1-1 By: Turner (Senate Sponsor - Cain) H.C.R. No. 250 1-2 (In the Senate - Received from the House May 11, 2001; 1-3 May 11, 2001, read first time and referred to Committee on 1-4 Administration; May 11, 2001, reported favorably by the following 1-5 vote: Yeas 3, Nays 0; May 11, 2001, sent to printer.) 1-6 HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 1-7 WHEREAS, The historic JA Ranch bison herd at Caprock Canyons 1-8 State Park, a remnant of the great southern herd that was 1-9 extinguished between 1874 and 1878, represents the heritage of the 1-10 American West as few other emblems can; and 1-11 WHEREAS, By 1884, buffalo hunters in the north had finished 1-12 clearing the plains of the bison, the magnificent animal that had 1-13 sustained the Plains Indians and that, by virtue of its immense 1-14 numbers, had posed a serious impediment to the advance of farming 1-15 and ranching; and 1-16 WHEREAS, With the buffalo in Texas eliminated, cattlemen 1-17 quickly moved onto the grasslands; among them was the legendary 1-18 Charles Goodnight, who established the JA Ranch in the Panhandle's 1-19 Palo Duro and Mulberry canyons; at the urging of his wife, Mary 1-20 Ann, Mr. Goodnight captured a few of the remaining wild bison in 1-21 order to save the animal from total extinction; and 1-22 WHEREAS, Though Mr. Goodnight experimented with breeding 1-23 buffalo to cattle, a pure strain of the animal survived, and for 1-24 some 120 years these bison continued to find sanctuary at the JA 1-25 Ranch; one of five herds in the United States from which most 1-26 present-day buffalo herds have descended, the JA Ranch herd has 1-27 furnished stock for Yellowstone National Park, as well as for large 1-28 zoos and ranches; and 1-29 WHEREAS, In 1996, JA Ranch owners Monte Ritchie and Ninia 1-30 Bivins, descendants of one of Mr. Goodnight's partners, Cornelia 1-31 Wadsworth Ritchie Adair, donated their bison herd to the Texas 1-32 Parks and Wildlife Department, and in the fall of 1997 the 1-33 department began DNA testing to separate the pure bison from the 1-34 hybrids; animals identified as pure buffalo were given to Caprock 1-35 Canyons State Park, whose nearly 15,200 acres in Briscoe, Floyd, 1-36 and Hall counties are situated on land that was formerly part of 1-37 the JA Ranch; altogether, some 30 bison from the ranch were added 1-38 to the park's existing herd of 14 buffalo, which at the time was 1-39 the largest state-owned herd in Texas; and 1-40 WHEREAS, While the park protects the buffalo, the animals 1-41 promise in turn to benefit the park's ecosystem by fostering the 1-42 health of the grasslands; as bison graze, their hooves thatch the 1-43 grass and simultaneously press new grass seed into the earth, 1-44 planting it in a most effective manner; and 1-45 WHEREAS, The bison herd begun by Charles and Mary Ann 1-46 Goodnight has played a major role in preserving the buffalo, and it 1-47 is altogether fitting that a herd so closely associated with the 1-48 heritage of the Lone Star State be recognized by this body; now, 1-49 therefore, be it 1-50 RESOLVED, That the 77th Legislature of the State of Texas 1-51 hereby commemorate the exceptional importance of the JA Ranch bison 1-52 herd and express its pleasure that this surviving group of the 1-53 southern herd should find a public home on its ancient range. 1-54 * * * * *