(Radio Iowa) – The University of Iowa’s Museum of Natural History will be a featured waypoint next month on a historic cross-country journey celebrating the American bison. Jessica Smith, spokeswoman for the U-I’s Pentacrest Museums, says it’ll be the only Iowa stop for a unique shipment celebrating our national mammal. “The Smithsonian Museum of Natural History has commissioned three, larger-than-life bronze bison sculptures,” Smith says, “and they are going to be picked up on a truck with an open bed in Colorado and begin a great American bison road trip from Colorado all the way to the National Mall in D.C., where they will be installed permanently.” Bison are being recognized in celebration of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, and Iowa City was picked as one of the rest stops, given the many connections with the wooly beasts.

“Here at the University of Iowa and in the state of Iowa, we have some of the most impressive research and archaeological dig sites that really help us to understand the history of the bison and their connection with Iowa’s first peoples,” Smith says. “And in the galleries themselves, we have a few spots that are dedicated to bison.” The truck and the sculptures will be parked beside the museum on Sunday, March 15th, offering a rare opportunity to see the bronze bison up close before they continue their trek to Washington D-C and the National Mall. “At 3 o’clock sharp, that truck is going to pull away off of Clinton Street, they’ll be parked right out in front of the Museum of Natural History,” Smith says. “There is a national PR team that’s documenting this trip and so they are trying to collect footage of each of the major stops of folks waving the truck goodbye, so we’d really like to give them a solid Iowa send off.”

At the museum, visitors are invited to a special bison-focused program featuring short talks and up-close experiences. The day’s events are free and open to the public.