How Native American tribes are bringing back the bison from brink of extinction
On 5,000 hectares of unploughed prairie in north-eastern Montana, hundreds of wild bison roam once again. But this herd is not in a national park or a protected sanctuary they are on tribal lands. Belonging to the Assiniboine and Sioux tribes of Fort Peck Reservation, the 340 bison is the largest conservation herd in the ongoing bison restoration efforts by North Americas Indigenous people.
The bison or as Native Americans call them, buffalo are not just sustenance, according to Leroy Little Bear, a professor at the University of Lethbridge and a leader in the bison restoration efforts with the Blood Tribe. The continents largest land mammal plays a major role in the spiritual and cultural lives of numerous Native American tribes, an integrated relationship, he said.
If you are Christian and you dont see any crosses out there, or you dont have your corner church
theres no external connection, [no] symbolic iconic notion that strengthens and nurtures those beliefs, said Little Bear. So it goes with the buffalo.
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Magnan said Fort Pecks dream is to have 2,500 buffalo in their conservation herd running on more than 40,000 hectares. Already the tribe has passed a resolution to purchase more land. Its amazing
with limited budgets and widespread poverty, [Native American tribes] are the leader in wildlife restoration when compared to the state wildlife agency, he said. In reality, it was not the buffalo that left us, it was us that left the buffalo. So we have to do something.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/dec/12/how-native-american-tribes-are-bringing-back-the-bison-from-brink-of-extinction
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This fascinating, hopeful article makes me so proud of my people.