(AP) — A huge Montana nature reserve added a 47,000-acre historic ranch to its patchwork of lands along the Missouri River on Friday, a significant step in a privately funded effort to stitch together a Connecticut-sized park where bison would replace livestock and cattle fences give way to open range. The cattle ranch founded in the late 1800s had been listed for more than $20 million. Since 2001, American Prairie Reserve has raised $95 million and established a 353,000-acre footprint of leased and private land stretching across five counties. Whether wild bison re-inhabit the public lands around the reserve will be largely up to state wildlife officials.