JASPER COUNTY, Iowa — While one part of the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge is quieter than normal, another part is as busy as ever.

The visitors’ center remains closed after a hailstorm last year punched hundreds of holes in its roof. Then came the rain.

“A traditional flood comes from the ground up,” says refuge manager, Scott Gilje, “this came from the roof down.”

This year’s cuts to the federal government have set back all plans for repair and reopening.

“Usually at this time of year we’d have lots of school groups taking field trips, here,” Gilje laments. “At this point, there’s no timeline for reopening.”

But the rest of the refuge is still seeing plenty of traffic this spring, thanks in part to a bumper crop of bison calves.

At least 12 have been born so far and they’re already running and grazing with the herd in their 800-acre enclosure inside the refuge. Word about them has spread fast and the visitors have come flocking, regardless of any closed buildings.

“They love the bison in general, but the babies are just the cherry on top,” says Nancy Corona, the visitor services manager at the Refuge.

Along the main road bisecting the 800-acre bison enclosure, visitors (raining in their vehicles, of course) can get very close to the animals.

“Sometimes they’re right on the road, and you just have to wait for the bison to move,” he says.

There are now 70 bison at the Refuge — likely a few too many for the limited space. In the fall, several will be moved west to other parks or Indian reservations under the Department of the Interior.

The bison maybe the stars of the place, but they’re hardly the only show in town.

Songbirds have winged their way in from the sound and work busily among the tallgrass prairie on the nests.

Golden Alexander leads the other wildflowers in their reach toward the clear sky.

The natural systems of an ancient landscape, only recently returned to heel, recall the rhythm they’d maintained for thousands of years before the plow.

“It just connects people emotionally to wildlife,” Corona says. “It connects people to the prairie and that’s what’s going to save these things that are precious to us.”

The Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge is open 7 days a week from dawn until dusk. It’s located just off Highway 163 near Prairie City.

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