By Turner of Coleman                                 H.C.R. No. 250
         77R12310 MMS-D                           
                             HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
 1-1           WHEREAS, The historic JA Ranch bison herd at Caprock Canyons
 1-2     State Park, a remnant of the great southern herd that was
 1-3     extinguished between 1874 and 1878, represents the heritage of the
 1-4     American West as few other emblems can; and
 1-5           WHEREAS, By 1884, buffalo hunters in the north had finished
 1-6     clearing the plains of the bison, the magnificent animal that had
 1-7     sustained the Plains Indians and that, by virtue of its immense
 1-8     numbers, had posed a serious impediment to the advance of farming
 1-9     and ranching; and
1-10           WHEREAS, With the buffalo in Texas eliminated, cattlemen
1-11     quickly moved onto the grasslands; among them was the legendary
1-12     Charles Goodnight, who established the JA Ranch in the Panhandle's
1-13     Palo Duro and Mulberry canyons; at the urging of his wife, Mary
1-14     Ann, Mr. Goodnight captured a few of the remaining wild bison in
1-15     order to save the animal from total extinction; and
1-16           WHEREAS, Though Mr. Goodnight experimented with breeding
1-17     buffalo to cattle, a pure strain of the animal survived, and for
1-18     some 120 years these bison continued to find sanctuary at the JA
1-19     Ranch; one of five herds in the United States from which most
1-20     present-day buffalo herds have descended, the JA Ranch herd has
1-21     furnished stock for Yellowstone National Park, as well as for large
1-22     zoos and ranches; and
1-23           WHEREAS, In 1996, JA Ranch owners Monte Ritchie and Ninia
1-24     Bivins, descendants of one of Mr. Goodnight's partners, Cornelia
 2-1     Wadsworth Ritchie Adair, donated their bison herd to the Texas
 2-2     Parks and Wildlife Department, and in the fall of 1997 the
 2-3     department began DNA testing to separate the pure bison from the
 2-4     hybrids; animals identified as pure buffalo were given to Caprock
 2-5     Canyons State Park, whose nearly 15,200 acres in Briscoe, Floyd,
 2-6     and Hall counties are situated on land that was formerly part of
 2-7     the JA Ranch; altogether, some 30 bison from the ranch were added
 2-8     to the park's existing herd of 14 buffalo, which at the time was
 2-9     the largest state-owned herd in Texas; and
2-10           WHEREAS, While the park protects the buffalo, the animals
2-11     promise in turn to benefit the park's ecosystem by fostering the
2-12     health of the grasslands; as bison graze, their hooves thatch the
2-13     grass and simultaneously press new grass seed into the earth,
2-14     planting it in a most effective manner; and
2-15           WHEREAS, The bison herd begun by Charles and Mary Ann
2-16     Goodnight has played a major role in preserving the buffalo, and it
2-17     is altogether fitting that a herd so closely associated with the
2-18     heritage of the Lone Star State be recognized by this body; now,
2-19     therefore, be it
2-20           RESOLVED, That the 77th Legislature of the State of Texas
2-21     hereby commemorate the exceptional importance of the JA Ranch bison
2-22     herd and express its pleasure that this surviving group of the
2-23     southern herd should find a public home on its ancient range.