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Bringing back the bison
Operators of bison
ranch near Baker City
seek to improve the soil
By LISA BRITTON
Baker City Herald
B
AKER CITY — Garrett Virtue
grins when asked about the num-
ber of bison grazing in the Baker
Valley field behind him.
The herd started with 30 in December
2019.
Today there are 200 of the shaggy beasts.
This increase was not part of the origi-
nal plan.
“No,” Virtue says with a shake of his
head.
But his smile proves it is a good thing.
Virtue and his wife, Kerbie, manage
Aurora Meadows Ranch for Stellar Provi-
sions. The company’s second ranch, named
Solana Mountain, is at Bozeman, Montana,
and operated by Alyssa Henry and John
Vose.
Stellar Provisions was founded by David
Henry, a Baker City native. The company
has four focuses: raising bison and chickens
in Baker City, and producing beef and lambs
in Bozeman.
David originally suggested the company
research raising bison.
For the past 15 months, the bison, which
roam a field along West Campbell Loop just
outside Baker City, have attracted attention
from passers-by.
In March 2021 the animals were moved
to a new home to the north, along Pocahon-
tas Road.
“We’ve been cleaning all winter and get-
ting the fences ready,” Garrett said of the
new property.
Bison require fencing at least six feet
tall to keep them from jumping over it. The
powerful animals can also run up to 40
miles per hour.
Garrett says the Aurora Meadows Ranch
will provide more space for the bison, along
with 300 chickens.
The bison herd increased faster than
expected because several California bison
operations went out of business in 2020.
Stellar Provisions bought the animals, which
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald
Bison graze in a pasture just west of Baker City in March.
included bred cows.
Garrett says they needed to move the
herd — in several cattle truck loads — prior
to calving.
As he looks over the herd on an unusu-
ally warm March day, Garrett smiles as he
watches the bison nose through hay, or run
down the hill in a thunder of hooves after
quenching their thirst at a natural spring.
He points out yearlings, older cows, and
the bulls roaming through the herd.
Bison have, over the past 500 years, gone
from abundant to nearly extinct.
According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service, bison numbered 30 to 60 million in
North America in the 1500s.
As Europeans moved across North
America, changes in native habitat and dis-
eases brought by cattle impacted the number
of bison during the 1700s and 1800s. Start-
ing in the mid-1800s, bison were harvested
for their hides to satisfy fashion trends.
By 1900, there were fewer than 1,000 in
North America.
Through conservation efforts, the num-
ber has slowly increased.
Today, there are about 500,000 bison in
North America.
“Not enough,” Garrett says. “Hopefully
we can fix it. They deserve a place here.”
IMPROVING THE SOIL
Although the bison are the most obvious
product — it’s hard to miss the massive ani-
mals — Stellar Provisions also focuses on
smaller tasks, including addressing the con-
dition of the soil at a microscopic level.
“Soil health is our number one driver,”
Garrett says. “The more you increase soil
health, the more you increase production.”
“And create a more nutrient-dense prod-
uct,” Kerbie says.
This approach, called “regenerative agri-
culture,” considers all parts of the system,
from the soil that grows the grass to the ani-
mals that graze the vegetation.
In their new space, the bison will be
moved through 10-acre pastures every day
using a system of temporary electric fencing.
But first, the animals will need to learn
about those hot wires.
“There might be some growing pains,”
Garrett says. “This is all learning, all new.”
He says this rotating grazing schedule
will simulate, in a way, how these animals
See Bison, Page 9