A Chorus of Buffalo

Contrary to popular belief, the American buffalo is not extinct--but it is in trouble. In this passionate volume, Montana writer Rudner (Partings) mixes lyrical anecdotes and meditative essays to explore the buffalo's fragile existence, its uncertain future and the politics swirling around the iconic animal. Because buffalo sometimes carry brucellosis, a bovine disease that can cause incurable, debilitating undulant fever in humans and irregular fertility in cattle--and because ranchers are required to kill off entire cattle herds at the first sign of it--the roaming rights of buffalo occupy a central place in Western agricultural politics. Traveling across bison country, Rudner interviews the interested parties, watches the buffalo roam and weighs the merits of all sides. In the end, she comes down on the side of those environmental groups and private citizens who want public lands to be made available to free-ranging bison. Ranchers' fears, she argues, are exaggerated; indeed, there is no known instance of brucellosis transmission from wild buffalo to grazing domestic cattle. Rudner's reverence for the magnificent creature shines through her descriptions of firsthand encounters--on the Dakota prairie, in Yellowstone backcountry, on a Chippewa/Cree reservation (where only five buffalo remain) and on a Sioux reservation (where a thriving herd of more than 400 buffalo live). Throughout, she evenhandedly considers the often-conflicting views of environmentalists, ranchers, park rangers, biologists, animal rights groups, Indians who eat buffalo meat and backpackers who, like herself, view the buffalo as a living link to nature's wildness. (June)