What happens when a bold idea becomes a living, changing ecosystem guided by the people who call it home.

In this second half of our American Prairie series, we sit down with CEO Alison Fox and Director of Rewilding Danny Kinka to look at what the project has become and where it’s headed. Allie talks about how American Prairie has grown into a 600,000-acre public access landscape with a bison herd now twenty years in, a thriving field school for Montana students, and a team focused on everything from habitat restoration to community partnerships. Danny walks us through what rewilding looks like on the ground, from the return of key species to the human work of building social tolerance for wildlife.

We talk about the mix of land stewardship, science, and everyday problem-solving that makes a place like this work. Alison shares how relationships with ranchers and tribal nations have evolved, what public access means for the region, and why temperate grasslands need more attention than they get. Danny explains how bison, prairie dogs, and beavers act as the prairie’s hardest-working engineers, how ecological function holds a landscape together, and why restoring abundance is as much about people as it is about animals.

Our conversation leaves us thinking about what it takes to hold a landscape this big together. How do you grow trust across fence lines. What does it mean to welcome visitors into a place that still feels wild. How does a project keep expanding while staying rooted in local communities. And what happens when a bold idea becomes a living, changing ecosystem guided by the people who call it home.

Today’s highlights:

• How American Prairie has grown to more than 600,000 acres and what the landscape looks like today
• Twenty years of bison restoration, plus the role prairie dogs, beavers, and other key species play in bringing ecological function back
• How rewilding works on the ground, from habitat restoration to coexistence tools like the Wild Sky program
• Relationships with ranchers, tribal nations, and local communities, and how those partnerships shape the work
• Public access, education, and the visitor experience, including the field school, huts, and the reopening of the bullwhacker road
• Where the project is headed next and why large, connected grassland ecosystems matter for the future

   

Links & Resources:

American Prairie

Website: americanprairie.org

Media

• Facebook
• Instagram
• YouTube

Initatives

• National Discovery Center, Lewistown MT
• American Prairie Field School – Hands-on educational programs for Montana students.
• Wild Sky – A partnership program supporting ranchers who tolerate and support wildlife.
• Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge – The major federal anchor surrounding the project.
• Fort Belknap Indian Community – Longtime partners in bison, ferret, and swift fox restoration.

Places

• American Prairie Reserve, Montana – The heart of the project, spanning public and private lands in north-central Montana where bison and other wildlife are returning.
• Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge – A 1.1-million-acre public lands anchor for American Prairie’s work.
• Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument – Now accessible through the reopened Bullwhacker Road.
• Anchor Ranch

Alison Fox is the CEO of American Prairie and has been part of the organization’s growth for nearly two decades. She stepped into the CEO role in 2018 after serving in a wide range of leadership positions since 2007, from communications and partnerships to philanthropy and brand development. Alison holds an MBA from Georgetown’s McDonough School of Business, where she focused on marketing and nonprofit management, and a BA in History from Dartmouth College. She’s a member of the Big Sky Chapter of YPO and serves on the Advisory Board for William & Mary’s Institute for Integrative Conservation. She calls Montana home and leads American Prairie with equal parts vision, steadiness, and love for the landscape.

Dr. Daniel “Danny” Kinka is American Prairie’s Director of Rewilding, where he leads work to restore wildlife, rebuild habitat, and support human–wildlife coexistence across the prairie. He also oversees science and monitoring, helping connect researchers, agencies, and partners to the landscape. Danny is a passionate science communicator and spends as much time in classrooms and community rooms as he does in the field. Originally from Florida and the D.C. area, he has called the American West home since 2010. He earned his Ph.D. in Ecology from Utah State University and joined American Prairie in 2018, bringing curiosity, energy, and a deep belief in what healthy ecosystems can look like.

The Wild Idea is independently produced by Wild Idea Media. If you believe conversations like this matter, you can help us keep them going by subscribing, leaving a review, sharing the episode, or signing up for our newsletter at thewildidea.com. Together, we can protect what connects us.