The Indian Buffalo Management Act would establish a permanent buffalo program at the U.S. Department of the Interior.
To the sounds of drumming and singing, a truckload of buffalo scramble down a dirt ramp and lope away into the sagebrush of the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming. For the members of the Eastern Shoshone and the Northern Arapaho tribes who have gathered to watch, the mood is by turns joyful and tearful.
This is more than a wildlife release. It’s the homecoming of a relative who sustained the tribes’ way of life for millennia. For the dozens of Tribal nations that host buffalo herds, each release revives the deep ties between their people and this vitally important species — ties that were almost severed after the near-extermination of buffalo at the hands of the federal government in the 1800s.
Two buffalo grazing at TNC’s Joseph H. Williams Tallgrass Prairie Preserve in Oklahoma. March ... [+]
Tatanka (Buffalo)
Before the colonization of North America, as many as 60 million buffalo (the scientific name is bison) roamed from the Arctic Circle to Mexico, and their rangelands were mirrored by the territories of hundreds of Tribal nations with whom the buffalo shared a deep connection. The buffalo cared for the people by providing them with food, clothing, shelter, and cultural and spiritual connections that guided ways of life.
Today, there are no truly free-roaming buffalo left. The 60 million, at the hands of human beings, were decimated to just a few hundred in the mid-1800s. In one of the great conservation stories, a few individuals, Tribal peoples, and the Department of Interior united to reverse this ecological and human tragedy. Of the approximately 500,000 buffalo estimated to live in North America today, approximately 15,000 can be found across U.S. public lands with the rest maintained in private herds, such as those managed by The Nature Conservancy (TNC).
The Nature Conservancy, on whose global board of directors I serve, has long known and leveraged the ecological significance of American bison, first reintroducing the species to their preserves in 1978. Nearly 40 years later, the organization is beginning to understand and appreciate the cultural significance of buffalo. And it’s where these ecological and cultural worlds come together that is so fascinating, and – I believe – so important to us all. Across the United States, more and more buffalos are returning to Tribal lands each year. And as they return, they are bringing back a whole multitude of positive impacts and advantages: biodiversity, improved grassland health, enhanced Tribal cultures, and reinforced Tribal sovereignty.
Why should we all care?
What is the significance of all this? Why should one care? Is there a role we all can play? To better answer these questions, and to determine a major next step as what might be done to strengthen a commitment to conservation and a better way of life, I recently travelled to the land of the Osage Nation in Oklahoma to visit TNC’s Joseph H. Williams Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, where one of the organization’s largest buffalo herds can be found. The free-ranging Tallgrass Prairie herd consists of approximately 2,300 buffalo on 24,400 acres. What I found was that this magnificent animal is more than just a romanticized species; buffalo are a lynchpin in our grassland ecosystems, they are transformational to the health of our prairies, and truly central to our nation’s heritage.
Personal exposure and history
My personal interest in buffalo has grown over time, sprung from a boyhood amateur coin collection: why was the buffalo on the back of the nickel coin? For many years, that single curiosity was fueled by Hollywood’s less-than-accurate, sentimentalized depictions of this majestic creature in early American history. Later, it was nurtured by several days spent visiting a buffalo herd overseen by a fellow TNC board member and later the unveiling of our friends Ken Burns’ and Dayton Duncan’s film The American Buffalo, hosted by my wife Tracy at the historic Franklin Theatre in Franklin, Tennessee (yes, buffalo once plentifully roamed Tennessee). Eventually, it culminated in the intimate observations of the deep spiritual role buffalo play in the Lakota Sun Dance ceremony, which Tracy and I have attended by invitation on multiple occasions in South Dakota. These experiences formed the foundation of my knowledge before my recent visit to Osage County, Oklahoma.
In and around Pawhuska, Oklahoma, I spent three days soaking up knowledge and wisdom from a team of TNC staff, Native American partners, and, of course, the buffalo. Our visit to the Joseph H. Williams Tallgrass Prairie Preserve — 39,000 acres in northeast Oklahoma, comprising the largest protected expanse of protected tallgrass prairie in North America — opened my eyes to the delicate ecological balance which for centuries was maintained by the balance of the grazing of buffalo, climate, and periodic fire that together maintained the health of the natural lands. The tallgrass prairie as an ecological ecosystem ceased to exist with the disappearance of the buffalo in the 1800s. With the recent return of buffalo managed by the TNC and the prescribed use of fire (We observed a prescribed burn with participation of volunteers from the surrounding communities of over 5,000 acres on the last day of our visit!), we are witnessing the rebirth of a functional, thriving tallgrass prairie ecosystem, the only one of its kind in the world.
Jan Glendening (TNC Regional Managing Director), Renee San Souci (Omaha Tribe of Nebraska), Tokala ... [+]
What can be done?
From my years in the Senate, I know that policy matters; it can accelerate beneficial change and is a public, shared tool through which every one of us, by our active support, can make a difference.
The proposed Indian Buffalo Management Act (IBMA) is a step toward the restoration of buffalo on Tribal lands—and, in turn, a step toward healing some of the historical wrongs inflicted upon Native peoples across, what is now, the United States. Introduced last September by Senators Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), the bill would create a permanent buffalo program within the U.S. Department of the Interior. The program would promote the capacity of tribes to manage and expand existing buffalo herds and assist tribes that would like to start new ones. The bill, in addition, allows the federal government to partner with and award grants to tribes to create and maintain buffalo management and restoration programs.
“The IBMA solidifies the federal government’s ‘trust responsibility’ to support tribes in buffalo restoration,” says Jason Baldes, the executive director of the Wind River Tribal Buffalo Initiative, and a board member of the InterTribal Buffalo Council, of whom TNC is a trusted partner. Trust responsibility, also known as the trust doctrine, refers to the government’s legal responsibility to protect the welfare of Tribal nations in accordance with treaty agreements and long-standing legal precedents.
If the Indian Buffalo Management Act is passed, it would signal that the current U.S. federal administration is serious about restoring buffalo on Tribal lands. But without consistent funding, “we’re going to have to go back to Congress every year to lobby for scraps,” Baldes says.
While the Department of the Interior has provided nominal funds for Tribal buffalo management for the last 20 years, the funding has been erratic, piecemeal, and dependent on whoever was in charge of the Bureau of Indian Affairs at the time. In response, many tribes have stepped up and led, taking matters into their own hands. For example, the InterTribal Buffalo Council has been working to restore buffalo for more than 30 years and now represents over 85 members Nations who facilitate the management of 20,000 buffalo in 65 herds across the country.
“That's 65 different stories, different experiences, different sets of songs and languages and stories and connections,” Baldes says. “It’s so diverse — the number of people that still intrinsically value this animal for what it meant for our ancestors, and what it means for us today.”
Buffalo and sandhill cranes on a TNC preserve in Colorado.
The virtues are many
Welcoming buffalo back to Tribal lands comes with a host of cultural, spiritual, ecological and culinary benefits. Wild buffalo meat is one of the healthiest forms of protein around, a big positive in areas where fresh, affordable food can be hard to come by. Children who are taught how to hunt and process buffalo not only gain a healthier diet, but also deepen their sense of cultural identity. And we have seen that Native and non-Native children alike love learning about buffalo. Reconnecting today's children with this relative and with the land brings healing both in the present and to future generations.
Buffalo aren’t only central to Tribal health, but to the health of our country’s prairie landscapes as well. As the last truly gigantic grazer left in North America, buffalo are the engineers that keep our grasslands running. Their preference for dining on grasses instead of wildflowers can double plant diversity, in turn fostering a host of bird and pollinator species. Their dung and urine create verdant “lawns” that support other herbivores, while their rain-filled wallows create watering holes in otherwise arid landscapes. Shaggy buffalo fur carries seeds long distances, and churning hooves help to plant these seeds. Birds, butterflies, flowers and frogs — all of them benefit from the return of the buffalo.
With Tribal expertise and determination — and with the help of legislation such as the Indian Buffalo Management Act — buffalo can and will reclaim their ancestral homes. “The buffalo used to take care of us,” Baldes says. “Now, it’s our turn to take care of the buffalo.”
A simple note of support to your senator and member of Congress can lead to passage of this legislation; good people supporting good policy is how the world is changed.
