For more than forty years the prairies of South Dakota have been Dan O'Brien's home. Working as a writer and an endangered species biologist, he became convinced that returning free-roaming buffalo to the grasslands would return natural balance to the region and reestablish the undulating prairie lost through poor land management and overzealous farming. In 1998 he bought his first buffalo and began the task of converting a cattle ranch into an ethically run buffalo ranch.
Wild Idea is a book about how good food choices can influence federal policies and the integrity of our food system, and about the dignity and strength of a legendary American animal. It is also a book about people: a daughter coming to womanhood in a hard landscape, a friend and ranch hand who suffers tragedy, a venture capitalist who sees hope and opportunity in a struggling buffalo business, and the husband and wife behind the ranch, wondering if what they're doing will ever make a difference. At its center, Wild Idea is about a family and the people and animals that surround them—all trying to build a healthy life in a wide and sometimes dangerous land.