Wilmington prairie hits record attendance after bison arrive

WILMINGTON, Ill. (AP) - There has been a large increase in the number of visitors to Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie in northern Illinois since the U.S. Forest Service introduced a herd of bison there last year.

New attendance figures show there were nearly 2,800 visitors to the prairie in July, the Daily Journal (http://bit.ly/2biGh9m ) reported. That's more than four times higher than the 675 visitors the prairie had in July 2015, three months before the bison arrived.

"It has been great to see the sincere interest the bison have generated here locally from people of all different ages and walks of life," said Kurt Steele, Midewin's acting supervisor.

Eleven bison were brought to Midewin last October to attract visitors. The bison are also part of a 20-year experiment to restore the prairie to presettlement conditions because they eat grasses and walk their hooves on the land. Two more bison calves were born in late July.

"While the bison seem to be the draw, we encourage people to come out and walk around the prairie and get a better understanding about the work we are doing to try to restore the agency's first national tallgrass prairie so that generations to come will be able to see what the Illinois landscape could have looked like prior to European settlement," Steele said.

The prairie's total herd size is now 38, which includes four bulls and 21 cows also brought here last October from purebred herds in Colorado and South Dakota.

This July's attendance was a record high since Midewin was created in 1996. The visitors included those going to the Midewin Welcome Center and the Iron Bridge Trailhead, which is the recommended starting point for viewing bison in their large pasture south of the trailhead.

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Information from: The Daily Journal, http://www.daily-journal.com