ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, August 10, 1996 TAG: 9608120030
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MICHAEL CROAN STAFF WRITER
WEAR YOUR BOOTS if you visit the bison conference at the Roanoke Airport Mariott.
The NBA came to town Wednesday.
Its members were decked out in their official uniforms: Wrangler jeans straight from a TV commercial, Western-style shirts with open collars, cowboy hats, boots and big-buckled belts.
And they weren't at the Roanoke Airport Mariott for basketball. They were there for bison - and that's no bull.
The National Bison Association is holding its second annual summer conference here, and the scene is typical. Even the association's president, 55-year-old Paul Jonjak of Lyons, Colo., appeared ready for a night of country line-dancing.
Although Roanoke isn't exactly home on the range, the convention's local hosts hail from Hollow Hill Farm Inc. in Paint Bank, home to more than 300 head of bison.
Jonjak, a Harvard Law graduate, a former engineer and a member of Ocean Spray's board of directors, stressed the importance of remembering the natural side of life, the wildness in human beings and their relationship with nature.
"Our primary objective is to help the size of the herd grow," Jonjak said. "It's nice to help resurrect the bison, but it's also a wonderful tool to make people think about and appreciate what is wild, what is natural."
Like many others in the 2,500-member group, Jonjak came from a rural background and views the bison, also called buffalo, as a symbol of the "naturalness of our country."
"From my prenatal days, I couldn't wait until I owned a buffalo," said Dan Flint. "It was history, American history."
Paul Lyman, a 43-year-old attorney from Richfield, Utah, grew up a short drive from Yellowstone National Park, where bison roam freely. "I've always been fascinated by the animal," he said.
Bison once grazed all over North America; it's estimated there were 60 million when Europeans arrived on the continent.
Man's impact on the animals soon became evident. "They came within a heartbeat of extinction" in the late 1800s, said convention chairwoman Hilda Thomas.
Thomas, who raises bison in Powell, Wyo., said she does it out of love for the animal. "I'd be hard pressed to tell you of one person who got into this purely for economic reasons," she said.
However, that doesn't mean raising bison isn't big business.
Richard Knepp, assistant manager at Hollow Hill, said the farm's owner got into buffalo when beef, cattle and sheep prices starting falling in the early 1990s.
The buffalo he bought three to four years ago for $500 each now sell for $3,000-$4,000, Knepp said.
What part of the buffalo do people want the most?
"I have a hard time keeping enough skulls on hand to keep up with the demand," said Hollow Hill's Luann Sverduk. That trend may die down, if Jonjak has anything to do with it.
"They claim that [American Indians] used every piece of the bison," Jonjak said. "We haven't quite reached that level, but we're working on it."
One of Jonjak's most difficult tasks is trying to market buffalo meat to the public.
Jonjak said the meat is low in fat and isn't full of hormones, because the bison are raised naturally. "I approach different restaurants and try to convince them to try selling it as a unique taste," he said.
And seldom is heard a discouraging word. "Once they try it, most people really like it," he said.
So what was Jonjak having for lunch Friday?
"Seafood!" he replied with a big smile.
LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC: Chart by staff: Bison population in U.S. and Canadaby CNB