Author Dan O’Brien to Speak

Dan O’Brien, author of “Buffalo for the Broken Heart: Restoring Life to a Black Hills Ranch,” will speak at Carleton College at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 18, in the Gould Library Athenaeum. The title of his talk is “Ranching and Writing in the Black Hills.” The event is free and open to the public.

O’Brien, a buffalo rancher and writer, is the author of numerous books of fiction and nonfiction about the West. He purchased the Broken Heart Ranch in the Black Hills of South Dakota more than 20 years ago, and in 1998 converted the ranch from cattle to buffalo, returning buffalo to his land for the first time in more than 100 years. He takes a unique approach to prairie restoration by reintroducing the animals that once lived there. “Buffalo for the Broken Heart” is an account of the buffaloes’ first year at the ranch, as well as an engaging lesson in wildlife ecology.

O’Brien also is a falconer, and has spent time working to restore the peregrine falcon population in the Rocky Mountains. He has worked as an endangered-species biologist and an English teacher, and is a frequent speaker on Great Plains restoration efforts. He lives in Whitewood, S.D.

For more information or disability accommodations, please call Jennifer Edwins at Gould Library, (507) 646-4259.