Buffalo Commons?
An extremely interesting article in the Times today: Make Way for Buffalo. The columnist observes:
"It sounds cruel to say so, but towns like Rawson [ND, pop. 6] are a reminder that the oversettlement of the Great Plains has turned out to be a 150-year-long mistake, one of the longest-running and most costly errors in American history. Families struggled for generations to survive droughts and blizzards, then finally gave up and moved on. You can buy a home out here for $3,000, and you can sometimes rent one for nothing at all if you promise to mow the lawn and keep up the house.
"The rural parts of the Great Plains are emptying, and in some cases reverting to wilderness."
The author then goes on to advocate the "Buffalo Commons" plan, which seems to involve somehow returning much of the Great Plains to their "original" state, as they were before American pioneers settled there, with huge herds of buffalo and other large animals running free.
I've never even heard of such a thing. I'll have to research this more when I get the chance. While I can certainly understand how one might argue that the Plains have been "oversettled," the Buffalo Commons idea, at least as much as I know of it, seems to be a bit, well... FLIGHTY. But we'll see.
I'll report back when I discover more about this plan.
"It sounds cruel to say so, but towns like Rawson [ND, pop. 6] are a reminder that the oversettlement of the Great Plains has turned out to be a 150-year-long mistake, one of the longest-running and most costly errors in American history. Families struggled for generations to survive droughts and blizzards, then finally gave up and moved on. You can buy a home out here for $3,000, and you can sometimes rent one for nothing at all if you promise to mow the lawn and keep up the house.
"The rural parts of the Great Plains are emptying, and in some cases reverting to wilderness."
The author then goes on to advocate the "Buffalo Commons" plan, which seems to involve somehow returning much of the Great Plains to their "original" state, as they were before American pioneers settled there, with huge herds of buffalo and other large animals running free.
I've never even heard of such a thing. I'll have to research this more when I get the chance. While I can certainly understand how one might argue that the Plains have been "oversettled," the Buffalo Commons idea, at least as much as I know of it, seems to be a bit, well... FLIGHTY. But we'll see.
I'll report back when I discover more about this plan.
posted by Bob at
12:17 PM
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