PHOTO PROVIDED / THE VILLAGE REPORTER
FROM BUFFALO TO FERRETS … The Kiwanis Club of Bryan was fortunate enough to have an excellent guest speaker at their meeting of June 17. He was Jonathan Proctor, who was in town to visit relatives and thereby available to speak with the club. Mr. Proctor is employed with the World Wildlife Fund as the Director of the Connect Team and as such works to restore the habitat and wildlife in the Great Plains of America. The Great Plains consist of a wide swath of land encompassing 700 million acres stretching from Canada to Mexico right down the middle of the country. The program is called “Restoring Wildlife in the Great Plains.” Jonathan and his team work primarily with native cultures to restore the native animal species to this vast area in partnerships with largely indigenous reservation populations. These species were almost extinguished by the American expansion west by railroads and populations that didn’t have an appreciation of this habitat. The species that Jonathan and his team are working to restore are buffalo, beaver, prairie dogs, black-footed ferret, fox, and the pronghorn. They are making substantial progress with their efforts. Pictured L to R: Kiwanian and President David Schumm and Jonathan Proctor.