Dale F. Lott
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520233386
- eISBN:
- 9780520930742
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520233386.003.0025
- Subject:
- Biology, Natural History and Field Guides
George Catlin, who traveled, wrote about, and painted the plains between 1832 and 1839, proposed a Great Plains Park created by the national government, where herds of elks and buffalo would be ...
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George Catlin, who traveled, wrote about, and painted the plains between 1832 and 1839, proposed a Great Plains Park created by the national government, where herds of elks and buffalo would be protected in perpetuity. Catlin was way ahead of his time. A Great Plains Park must be very large — at least 5,000 square miles — and must include both upland and river bottom habitat. It's too late to preserve such a representation of the Great Plains, but it's not too late to restore one. Canada has shown the way and even pointed to a place. Its story begins in 1956, when the Saskatchewan Natural History Society began to push for a Grasslands National Park. A grassland park in the United States is possible. It hardly needs saying that such a park would give a welcome boost to wild bison conservation.Less
George Catlin, who traveled, wrote about, and painted the plains between 1832 and 1839, proposed a Great Plains Park created by the national government, where herds of elks and buffalo would be protected in perpetuity. Catlin was way ahead of his time. A Great Plains Park must be very large — at least 5,000 square miles — and must include both upland and river bottom habitat. It's too late to preserve such a representation of the Great Plains, but it's not too late to restore one. Canada has shown the way and even pointed to a place. Its story begins in 1956, when the Saskatchewan Natural History Society began to push for a Grasslands National Park. A grassland park in the United States is possible. It hardly needs saying that such a park would give a welcome boost to wild bison conservation.
