What The American Prairie Foundation does

The American Prairie Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit conservation organization headquartered in Lewistown, Montana, operating the American Prairie Reserve in Montana's Great Plains. Its mission is to connect 3.2 million acres into one of the largest nature reserves in the United States, restoring the shortgrass prairie ecosystem using bison as a keystone species. The organization assembles a patchwork of deeded land, BLM and state leased acreage (over 436,000 acres), and conservation easements, currently making more than 600,000 acres publicly accessible for hiking, camping, wildlife viewing, and hunting. Core programs include the Bison Restoration Program (a ~940-animal conservation herd distributed to tribal nations and other conservation herds), Rewilding initiatives (swift fox reintroduction, prairie dog and grassland bird recovery, beaver restoration, prescribed fire), the National Discovery Center visitor hub, an outdoor Field School (1,228 participants in 2025), a hut-to-hut lodging system, and the Wild Sky collaborative conservation program with private ranchers.

The foundation is 100% donor-funded and monetizes through a diversified revenue stack: individual charitable donations (monthly, one-time, planned giving, gifts of stock, IRAs, charitable remainder trusts), hut and campground reservations, grazing leases to 25 local ranching families (~8,000 head of cattle), and participation in Montana's Block Management hunter access program (82,000 acres enrolled). It serves conservation-minded individual donors, outdoor recreationists, hunters, students and educators, tribal nations (Fort Peck, Blackfeet, Fort Belknap, Chippewa Cree, Kalispel, CSKT), local cattle ranchers, and scientific partners (notably the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute). All land is permanently conserved and open to the public.

Strategically, the organization has executed continuous land acquisition since founding (notably the 2016 purchase of the 50,000-acre PN Ranch and 2024-2025 acquisitions including Anchor Ranch and over 2,000 acres of wetland habitat), while building a coalition of tribal, ranching, and sporting-conservation partners. Its growth runway is currently complicated by a May 2026 BLM decision to revoke bison grazing permits on ~63,000 acres of federal land effective September 30, 2026, which has triggered coalition-level opposition from groups including the Coalition of Large Tribes but introduces regulatory uncertainty into the reserve's expansion trajectory.

Name

The American Prairie Foundation

Legal name

American Prairie Foundation

Website

https://americanprairie.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2000

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

The American Prairie Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit assembling a 3.2-million-acre nature reserve on Montana's Great Plains. It restores shortgrass prairie ecosystems using bison as a keystone species, serves donors, tribal nations, recreationists, and local ranchers, and operates entirely on charitable contributions.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Conservation and Wildlife Reserve

NAICS

Environment, Conservation and Wildlife Organizations (813312), Nature Parks and Other Similar Institutions (712190), Administration of Conservation Programs (92412), Zoos and Botanical Gardens (71213)

SIC

Forestry (800)

akta.pro primary industry

Land Trusts & Protected Areas (BPAGAGAC)

akta.pro secondary industries

Wildlife, Biodiversity & Habitat Conservation Administration (BPAIAMAG), Wildlife Rescue, Rehabilitation & Release (BPAGAIAC), Advocacy, Policy & Public Awareness (Animal Welfare) (BPAGAIAJ)

Keywords

• Prairie conservation
• Bison restoration
• Grassland rewilding
• Wildlife habitat
• Nature reserve

Headquarters

HQ city

Bozeman

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Charitable Donations: Primary revenue stream from individual donors contributing to conservation efforts. Donors receive benefits including supporter-only news, stickers, discounted campground/hut reservations, and monthly donors receiving annual desktop calendars.
2. Planned Giving: Revenue from wills, bequests, endowed gifts, IRA Qualified Charitable Distributions, charitable remainder trusts, and life insurance policies. Contact: Samantha Beebout at (406) 595-0947.
3. Gifts of Stock: Donors can contribute appreciated securities directly to American Prairie.
4. Hut and Campground Reservations: Revenue from visitor accommodations including huts (Founders Hut, Lewis and Clark Hut, Craighead Hut, Myers Family Huts) and campgrounds (Antelope Creek Campground, Buffalo Camp). Donors receive discounted rates.
5. Grazing Lease Revenue: Leases grass to 25 local ranchers through the Leasing Program, who graze approximately 8,000 head of cattle across properties.
6. Hunting Access Fees: Enrolls 82,000 acres in Montana FWP's Block Management hunter access program (BMA), making it one of Montana's top five BMA participants by acre.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

The American Prairie Foundation creates and manages a large-scale nature reserve in Montana's Great Plains through land acquisition, conservation easements, and rewilding programs. It provides public access to more than 600,000 acres of prairie for hiking, camping, hunting, and wildlife viewing, supported by a hut-to-hut accommodation system, campgrounds, a National Discovery Center, and an outdoor Field School. Its keystone initiative is bison restoration, maintaining a herd of approximately 940 animals and distributing surplus bison to tribal and conservation herds across the United States.

Product overview

American Prairie is a nonprofit organization operating a single, unified conservation reserve in Montana's Great Plains. The core offering is the American Prairie Reserve, supported by interconnected programs including the Bison Restoration Program (the central keystone species initiative), the Hut-to-Hut System (accommodations for visitors), the National Discovery Center (educational visitor center), American Prairie Field School (outdoor education), Prairie Webcams (remote wildlife viewing), Rewilding Programs (ecological restoration), Block Management Hunting Access (public recreation), Wild Sky Program (private land conservation partnerships), and Prairie Maps (navigation tools). These components work together to achieve the organization's mission of creating a large-scale nature reserve that connects, conserves, and shares the shortgrass prairie ecosystem.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• American Prairie Reserve A large-scale nature reserve in Montana's Great Plains encompassing private and public lands, focused on restoring the shortgrass prairie ecosystem and providing public access for hiking, wildlife viewing, camping, and hunting.
• Hut-to-Hut and Campground Accommodations

Quantifiable outcome

• 500+ bison distributed to tribal and conservation herds since 2005
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

19 partnerships are on record, tiered major, core and minor.

• Kalispel TribemajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022Received 35 bison from American Prairie in 2022 for conservation herd restoration in Cusick, Washington.
• Fort Belknap Indian CommunitycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021Swift fox reintroduction project with Fort Belknap as primary reintroduction site. Five-year project sourcing 40-50 foxes annually from Wyoming, Colorado, and Kansas. American Prairie provided 9 bulls to Fort Belknap Tribes. Ceremony conducted by Assiniboine (Nakoda) and Gros Ventre (Aaniiih) members.
• Chippewa Cree Tribe (Rocky Boy)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021Bison herd reestablishment after 30+ years. Received 11 bison initially (6 from American Prairie), followed by 10+ additional bison in 2022. Tribal sustainability coordinator Jason Belcourt leads program. Community celebration with 300+ attendees.
• Blackfeet NationcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021Received 51 bulls, cows and calves from American Prairie in January 2020 handling. Ongoing bison conservation partnership.
• Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux TribescoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021Received hundreds of bison from American Prairie since 2005 for tribal herd restoration.
• Confederated Salish and Kootenai TribesmajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021Provided 5 bison to Chippewa Cree Tribe for Rocky Boy herd establishment in 2021.
• Phillips County Conservation DistrictmajorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting Partner · 1 January 2021Collaborative bison disease management agreement unanimously approved in 2021, giving American Prairie a 10-year variance from Phillips County bison grazing ordinance with expanded testing protocols.
• Smithsonian Conservation Biology InstitutecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2020Long-term research partnership conducting wildlife studies on prairie ecosystem. Smithsonian ecologists conduct grassland bird research, mammal camera trap studies, bison movement ecology, and swift fox reintroduction science. Partners include Dr. Hila Shamon (wildlife ecologist) and Dr. Andy Boyce (avian ecologist).
• Smithsonian National Zoo and Conservation Biology InstitutecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2020Collaborative research including bison genetics, GPS tracking deployments, and conservation science. Provided 2 calves to National Zoo in 2020. Joint publication in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution on bison restoration benefits.
• Wild Sky Partner RanchersmajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2020Private landowners implementing wildlife-friendly practices through the Wild Sky program using the Freese Scale for grassland biodiversity. Ranchers receive payments for wildlife documentation via camera traps and habitat improvements.
• Aaniiih Nakoda CollegeminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2020Students from the Buffalo Research and Education Center participated in bison handling training at American Prairie, shadowing different positions to gain hands-on experience.
• Fort Belknap TourismminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2020Contracting with guides to provide American Prairie visitors with cultural interpretation on and of the prairie, supporting Fort Belknap's tourism efforts.
• National GeographicmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerProduced hour-long film 'American Serengeti' in 2010 celebrating American Prairie's bison herd hitting 100 animals.
• National Wildlife FederationmajorGTM or Marketing PartnerSupported American Prairie's BLM grazing application since 2018.
• Theodore Roosevelt Conservation PartnershipmajorGTM or Marketing PartnerSupported American Prairie's BLM grazing application since 2018.
• Backcountry Hunters and AnglersmajorGTM or Marketing PartnerSupported American Prairie's BLM grazing application since 2018.
• Montana Wildlife FederationmajorGTM or Marketing PartnerSupported American Prairie's BLM grazing application since 2018.
• Property and Environmental Research CenterminorGTM or Marketing PartnerSupported American Prairie's BLM grazing application since 2018.
• Coalition of Large Tribes (COLT)coreGTM or Marketing PartnerCOLT represents more than 50 Tribal nations and has opposed BLM's decision to revoke American Prairie's bison grazing permits, warning it could undermine treaty rights and tribal buffalo restoration efforts.

Scale indicators13 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• National Wildlife Federation: One of America's largest conservation nonprofits, advocating for wildlife and habitat at national scale. Listed as an active supporter of American Prairie's BLM grazing application, indicating operational familiarity and mission alignment. Comparable in advocacy-driven conservation model but operates nationally rather than as a single landscape.
• Ducks Unlimited: Largest wetland conservation organization in the world, with a model of acquiring and conserving habitat in partnership with public agencies and private landowners. Comparable in landscape-scale conservation, conservation easement model, and donor-funded operating structure. American Prairie's 2025 acquisition of 2,000+ acres of wetland habitat signals growing overlap.
• Defenders of Wildlife: National wildlife conservation nonprofit focused on imperiled species and habitat protection, with strong policy and advocacy footprint. Comparable in wildlife-focused conservation mission and donor-funded model, though emphasis skews toward policy/legal defense rather than direct land assembly.
• The Wilderness Society: National conservation nonprofit focused on protecting federal public lands and wilderness areas. Comparable in advocacy for large-landscape conservation and federal-land management, though less directly involved in private land assembly or wildlife reintroduction.
• National Parks Conservation Association: Independent nonprofit advocating for the National Park System, with a focus on protecting parklands and wildlife habitat. Comparable in permanent-land conservation mission and donor-funded model, though focused on existing federal park units rather than building new reserves.
• World Wildlife Fund (United States): Global conservation organization operating in 100+ countries, with U.S. programs focused on wildlife and habitat conservation. Comparable in keystone-species conservation philosophy and major-donor fundraising model, but with a substantially broader geographic and programmatic scope.
• The Nature Conservancy: The largest global conservation land trust, operating across all 50 U.S. states and 70+ countries with a multi-billion-dollar asset base. Directly comparable to American Prairie in mission (permanent land conservation) but vastly broader in geographic scope, program variety, and budget — making it the most relevant incumbent peer.

Direct peers

• Yellowstone Forever: Official nonprofit partner of Yellowstone National Park, focused on education, fundraising, and conservation in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Comparable in scale, donor-funded model, and emphasis on wildlife/wilderness preservation — though operating adjacent to an existing federal park rather than building a new reserve.
• Pheasants Forever: Grassland and upland wildlife habitat nonprofit with strong hunting-access and rancher-partnership orientation. Directly comparable to American Prairie in its combination of public hunting access (Block Management equivalent), private-land partnerships, and grassland bird focus — though emphasizing upland game rather than bison.

Emerging players

• Rewilding Europe: European rewilding initiative creating wildlife-rich landscapes across multiple countries using keystone-species restoration and ecological processes. Highly comparable to American Prairie in rewilding philosophy and keystone-species (bison equivalent) approach, but operating across fragmented European geographies rather than a single contiguous reserve.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/americanprairie
• Facebookfacebook.com/americanprairie

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about The American Prairie Foundation