Context: I grew up in this area and have hunted there my whole life. The land is very much so not "empty" -- sure, there aren't condos, but it is owned by people and those people get economic gain from it predominantly through grazing cattle and somewhat agriculture. You could not just release Bison anywhere in this country without extreme uproar from the people who see them as in direct competition with their livelihood. And that's not even mentioning the other complex components of the prairie ecosystem that are being undermined (and in this case, restored).That's why they are buying ranches that are currently utilizing the land for the purpose of cattle grazing and turning them back into wild prairie (and reintroducing bison).
My personal opinion is that it's incredibly cool that they're taking a very small piece of the great plains and letting it just be empty in the way that it used to be.
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