From: sbrock@teal.csn.org (Steve Brock)
Subject: Where The Buffalo Roam: The Storm Over The Revolutionary Plan To Restore America's Great Plains by Anne Matthews (Geography/ Culture)
Organization: Colorado SuperNet, Inc.
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1992 20:49:30 GMT

WHERE THE BUFFALO ROAM: THE STORM OVER THE REVOLUTIONARY PLAN TO
RESTORE AMERICA'S GREAT PLAINS by Anne Matthews.  Grove Weidenfield
Press, 841 Broadway, N.Y., NY  10003-4793.  Map.  193 pp., $19.95
cloth.  0-8021-1408-3


                             REVIEW

     America's great plains, an area west of the 98th meridian and
east of the centers of the states of Montana, Wyoming, Colorado,
and New Mexico, are suffering from a decline in population mainly
due to the loss of farming opportunities and boom-and-bust
economies in the energy domain.  The area has trouble attracting
either tourism, industry, or the establishment of retirement
communities.
     In 1987, Rutgers University professors Frank and Deborah
Popper advocated a radical concept - returning 139,000 square miles
in 109 counties (displacing, they say, only about 400,000 of the
6.5 million residents) to its natural state.  Their proposal
involves reintroducing buffalo herds, which would roam wild through
an area that would be set aside for recreation, contemplation, and
preservation.  The proposal is labeled the "Buffalo Commons."
     Matthews toured the area with the Poppers in 1990 for an
article in the New York Times Magazine.  When her article appeared,
outlining the Buffalo Commons concept, Matthews was not prepared
for the backlash.
     Plains residents describe the Poppers (Frank is a planner,
Deborah is a geographer) as academic outsiders, who have an absurd
plan to turn the plains into a zoo.  Several have vowed that they
will defend their land with their rifles, and some cities have
hired security guards for the Poppers when they come to speak of
their plan.
     "Where The Buffalo Roam" details the Popper's trek through the
region, proposing that the people leave and let the native grasses
take over.  In McCook, Nebraska, Frank is backed up against the
wall by a farmer amid catcalls.  He finally concedes that his idea
may be "a bit before it's time."
     Matthews, whose family have been living on the plains for
generations, tries to understand both sides of the issue.  There
needs to be change, but it's hard to ask frontier people to say
that their dreams of abundance and opportunity were wrong.  
     She tells of the many conversations she had with the Poppers
as they drove from town to town - the Poppers presenting their data
and Matthews responding with anecdotes about the affected families.
     Native American tribes have been enthusiastic.  They envision
the possibility of being administrators of some of the large
buffalo herds.  A Lakota classmate of mine in Political Science at
the University of Colorado is writing his thesis on the Commons
development in South Dakota.  His mentor, Vine Deloria, Jr., has
said that he relishes the idea of the plains with "wolves and
coyotes, rather then bankers and lawyers."
     In the end, Matthews says, the response has been piecemeal. 
Study groups have begun modest adaptations, from Ted Turner's
130,000-acre ranch in Bozeman to the Nature Conservancy's purchase
of plains land with plans for buffalo introduction to Native
American tribes litigating to claim buffalo that stray outside the
boundaries of Yellowstone National Park.
     Matthews book is written like an extension of her magazine
article, no footnotes, no index, no references; easy reading on a
difficult subject, but rewarding nonetheless.

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