Wildlife Promise » tribal bison

Public Responds, Bison Aren’t A “Creeping Cancer”

Garrit Voggesser — Fri, 17 May 2013 19:07:32 +0000

Just a few weeks ago, it looked like the effort to return wild bison to tribal lands would be stopped just as it was gaining ground. It looked like the dreams that culminated in the release of more than 60 bison from Yellowstone National Park last year on the Fort Peck Reservation would be killed.

Dick Forehand saw this bison calf be born long before sunrise at Yellowstone National Park.

The campaign to restore wild bison to the American prairies is still alive, thanks to the work by tribal and conservation leaders and the overwhelming public response. The National Wildlife Federation and more than 53,000 NWF members and activists sent a clear message for the Montana legislature to call off its assault on bison.

Anti-Bison Bills Halted

This spring, NWF joined tribes, other sportsmen’s and conservation groups and wildlife advocates to defeat a barrage of anti-bison bills sponsored by Montana lawmakers. The bills that didn’t die in the Legislature were vetoed by Gov. Steve Bullock. The bills could have blocked returning the bison to its home on the plains – to tribal lands and the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge. The proposals ranged from a ban on transferring wild bison anywhere in Montana except the National Bison Range to a bill that would make the state Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks liable for any damage to private property by wild bison. Another would have allowed county commissioners to ban restoration of wild bison in their counties, even on tribal and federal lands.

Opponents rallied at the state Capitol in Helena to protest the bills. Leaders and members from five tribes participated in a peace-pipe ceremony on a bison hide in the center of the Capitol rotunda. Tribal leaders stressed that the bills reneged on commitments made in the last legislative session and, in some cases, threatened treaty rights. “They would starve our people of a vital cultural icon,’’ said Mark Azure, Fort Belknap’s director of Fish, Wildlife and Buffalo.

One of the worst of the anti-bison bills was killed after tens of thousands of you responded to appeals from NWF. The bill by State Senator John Brenden would have changed bison hunting regulations, allowed private landowners to shoot bison if they wandered onto their land, and prohibited the relocation of bison anywhere in the state, including the transfer of bison from Fort Peck to Fort Belknap as previously agreed upon by the tribes. Brenden recently remarked, “Why do you want to spread this creeping cancer, these woolly tanks, around the state of Montana?” This type of anti-wildlife rhetoric was also seen in House Bill 396, vetoed by Montana Governor Steve Bullock, that would have required county commissioner approval before any bison were relocated. Clearly, many more people see bison as an important wildlife species to be preserved and recognize their value to grassland ecosystems and other wildlife.

Governor Bullock vetoed the two remaining bison bills. Senate Bill 305 would have prohibited using bison that have ever been privately owned for restoration to other lands. Senate Bill 256 would have made Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks liable for any damages resulting from wild bison that had been relocated or released.

Historic Restoration of Bison to the Fort Peck Reservation

Last March marked a historic step forward in the campaign to restore wild bison when Yellowstone bison were released on the Fort Peck Reservation in eastern Montana.

Tribal members from Fort Peck and Fort Belknap, NWF staff, conservationists, and their supporters braved a cold, snowy night to watch as the animals bolted out of the trailers that had carried them 500 miles to their new home. It was a huge milestone in efforts to restore bison to the wild. The bison is the one large mammal driven to near extinction that hasn’t been re-established on the Western landscape.

Last year’s bison release on Fort Peck followed two decades of work by the tribes, conservation groups, and state and federal officials. The Yellowstone bison’s genetics date to an era when millions of bison roamed North America and were fundamental to Plains Indians’ physical, cultural and spiritual nourishment.

Yellowstone bison are special to the tribes because they are the last wild, free-ranging herd. For years, the tribes, NWF and other groups have urged that bison wandering out of Yellowstone be transferred to tribal and federal lands rather than be gunned down because of fears they’ll spread the disease brucellosis to cattle. The disease can cause pregnant animals to abort, but there have been no confirmed cases of bison transmitting brucellosis to cattle. Bison transferred from Yellowstone have been quarantined and are brucellosis-free.

You Spoke and Montana’s Leaders Listened

NWF members and activists, and our tribal and conservation partners, stood up for bison, and the Montana legislature and Governor Bullock listened. With a swipe of his pen, Bullock demonstrated that he agrees with NWF that bison belong on Montana public and tribal lands, along with all the other wildlife that are crucial elements of the ecosystem, our heritage and culture.

TOGETHER, we killed the bad bills, and now bison have a new future in Montana. Join us as we continue to work with tribes to restore bison and find new homes for the bison on public lands.

The work will continue until bison return home – to tribal and public lands.

Native American Heritage Month: Celebrating Tribal Victories in Conservation

Garrit Voggesser — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 22:12:29 +0000

Bison Grazing Under Prairie Sky

November is Native American Heritage Month, a time to honor the rich and diverse ancestry, traditions and cultures of Native Americans and to recognize the accomplishments of the peoples who were the original inhabitants of the United States and the caretakers of our abundant wildlife and natural resources.

Many of the foods we eat and the medicines and remedies we use were introduced by Indians and more than one highway follows an Indian trail. Indians make contributions in every area of endeavor and American life, and our literature and all our arts draw upon Indian themes and wisdom. Countless American Indians have served in our Armed Forces and have fought valiantly for our country. President Ronald Reagan, Proclamation of American Indian Week, 1986.

There are over 5.2 million American Indians and Alaska Natives in the U.S. The 566 federally-recognized, sovereign tribal nations own and manage over 95 million acres of land – 11 million acres more than the National Park Service (to read more notable statistics for American Indians and Alaska Natives, visit the U.S. Census Bureau).

This month, NWF’s Tribal Partnerships Program is highlighting the important contributions Native peoples have made to conservation. Native Americans are our nation’s original environmental stewards. Tribes have been caring for and nurturing Mother Earth for thousands of years. Because Tribes have the longest continual experience with the land, climate, wildlife and other natural resources, they have significant expertise and play an important role in helping us solve today’s conservation challenges.

Since the mid-1980s, NWF has partnered with tribes because we share a common value – to protect wildlife and habitat. This year, the theme of Native American Heritage Month is “Serving Our People, Serving our Nations: Native Visions for Future Generations.” In keeping with this theme – as well as NWF’s mission to “inspire Americans to protect wildlife for our children’s future” – we thank our tribal partners for major conservation successes in 2012. Each story is a win not only for tribes, but for all Americans, and is guaranteed to benefit generations to come.

Photo by Ted Wood/The Story Group

Restoring Wild Bison to Tribal Lands. In March 2012, the Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes welcomed more than 60 of the last genetically pure, free-roaming, wild bison to the Fort Peck Reservation in Montana. For the first time in 100 years, wild bison roam again on tribal lands, a major step in wildlife conservation and in strengthening tribal culture. As Assiniboine cultural leader Larry Wetsit put it, “The return of the Yellowstone buffalo, the native buffalo, represents to us prosperity. It is our spirit, it is our way we educate our kids, it’s how we live our life.”

Stopping the Keystone XL oil pipeline. In December 2011, Tribal leaders met with federal agencies and members of Congress to voice their opposition to the Keystone XL oil pipeline, a massive project intended to carry oil sands from Alberta to Texas. Tribes object to the massive destruction and pollution caused by oil sands development, fear that a pipeline spill will harm tribal health, safety, and environment, and criticize the State Department’s failure to engage tribes in the permitting process. In large part due to the efforts of tribes, President Obama put the project on hold in February 2012, citing inadequate environmental review.

Tribal Schools Receive Awards from NWF’s Eco-Schools USA Program. This year, the STAR School in Leupp, AZ – on the Navajo Reservation – received an Eco-Schools Bronze Award from NWF as well as a Green Ribbon School award from the U.S. Department of Education. Several Navajo elementary schools – Mesa Elementary in Shiprock, Chee Dodge in Yatahey and Navajo Elementary in Navajo –are in various stages of completing the Eco-Schools Bronze award. In addition, Tohatchi High School in Tohatchi, NM became an officially registered Eco-School.

Fighting Reckless Energy Development in the Powder River Basin. The Powder River Basin is the most active area in the country for coal mining and coal bed methane development. NWF works with Tribal members from across the Northern Plains who have long-standing historical and cultural ties to the Powder River Basin landscape. We are working to create a Carbon Trust, which would provide economic incentives for the Northern Cheyenne Tribe to keep its coal in the ground and preserve its pristine habitat of grass-covered plains and rolling hills. Currently, we are rallying with Tribal members and local landowners to fight the proposed Tongue River Railroad. Stopping this new spur line will inhibit the development of new coal mines in southern Montana and the export of U.S. coal to Asian markets, which will in turn protect wildlife habitat, historic and cultural resources, and clean air and water.

The National Wildlife Federation is honored to partner with tribes on wildlife conservation. Please join us in thanking them for inspiring us “to protect wildlife for our children’s future.”

Please visit our Tribal Partnerships Program, learn more about what we do, and join us in protecting wildlife and habitat on tribal lands.

Restoring Buffalo to their Home on the Range

Sarah Pizzo — Fri, 19 Oct 2012 17:08:00 +0000

Yesterday, I drove a thousand miles across the Great Plains and saw not a single buffalo. I did see domestic cows and sheep, coal-fired power plants and wind farms, miles of power lines and fences. I saw immense open prairie; grass-covered, wind-scoured, treeless hills tumbling out to the horizon. But in a land where 30 million American bison once roamed in herds that would rival the wildebeest of the African Serengeti, we now have to go out of our way to find one.

The Great Plains spread eastward from the foothills of Wyoming (Photo by Sarah Pizzo)

If you want to know where all the bison went, ask Jason Baldes. Jason is an expert on the history of the bison, and as a Shoshone tribal member, he understands this history in a way most of us can’t.

Jason explains that the plants, animals and humans of the American prairie have been evolving together for millennia. Bison were an integral part of the prairie ecosystem: their hooves broke up the soil so seeds could germinate and their wallows – the depressions left when they rolled in the dirt – gathered rain which fed medicinal plants.

The lives of Native Americans were also inextricably tied to the bison. They followed the herds across the plains, relying on the great creatures for food, shelter and tools. They worshipped bison, performing religious ceremonies to promote its abundance and express gratitude for its ultimate sacrifice to them in the hunt.

The U.S. Army recognized this reliance in the late 19th century, when the westward movement of miners and homesteaders led to clashes with the resident Sioux, Cheyenne, Shoshone, and Arapaho. To defeat the tribes and clear the way for “Manifest Destiny,” the U.S. Army used the following tactic: eliminate the tribes’ main food source.

A herd of wild bison approach the author’s car in Yellowstone National Park (Photo by Sarah Pizzo)

A few hundred bison survived the slaughter. Some took shelter in what later became Yellowstone National Park, where they thrive today as the last source of free-roaming, genetically pure bison (i.e. not interbred with domestic cattle). When I visited the Park on a crisp autumn day last week, a small herd sauntered along the road through a flat valley of steaming geysers. I was thrilled to see a healthy group with many young. As the herd slowly swarmed my car and I rolled down the window, sounds and smells wafted in: musky damp fur, the clip-clop of hooves on pavement, grunting males and bleating calves. The raw power in their thick, swinging necks sent chills down my spine and I felt blessed to be in the presence of these rare and wonderful beings.

NWF has been working for two decades to transfer some of these Yellowstone bison – whose numbers now overwhelm the Park’s capacity – back to their native lands. Our first major victory came last spring when we helped the Fort Peck Tribes move 61 Yellowstone bison to their reservation in northeast Montana. The tribes are thrilled to have these “tatanka” home. The bison and their 21 new calves are enjoying thousands of acres of wild prairie.

Today, NWF is working with Jason and other members of the Shoshone and Arapaho tribes to move a herd of Yellowstone bison to the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming. A group of bison awaits transfer on a Montana ranch. The land and the tribes are ready to receive them. Standing in the way is a complex web of legal and political hurdles that we are working to overcome.

Late in the day on my visit to Yellowstone, I came upon a lone buffalo walking the center line of the Park’s loop road. I pulled to the shoulder to give him space to pass and he paused long enough to make eye contact. I stared with a sense of wonder and respect. His return gaze was fearless and unconcerned. And at that moment I knew: we are beginning to restore the balance.

A Yellowstone bison wanders along the Park road (Photo by Sarah Pizzo)

Please donate to the National Wildlife Federation Tribal Lands Partnerships Program to help return bison back to tribal lands.

Wind River Tribes Unite to Return Yellowstone Bison to Their Native Homeland

Guest Author — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 19:54:22 +0000

This is a guest post by Jason Baldes, a member of NWF’s Tribal Lands Advisory Council.

Yellowstone Bison in the quarantine pasture in Gardiner, Montana – Photo by Ted Wood

This week, a huge step was taken in the decades-long effort to restore Yellowstone bison to tribal lands. On the heels of the recent success of the restoration of 61 Yellowstone bison to the Fort Peck Reservation in north central Montana earlier this year, the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho Tribes passed a joint tribal council resolution calling for restoration of wild, genetically pure bison to the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming. As an Eastern Shoshone tribal member, I am extremely proud that the Shoshone and Northern Arapaho tribes have united in requesting the return of Yellowstone bison back to our reservation.

Over the past few decades, the tribes have restored six of the seven ungulate species that were historically present on our tribal lands. With today’s resolution, we are taking a huge step to restoring the last of those seven species, the bison. The resolution and an accompanying letter have been delivered to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar requesting that Yellowstone bison, currently being held on Ted Turner’s Green Ranch in Montana, be relocated to Wind River and formally asking for government-to-government consultation to make their request a reality.

Priority landscapes for bison

Yellowstone bison return to Fort Peck Reservation in Montana – Photo by Ted Wood

In May, Salazar issued a directive to Interior Department agencies instructing them to identify the priority landscapes where the bison could be restored, and it highlighted Wind River as a top option. Since the mid-1980s, we have had the opportunity to work with the National Wildlife Federation’s Tribal Lands Partnerships Program (NWF) on a variety of natural resource and wildlife conservation efforts.“The Wind River Tribes have a vast land base well-suited for bison, and they have deep historical, cultural, and ecological connections to bison,” said Garrit Voggesser, National Director of Tribal Partnerships for NWF. “They are now expressing to those that have authority over Yellowstone bison that they are ready to employ their wildlife management expertise to welcome the bison home.”

The Yellowstone bison are among the few in North America with no cattle genes. The Yellowstone area is the only place where bison have lived continuously since prehistoric times. Two centuries ago, there were more than thirty million buffalo roaming North American, but by the turn of the 19th-century, less than one hundred remained. Tribal peoples rounded up some of those bison to save them, and some of those bison became seed animals for the Yellowstone herd. Today’s decision by the Shoshone and Arapaho Tribes provides an opportunity for the historical relationship between buffalo and American Indians to come full circle, and is a huge stride toward achieving the return of bison to their Wind River homeland.

Help us get the Yellowstone Bison to Wind River

Please donate to the National Wildlife Federation Tribal Lands Partnerships Program to help get these 140 bison back to tribal lands.

For more information on NWF’s efforts to restore Yellowstone bison to tribal lands, please check out NWF’s Tribal Lands Partnerships webpage.

Shoshone Tribal Bison Representative – Jason Baldes – Photo courtesy Kelly Gorham, Montana State University

Jason Baldes is an Eastern Shoshone member, Bison Spokesperson for the Shoshone Tribe and Montana State University-Bozeman graduate student in Land Resource Sciences. Jason is a member of NWF’s Tribal Lands Advisory Council. His efforts focus on restoring genetically reputable, disease-free buffalo, managed as wildlife by tribes to tribal lands. Baldes earned a bachelor of science degree in Land Resource Analysis and Management from MSU, 2010. In addition, he is recipient of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation scholarship; STAR Fellowship, 2011 to 2013; and Native Science Fellowship, Hopa Mountain, 2011, and has been recognized by the American Indian Research Opportunities Consortium. In 2010, he was researcher for the U.S. Geological Survey, Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center, Bozeman.

Baldes, a sought after speaker, is currently an officer of the Society of American Indian Graduate Students.

Bison Get More Room to Roam on Fort Peck

Garrit Voggesser — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 19:54:22 +0000

21 bison calves were born in the last 3 months on the Fort Peck reservation

This March, the National Wildlife Federation, our tribal partners and other wildlife advocates achieved a tremendous conservation victory when 61 wild Yellowstone bison that had spent years in quarantine right outside Yellowstone National Park were relocated to the Fort Peck Reservation in northeastern Montana. Since then, 21 bison calves have been born! Partnering with the tribes, we returned wild bison to tribal lands for the first time in more than a century, reviving the tribes’ cultural and ecological connection to this American wildlife icon.

This week, the Sioux and Assiniboine Tribes of the Fort Peck Reservation have reached another conservation milestone–after being held in a temporary surveillance corral for the past four months while fencing for a larger enclosure was specially crafted, the 61 bison adults and their 21 calves will be able to freely roam within a 2,200-acre pasture.

These are the first wild Yellowstone bison to be restored to the Great Plains. Later this fall, an additional 5,120-acre pasture will be opened to the bison, allowing them access to more than 7,000 acres of their native habitat.

Bison are one of America’s most iconic species, a symbol of the West, and a vital part of our nation’s wildlife heritage. Their return to Fort Peck is a critical step forward in returning the animal to important parts of its historic range across the West. Building on this victory, NWF is working with the Wind River Tribes of Wyoming and other tribes to restore wild, genetically-pure bison. To accomplish this goal, we need your help. Together, we can bring wild bison back to the tribes and public lands, restoring them to their rightful place on America’s western landscape.

Learn more about our work at nwf.org/tribalbison

First Baby Bison Calf Born on Tribal Lands on Earth Day

Alexis Bonogofsky — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 13:21:48 +0000

Photo by Beth Pratt

On a warm and breezy Earth Day on the prairies of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in northeastern Montana, a wondrous event occurred. A bison calf was born. Why is this baby bison so special? He is the first calf born to the genetically pure Yellowstone National Park bison herd that was successfully transferred to tribal lands last month.

This amazing little bison was welcomed into the world surrounded and protected by 61 members of his extended family.

“They’ve been doing a good job of protecting him,” said the Tribes’ Buffalo Ranch Manager Tote Gray Hawk. “They don’t let him drift too far away.”

A longtime friend of mine and NWF, Jonny Bearcub Stiffarm, who works for Native Energy and is an enrolled Fort Peck Tribal member, was at the bison pasture with her grandkids and was witness to the birth.

Jonny’s grandkids, 12-year-old Jaymee and 7-year-old Joe, were the first to see the newborn bison being licked off and dried by his mom. As Jonny put it to me:

“Oh my god, Alexis, it was so beautiful and amazing. All the buffalo were in a circle protecting this brand new baby who was just wobbling around and nursing on his mom every once in a while. Jaymee and Joseph Stiffarm, Fort Peck tribe members, the first to see the first born bison of the buffalo who came home!”

Watch the Story

This mom and the rest of the herd endured a 500-mile trek from a quarantine facility outside of Yellowstone National Park to the bison pastures at Fort Peck. The tribes, NWF, and other groups have worked for years to relocate wild bison to tribal lands rather than see them sent to slaughter. Now, instead of seeing bison killed we have created a pathway for bison to thrive.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Help keep the bison roaming free on tribal lands! Please donate today to help National Wildlife Federation save bison and other wildlife >>

Amazing Photos and Video of the Return of Wild Bison to Tribal Lands

Garrit Voggesser — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 15:27:07 +0000

More than a century after they disappeared, wild bison once again roam Montana’s Northern Great Plains. On March 19, 2012, more than 60 bison were loaded onto trucks near Yellowstone National Park and driven to Montana’s Fort Peck Reservation for release into the wild. National Wildlife Federation, in partnership with the Assiniboine and Sioux tribes, spent decades working on an agreement with the state of Montana to make this happen. We envisioned a future when Yellowstone bison, the last genetically pure, free-roaming, wild bison population in the U.S., could provide animals to establish new herds across the West. That vision has now been fulfilled.

These photos and the video below capture the welcome home ceremony.

The Round Up

Bison bound for release at Fort Peck, MT are herded together.

“Tribal people have a deep historical, cultural, traditional and spiritual connection to bison that stretches back thousands of years. Yellowstone bison have a special status for us because they are the last wild, free-ranging herd with no cattle genes. The well-being of the bison and the tribes are intertwined.” ~ Mike Fox, Fort Belknap tribal council member

Driving the Bison Home

Jim & Lexi Marsh prepare to drive one of the trailers with bison bound for Fort Peck, MT.

“Special thank you to all who worked to make this happen!! You did good!!!” ~ Comment from Linda S. on National Wildlife Federation’s Facebook wall

The Bison are Released

Bison leaving the trailer at Fort Peck, MT.

“By restoring wild bison to tribal lands, we’re also restoring a landscape, a habitat, one that supports a plethora of wildlife. Simultaneously, we’re helping to re-establish Native peoples’ cultural and historic connections to wildlife and the land.” ~Garrit Voggesser, NWF’s National Director, Tribal Partnerships.

Bison leaving the trailer at Fort Peck, MT.

“The thunder of bison on the move is a huge victory. After more than two decades of work, the National Wildlife Federation and our tribal partners are celebrating the return of an iconic wildlife species to the Great Plains. The return of these wild bison to tribal lands fills a big gap in the plains ecosystem and a longtime absence in Native American culture.” ~Larry Schweiger, National Wildlife Federation president and CEO

Bison being released at Fort Peck, MT.

“After seven years of fighting, it’s nice to see them home. We’ll be able to quell people’s fears about them getting out (of the fences). A year from now, people will look and say, `Yeah, it does work.’”-Robbie Magnan, Fort Peck’s Fish and Game Department Director

The Pipe Ceremony

Tribal drum ceremony

“This means everything to us. We’ve been separated from these majestic animals and now they’re here. We’re the buffalo people, tatanka oyate. Without the bison, none of us would be here.” ~Stoney Anketell, a member of the Fort Peck tribal executive board

Video of the Bison Release:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Help support National Wildlife Federation’s ongoing work to bring wild bison back to tribal lands >>

Wild Bison Homecoming for Indian Tribes

Garrit Voggesser — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 00:00:44 +0000

Bison on the Fort Peck Reservation, credit: Ted Wood/The Story Group for NWF

By the turn of the 19th-century, less than one hundred of the original 30 million bison remained in North America. This iconic American species, it seemed, was doomed to extinction at the hands of over-hunting and the westward migration of European-Americans. While the American cavalry engaged tribal warriors in epic battles throughout the Great Plains and American West, so too did Americans wage war on bison.

As American Indians battled to protect their lives and cultures, they also fought to preserve their historical and cultural connections to buffalo. A pair of Indians from the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes in northwest Montana rounded up some of those bison to save them, and by the early 20th century the bison had grown to a herd of several hundred animals.

These bison were transferred to Canadian national parks and to ranchers in the U.S. Some eventually became seed animals for the Yellowstone herd. American Indians had saved bison from the precipice and contributed to the creation of what would become America’s only wild, genetically pure, free-roaming herd of bison. Today, the historical relationship between buffalo and American Indians comes full circle, as the bison return home to their brethren that saved them.

NWF is proud to have served alongside our tribal partners to protect and restore bison over the last couple of decades. This week, we are gratified to see the wild bison’s homecoming for Indian tribes at Fort Peck and Fort Belknap in northeastern Montana. We hope this is just the beginning of restoration of the creature know as the monarch of the plains to tribal and public lands across the West.

As a tribal partner told us:

You’ve been working to save the bison for the last twenty years, we’ve been praying for this for 120.

It is only fitting that during the very week of their return to tribal lands, NWF is also celebrating bison as one of the extraordinary species of it’s 74th annual National Wildlife Week. We know that a a better understanding and appreciation of these iconic creatures will help us continue to preserve them for our children’s future.

6 Amazing Facts You Never Knew About Bison

Judith Kohler — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 16:55:15 +0000

photo credit: Beth Pratt/NWF

The bison, shaggy behemoth of the Great Plains, despite weighing as much as a ton, can race up to 40 mph, jump up to 6 feet vertically and can quickly pivot to combat predators. Unfortunately this mighty beast is not faster than a speeding bullet.

Though the bison’s ancestors roamed the continent with saber-toothed tigers and woolly mammoths, he could not protect himself from expansion and was nearly wiped out in the late 1800s as the nation’s population moved West.

Millions of bison were slaughtered for sport, for their hides, to clear the plains for settlers and their livestock and to control the Plains tribes. Native Americans used the bison for food and clothing, shelter, tools and ceremonial implements – nearly everything to survive physically and spiritually.

Before their near extermination, an estimated 30 million to 60 million bison ranged from Canada to northern Mexico and from the Plains to Eastern forests. By about 1890, roughly 1,000 remained, including two dozen in Yellowstone National Park.

Now the tribes at Fort Peck and Fort Belknap are preparing for the arrival of 65 Yellowstone bison.

The American buffalo, also known as bison, has always held great meaning for American Indian people…buffalo represent their spirit and remind them of how their lives were once lived, free and in harmony with nature. -the InterTribal Buffalo Council

credit: D. Forehand of Montana

6 Facts about Bison:

1) Bison are North America’s largest land animals. Mature bulls weigh up to 2,000 pounds and mature cows as much as 1,000 pounds.

2) A bison stands 6 – 6.5 feet tall and 10 – 12.5 feet long.

3) A bison’s hump is composed of muscle, supported by long vertebrae. It allows the animal to use its head to plow through snow.

4) Most of the 500,000 or so bison nationwide are raised as livestock on ranches. About 30,000 are managed for conservation in private and public herds.

5) Fossils and accounts from early travelers show that Yellowstone National Park is the only place in the U.S. where bison have lived continuously since prehistoric times.

6) The Yellowstone herd is one of the few that remains genetically free of cattle genes.

Bison are finally making a comeback, and you can help. Symbolically adopt your own bison!

Wild Bison to Return Home to Tribal Lands

Garrit Voggesser — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 18:42:58 +0000

Yellowstone Bison, credit GVoggesser/NWF

More than a dozen years ago, I manned a booth in Yellowstone National Park to inform people about conservation-based solutions for protecting bison. Visitors from across the United States and around the world all had the same question: Why are buffalo being shot when they leave the park?

Since the mid-1990s, the National Wildlife Federation has been working to ensure people won’t have to ask that question. We believe restoration to other landscapes is a better management strategy to resolve livestock-wildlife conflicts. We envisioned a future when Yellowstone bison, the last genetically pure, free-roaming, wild bison population in the U.S., could provide animals to establish new herds across the West.

In 1997, we signed a memorandum of understanding with the Intertribal Bison Cooperative, the first ever conservation agreement between an environmental organization and a tribal organization, to advocate for the return of wild bison to tribal lands. NWF and the tribes shared a common vision – restoring wild bison to their historical habitat and restoring Native peoples’ cultural connections to bison. But the political opposition to the return of the bison seemed insurmountable.

A Victory for Conservation and Tribes

Room to Roam, credit Stephen C. Torbit/NWF

This winter, after 20 years, the tribes and NWF succeeded in convincing the state of Montana to transfer 68 Yellowstone bison to the Fort Peck and Fort Belknap Tribes.

This has been one of the hardest nuts to crack in wildlife conservation history. Many other large mammal species that had depleted in numbers have been restored, but not bison. By restoring bison to tribal lands and other former habitats across the country, we’re also revitalizing a landscape, habitat, and a diversity of wildlife. Simultaneously, we’re helping to re-establish Native peoples’ cultural and historic connections to wildlife and the land.

This is a win-win proposition for the tribes, the state of Montana, and the millions of Americans nationwide who want bison back where they belong. The return of wild bison to tribal lands is a major milestone in efforts to restore an iconic North American species to the landscape and restore an important element of Native American culture.

This spring, we will welcome the bison home.