "By purchasing a relatively small number of acres from willing sellers in northeastern Montana, we hope to link together the millions of acres of public land already set aside for wildlife and visitor access in the region, thereby creating a seamless landscape reminiscent of that seen by Lewis and Clark." Approximately ten percent of the funding comes from private foundations supporting land conservation and the remaining ninety percent comes from individuals living in 46 different states and eight different countries. Approximately 20% of its donors reside in the state of Montana. As of December 2013, they had raised $67.3 million in cash and pledges since 2002. Major donors include Forrest Mars, Jr. and John Mars of the Mars family, Hansjoerg Wyss, and Susan Packard Orr. Current board members, Erivan and Helga Haub, Gib and Susan Myers and George and Susan Matelich, are also major donors.
