On a brisk spring morning, a handful of visitors mosey in and out of Burlington Prairie Forest Preserve in far western Kane County.
Undeterred by the windy, somewhat cloudy conditions Friday, they’re here to see the preserve’s newest residents: a small herd of six bison.
And they’re in luck. With the sun peeking through the clouds over the prairie, the animals roamed their enclosure leisurely, some grazing a few yards from the fence behind which curious members of the public looked on and snapped photos.
As of Friday, the public can officially visit the small herd of bison that recently made their home in Kane County. The Kane County Forest Preserve District reopened the Burlington Prairie Forest Preserve’s gates May 1 following some renovations meant to better accommodate additional visitors to the site.
Burlington Prairie Forest Preserve lies on the border of Kane and DeKalb counties, 60 miles northwest of downtown Chicago. A portion of the preserve has never been broken by a plow, according to the Forest Preserve District.
In December, a small herd of six American buffalo were brought to Kane County, and now roam on more than 30 acres of prairie restored by the county’s Forest Preserve District.
The move is the result of a partnership between the Kane County Forest Preserve District and the American Indian Center of Chicago, which owns the animals in the collaborative conservation effort. The bison are cared for by Ruhter Bison, a family-owned business dedicated to the conservation of bison and tallgrass prairies.
In the months since the animals were reintroduced to the county, however, the gates to many of the county’s forest preserves — including Burlington Prairie — were closed for the winter.
The gates typically reopen on April 1, but Burlington’s reopening was delayed by a month this year for renovations meant to prepare the site for increased visitor traffic related to the bison making their home on the prairie again.
The improvements to the preserve include a new gravel parking area that can accommodate 41 vehicles and three school buses, and a split-rail fence along the north and west sides of the current electric fence.
And now, with the renovations complete, the public can view the bison freely.
“They got a nice herd,” Mario Rabaza, 64, of Sycamore, remarked on Friday morning. “They’re all right there.”
This isn’t Rabaza’s first time seeing bison, he explained on Friday. He likes to take pictures — mostly landscapes and wildlife photography.
Showing some wildlife shots he’s taken — bison included — Rabaza explained that he takes photos near home, but also makes a couple trips every year. He’s trying to hit all of the United States’ national parks.
Now, after scoping out the new local herd on the preserve’s opening day, he thinks he’ll come back with some friends to see the animals.
Though visitors coming to the site were “slow but steady” Friday morning, Laurie Metanchuk, the Kane County Forest Preserve District’s community engagement director, thinks traffic at the preserve will pick up in future weeks.
“People want to get out here and see them,” she said of the bison.
The Burlington preserve is located at 13N240 Engel Road. Its gates will be open from sunrise to sunset, and there will at times be naturalists and staff at the preserve to answer questions from the public.
Coming up, the Forest Preserve District will also be hosting programming at the Burlington preserve, with sessions on topics like the relationship between birds and bison, bison calves, sometimes called “red dogs,” and Native Americans’ connections to bison.
And the district also has plans in the works to eventually expand the bison’s enclosure to around 100 acres, according to Metanchuk. While they only have half a dozen now, they expect the herd to one day grow to around 25.
But, in the meantime, Metanchuk was enthusiastic about what the conservation effort symbolizes. She explained that, initially, the Forest Preserve District had plans for the land to be a farming operation, but they quickly pivoted to the bison conservation effort instead.
And, with bison absent from the land for two centuries and plans to bring the animals back in the works for a while, this day has been a long time coming.
“This has been years in the making,” Metanchuk said. “When you’re restoring tallgrass prairie like this, you want it to be … restored to the highest level as possible. And what you need are the original keystone species, like bison, back on the prairie.”
mmorrow@chicagotribune.com
