Elk & Bison Prairie
Location: 1 mile north on the Trace from Highway 68/80
Best Time of Year: Year-round, 1 hour prior to dusk, May during bison calving, Sept.-Nov. for elk rut.
Access: Enclosed vehicles only, $5 per vehicle
Commonly Seen: Elk, Bison, wild turkey, egrets, songbirds like blue grosbeaks, indigo buntings, summer
tanagers, prairie warblers
Step back in time and explore an ecosystem once commonly found in Land Between the Lakes – the
barrens: a intermix of tallgrass prairie and oak woodlands. It is a land shaped by movements of its
dominant residents, the elk and the American bison. Both died out in the early 1800's. Search for the
wallows and rubs (or the great beasts themselves), but don't forget to slow down for the vivid songbirds,
butterflies, wild turkey, and egrets who call this diverse habitat home.