Baby bison born at Kane County forest preserve
Huddled close to its mother, the first bison calf born in a Kane County tallgrass prairie in over 200 years represents more than restoration: Something lost. Something returned. Something reborn.
The American Indian Center refers to it as “rematriation.” The spirit of the phrase is the guiding force behind the bison reintroduction program at Burlington Prairie Forest Preserve, in partnership with the Forest Preserve District of Kane County.
The preserve is on the DeKalb County line northeast of Sycamore.
Given how central rematriation is to American Indian identity, it’s only fitting that the new calf, also called a “red dog” for its cinnamon-tinged fur, was born on May 9, one day before Mother’s Day.
Rematriation is “the act of returning the sacred to the mother.” Beginning among Indigenous women activists, the movement grew to encompass restoring relationships between indigenous peoples and their relatives and reclaiming cultural and spiritual practices and stolen ancestral lands and artifacts.
The new calf brings the Burlington bison herd to a total of seven. The herd was reintroduced last December. The gates to the preserve were fully opened to the public May 1.
“It is one thing to talk about restoring relationships with land and relatives,” Jay Young, co-executive director of the American Indian Center, said in a post. “It is another thing to see new life come from that work. For Chicago’s Native community, especially our young people, this birth gives us a chance to know bison not just as something from history, but as living relatives on the land.”
Within their 32-acre enclosure, the three female and three male bison, along with the newborn calf, tread across a tallgrass prairie that was painstakingly restored by conservation volunteers and workers, often seeding plants by hand.
The land echoes the golden sea that once blanketed the state before ecological destruction, beginning during the industrial revolution, uprooted the tallgrass prairie to less than one-tenth of 1% of its original expanse.
Young said reclaiming responsibility and inspiring the next generation, “is about Native people helping shape what care looks like on this land.”
According to Young, the calf’s birth represents living history, providing an educational opportunity to restore both land and relationships.
“Living in an urban area, it’s rare to stand on open prairie, feel the earth move, or be close to bison relatives in a way that reflects our teachings,” Young previously said. “Bringing them home opens a doorway for our community to remember who we are and to rebuild connections that history tried to sever.”
The American Indian Center will begin offering educational programming this summer for Native community members, youth and families to visit the site, learn from the land and deepen their relationship with the bison.
The programming pairs with the Chicago-based center’s focus on building opportunities to broaden the understanding of wellness as connected to land, culture, food, identity and relationship.
The center is partnering with the forest preserve district to create conservation educational opportunities, including a program where community scientists can help monitor prairie health, track changes over time and help take care of the vital ecosystem.