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 Twenty-three bison from the South Dakota Wind Cave National Park arrived November 3 to a Chihuahua State natural reserve, where they are expected to thrive and add up to one hundred individuals in about three years.
Wild bison have historically roamed across the US-Mexico border in this area, a beautiful desert grassland region home to the world's largest colony of black-tailed prairie dogs and over 200 bird species.
The donation is part of a bi-national effort designed to restore bison to their historical range in Northern Mexico. Twenty of the bison are female, with the other three being yearling males.
The new arrivals were admitted to El Uno Natural Reserve, a 46,000-acre grassland ranch managed by The Nature Conservancy in the municipality of Janos, Chihuahua, a few miles west from Ciudad Juarez.
According to The Nature Conservancy, the animals will be a "seed herd" for other grassland recovery projects across Mexico.
As their numbers grow through natural reproduction and donations of additional animals from the United States, they will be divided into groups and sent to other Mexican grasslands.
Bison benefit prairies because as they walk they break the soil, making it easier for seeds to emerge and grow. The also promote water filtration and as they clip the grass, they keep it at the right height for other native species, as prairie dogs and ferrets, to thrive.
The relocation is the result of a two-nation endeavor led by the Mexican Bison Recovery Working Group: The Nature Conservancy, Mexico's Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources, Mexico's Natural Protected Areas National Commission, the Ecology Institute of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, Chihuahua State Secretariat of Urban Development and Ecology, and the Tutuaca Mountain School.
The Chihuahuan bison have historically moved between Janos and Hidalgo County, New Mexico.
According to the Wind Cave National Park, its bison herd is the only disease-free federal herd with no detectable cattle genes in the United States.
Each animal was tested for brucellosis, implanted with a microcomputer chip and metal ear tag, and had its size, weight, age and height recorded.
Chihuahua is the only Mexican state with a free-ranging bison herd.
All photos by Raechel Running © RaechelRunning.com 2009
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Get over stereotypes! There is a couple of things you'd want know about the largest state of Mexico
Chihuahua is developing an aerospace cluster. Our universities are training aerospace engineers and technicians right now.
We are developing micro-electromechanical systems at the Autonomous University of Ciudad Juarez. Many national and international companies with operations in the State are potential beneficiaries of our projects. 
The most important archaeological site of Northern Mexico is located in the State of Chihuahua, at Paquimé
In Juarez, just across from El Paso, Texas, there is a museum with original parts of the great supersonic passenger jet