Bye-Bye Bison

Lesson Introduction

Bison are an important element in the cultural and spiritual lives of many Native Americans. Alarmed by the severe decline of the bison population in the early years of this century, Native Americans worked with non-native people like Wildlife Conservationists to establish parklands and preserves where bison herds could thrive, such as Yellowstone Park. Midewin used to be a home for many bison, but bison were extirpated from the state of Illinois in the early part of the century. Many of the bison were hunted, but their wide range land was also destroyed when people began to build farms and homes on the prairie.

Illinois State Goal	Standard	Learning Benchmarks
17	B	2b. Explain how physical and living components interact in a variety of ecosystems including desert, prairie, flood plain, forest, tundra.
17	C	2c. Explain how human activity affects the environment.

Lesson Objectives

• understand the bison's challenges for survival.

Advance Preparation

• Draw a circle 50 feet in diameter in the schoolyard or field.

Time Allotment

45-60 minute class period

Materials

• peanuts with shells

PROCEDURE

Tap Prior Knowledge

1. Ask students if they know what bison are. Where do/did bison live?

Share with Neighbor

2. Tell students that Native Americans used every part of the bison that they killed. Can students think of some ways that bison parts can be used? The fur makes excellent food and shelter coverings, the horns can be used for drinks, even the fat was made into cooking lard. The prairie used to be thickly populated with bison. Can any of the students guess what happened to them?

Hands-on Activity

3. Have your students count off 1-8. Students 1 through 6 will be bison, 7s are Real Estate Developers and 8s are Conservationists. Discuss with your students what a job a Real Estate Developer does (converts land into homes for people) and who a Conservationist is (someone who works to protect natural areas, often hoping to keep them in their pristine state).

4. Direct the "bison" to enter the park (previously drawn circle) and have the "Conservationists" and "Real Estate Developers" scatter around the outside of the circle (approximately 10 feet from perimeter) in no particular order. They know what role they are playing but the bison do not. 5. Scatter about three pieces of food (peanuts) both inside and outside the park.

6. In order to survive each bison must accumulate five pieces of food. Those who do not find it within the protected park will have to risk going outside the park.

7. When bison wander outside the park they can be tagged by either a Real Estate Developer or a Conservationist. Only bison who wander outside of the park can be tagged. Bison may re-enter the park at any time before they are tagged.

8. If a bison wandering outside of the park is tagged by a Real Estate Developer s/he is eliminated. This is because the Developer wants the bison to be removed so that s/he might be able to build on its land. Those tagged by a Conservationist are relocated to a protected wildlife refuge fifteen feet outside of the park.

9. The game is over when all the food inside the park is gone and all free bison outside the park are within the boundaries of the wildlife refuge.

Introduce Social Scientific Principle/Environmental Issue

10. When the game is over there may be some bison still alive within the park boundaries. Only those with five pieces of food are alive. Some died of starvation in the park; and some were moved to the refuge and stayed alive. Some were eliminated by Real Estate Developers. Keeping wildlife, especially large animals that need wide range land to graze on is a tricky business. Often arguments of "quality of life" come up: whose life is more important? the grazing bison or the humans who would like to move into the area? The issue is complicated, is there a 'right' or 'wrong' answer?

Relate Activity and Concept