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Taking Informed Action: InterTribal Buffalo Council -- Grades 9-12

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Taking Informed Action: InterTribal Buffalo Council -- Grades 9-12

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Articles and discussion prompts created by Native Knowledge 360 with the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian

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The American bison, commonly referred to as the buffalo, is much more than an important historical source of food to the Northern Plains Native Nations. Tribal histories, cultures, traditions, and spiritual lives all connected deeply to the buffalo in a reciprocal relationship. Bison provided food and other resources and Northern Plains people honored and cared for the bison through ceremonies and other cultural protocols . Before European arrival in North America it is estimated that thirty to sixty million buffalo thrived on the Plains; but, by 1900, populations numbered only in the hundreds. This dramatic decline was largely the result of calculated actions on the part of the United States to destroy the buffalo in order to subjugate Native people; without buffalo, important values, beliefs, practices, as well as the diets of Northern Great Plains Nations suffered incredible loss.

Today, Native people and Nations on the Northern Plains continue to find innovative ways to restore bison populations and protect them from threats such as commercial hunting and disease. The InterTribal Buffalo Council (ITBC) is a leader in bison revitalization . The Council believes that reintroduction of the buffalo to tribal lands can help to heal the spirit of Indian peoples and protect the traditional relationships between Indian people and the buffalo. The Council is also dedicated to helping Native Nations build economic strength through the marketing of bison as a healthy food resource.

Jed Portman, "The Great American Bison," Need To Know, PBS, May 3, 2011; InterTribal Buffalo Council, "Who We Are," ITBC, 2011; Peter Winkler, "In the Beginning, Bison," Smithsonian Zoogoer, Jan/Feb, 2014

The InterTribal Buffalo Council Mission: The InterTribal Buffalo Council includes fifty-eight tribes from nineteen states and a collective herd of over 15,000 buffalo.

InterTribal Buffalo Council, "Who We Are," ITBC, 2011

Courtesy of the InterTribal Buffalo Council

Why is it important for Native Nations of the Northern Great Plains to restore buffalo?

What are the potential challenges of building a coalition of fifty-eight different Native Nations?

Settlers and hide hunters killed buffalo to near extinction. Tourists shot the animals from the windows of trains as if the slaughter could last forever. For the U.S. Army the extinction of the bison was exclusively tied to the subjugation of the American Indians. Columbus Delano, Secretary of the Interior in 1873 said, "I would not seriously regret the total disappearance of the buffalo from our western plains, in its effect upon the Indians."

Peter Winkler, "In the Beginning, Bison," Smithsonian Zoogoer, Jan./Feb., 2014, ; J. West Phippen, "Kill Every Buffalo You Can! Every Buffalo Dead Is an Indian Gone," The Atlantic, May 13, 2016

Parts of the Buffalo Used by American Indians

Hide

Bull Boat and Paddle

Bull boat and paddle (Mandan), 1890-1905. Fort Berthold Reservation, North Dakota. NMAI 1/3884

Bladder

Porcupine Quills Bag

Bag for storing porcupine quills (Lakota/Western Sioux), circa 1900. Standing Rock Reservation, NMAI 12/2311

Bone

Sled

Sled (Sioux), circa 1900. South Dakota. NMAI 22/9158

Hair

Rope

Rope (Apsaalooke/Crow), circa 1880. Montana. NMAI 1/6609

Hide

Women's Legging Moccasins

Women's legging moccasins (Northern Cheyennne), circa 1890. Oklahoma 10/5862

How would you describe the manner in which Native Americans utilized buffalo?

What did settlers gain from the buffalo?

How does the settler's use of buffalo compare with the ways in which Native Nations rely on the buffalo?

One summer a long time ago, the seven sacred council fires of the Lakota Sioux came together and camped. The sun was strong, and the people were starving for there was no game. Two young men went out to hunt . . . Along the way, the two men met a beautiful young woman dressed in white; she floated as she walked. The woman told the Lakota about the value of the buffalo . . . As she walked away, she rolled over four times. Then, she turned into a white female buffalo calf. It is said, after this important day . . . the buffalo were plentiful. Many believe the birth of the buffalo calf "Miracle" in the United States on August 20, 1994 symbolizes the coming together of humanity . . .

Kiowa Buffalo Dance, 1940-1960. Al Momaday (Kiowa), New Mexico. Watercolor on canvas board. NMAI 259003

"Hunt and harvest the Trophy Buffalo you'll want to hang on your wall... Year round, we offer awesome World Record Class Trophy Buffalo Hunts. There are no seasonal restrictions on hunting the Buffalo, or White Bison, in Texas, which makes it a suitable trophy year round. Our White Buffalo bulls weigh 1200-1500lbs, and have horns in the 17-20 inch ranch... your white buffalo trophy will be huge!"

How would you describe the values reflected in these images?

Troy Heinert (ITBC Range Technician) has been in Rosebud, SD, the past few days helping Wayne Frederick and RST crew work 2014 surplus bison "on hold" so they can be released out into the pasture.

ITBC, Facebook, October 31, 2014

Courtesy of the InterTribal Buffalo Council

How would you describe the mood of this photograph?

What inferences can you make about the relationship between range technicians and the buffalo they are reintroducing into the herd?

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InterTribal Buffalo Council | Teacher Resource

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Explore this interactive case study on Native coalitions taking informed action. Discover how the Intertribal Buffalo Council organizes, plans, and acts in order to strengthen ties to culture by navigating visuals and quotes and considering discussion questions.

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Patti Baldes: Yellowstone Tribal Heritage Center, Photography and Buffalo Boxes

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Patti Baldes: Yellowstone Tribal Heritage Center, Photography and Buffalo Boxes

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Patti Baldes discusses her work with the Yellowstone Tribal Heritage Center, her photography, and explains the different uses of parts and items found in a Buffalo Box. Buffalo Box starts at minute 5:30

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(upbeat music) - Yellowstone National Park marked its 150th anniversary in 2022.

Part of that commemoration was the creation of the Yellowstone Tribal Heritage Center.

Our guest today, Patti Baldes, is one of 27 representatives of American Indian tribes with cultural and historic connections to Yellowstone.

She's a photographer and an expert on Yellowstone buffalo.

I'm Steve Peck on Wyoming PBS.

This is "Wyoming Chronicle."

(bright music continues and ends) - [Announcer] Funding for "Wyoming Chronicle" is made possible in part by Wyoming Humanities, enhancing the Wyoming narrative to promote engaged communities and improve our quality of life.

And by the members of Wyoming PBS.

Thank you for your support.

- [Steve] As the 150th anniversary of Yellowstone National Park's creation neared in 2022, park leaders established a new permanent addition to the nation's first national park, the Yellowstone Tribal Heritage Center.

There, representatives of 27 different American Indian tribes, each with historic ties to the Yellowstone region, host continuing tribal cultural presentations for park visitors.

One of the original presenters is Patti Baldes, director of the Wind River Native Advocacy Center in Fort Washakie.

This year she'll be back for her third season in Yellowstone.

She says the Park Heritage Center is helping restore her sense of belonging in a place important to her people long before any white men ever laid eyes on the Yellowstone country.

- It's quite amazing, because I think the whole point of this was for tribes to feel more at home, and I do.

Before coming to Yellowstone, before this all happened, it would be a show 'em your card at the gate and get through as fast as you can.

You're a tourist in your own home.

And I wasn't really sure how to...

I really, I guess I wasn't really sure at all that I felt something towards that until this happened and this came about, because now I definitely know what it feels like for it to be home.

I feel like I can share with the space that's here and not feel limited in what I can say or how I say it or how I look when I do that.

So the space that's been given or, you know, shared is very important to me, and I believe for all of those that come here to share.

- Before this happened, as you describe it, did you think a lot about Yellowstone?

You were from Wyoming, down the road to the south of the park.

Well, how big an issue, a factor was it in your general thinking about where you live and...?

- Well, I suppose I thought of it as somewhat of an amusement park.

I mean, almost to the point of a museum type place.

It all seemed very, I don't know, pedestaled and stroked and it didn't feel really honest to who we were.

I mean, we'd giggle and look at each other at a lot of things as young girls to understand that like how we're thought to be.

What it's done is kind of given me a good sanding so I can really grab onto what it has to offer as well.

Because I wasn't even allowing that, because it felt kind of like a place that- - Here's what we're supposed to do when we're at Yellowstone.

- And I heard someone speak this past weekend, and she's a great someone actually, Winona LaDuke, and she was in this area, in the Jackson area, and she was wondering, "Do they actually like Native Americans, or they just like Native things?"

And so I try to think of that in a way since those few days ago, and try to put myself out there as a way so as I am, I guess, obviously Native things, but there's a lot more to share that has a lot more to do than, I guess, the idea of Natives and where we fit in a place like this.

- Well, where do you fit in a place like this?

What do we know about the historic uses of Yellowstone by tribal peoples?

- The things that are all around us are very much storytellers in their own way.

And in paying attention to those things, the trees, the animals, the dirt, the rocks, the wind, the fire, and feeling like we weren't ever wandering in this area.

We knew right where to go for medicines and foods, and, you know, of course growing up I didn't think much about that at all.

A lot of the time things we were told by older folks about stories for our ancestors, I just had that in me to kind of think they were full of it, because a lot of it didn't seem that way, you know, in how I was growing up and what they were told.

They were like completely different trails and almost in the different directions.

- The two areas of your residencies, we're calling it, where you're here spending the day for a week here at the end of the park season, greeting people who come in and want to just talk to you about what you know and who you are.

And you have a couple of different emphases.

One is photography, and we can see many of your photos here in the shot that we're in.

And you have on a table that we'll be looking at later in the show, something that you have titled "buffalo box."

I think people know what photography is.

I do want to talk to you about that some more.

When you say "buffalo box," what is that and what does it mean to you?

- It has parts of the buffalo in it, from hide to sinew, bones, and tools, things, the items that were made into tools, and all of those items we use to share with students of all ages to help connect, to help understand a little bit more about who we are and why we are the way we are.

So there's just less of, like, I spoke of it before, less pedestalling, less stroking of feathers and beads, and, you know, buckskin.

So this helps me help other humans connect to this animal, knowing that as a keystone species, the ripples help all of us.

So it is the bones, the teeth.

So talking about all of those parts and how it's like an extension of you rather than something very special or extra.

I mean, it really was just right there for our use.

- And here's the box itself, and what we're seeing on the table are things that theoretically could have come out of the buffalo box.

Begin with the container itself.

Tell us about that.

- So this box was made by a gentleman in Pine Ridge.

His name is Larry Belitz.

He's an older gentleman.

Amazing work he does.

He does so many things.

I was able to visit him once, and he builds lodges out of buffalo hide.

And I imagine he's probably built hundreds of these boxes for people- - They're made of hide.

- across the nation.

Yes.

Made out of a buffalo hide.

And it just holds all kinds of goodies that normally would be inside a living one.

So we'll start here.

These are bladders.

These bladders were in other boxes.

This one actually came from a buffalo that we had harvested this summer.

- And it's been inflated.

- It's been inflated, - Some rather like a balloon, except it's rigid once it's dry.

- Once it dries.

And it's a perfectly great natural container.

So we would use this for water.

- So here's the question.

How do you blow up a buffalo bladder?

- Well, it's kind of crazy.

It does look just like a balloon that's deflated.

It's just this soft, mushy piece of guck, and you find the right spot and you blow it up.

Yes.

(chuckles) - Like that.

- Yes.

You do just that.

I mean, just depending on your perspective, it's about the cleanest it could be, but it is still kind of a bladder.

- So we see the bladder here in several different forms, one fully inflated, one partially.

What's the significance of the partially inflated?

- Well, this one was like this, and it's just been in our box for a couple years, so it got kind of banged up.

But this could definitely be rehydrated.

- It could, yeah.

- And blown right back up to full size.

And once you put water in there, for sure it would, the weight of it would.

These are also, like this is a big bladder here, and you can tell.

So if this was folded in the same way, it would be very small, more like this size.

So it's flattened and folded into somewhat of an envelope.

And so this one actually is holding some porcupine quills, and we could put anything we'd want to, you know, keep together, but the sharp things, you know, specifically needles and porcupine quills.

- And this is authentic.

This was done.

- This was all, yeah, all done.

We didn't go to the store.

(chuckles) Here we have sinew.

That's found on the back.

There's a big flat piece that is taken from towards the back of the buffalo, back through here.

- [Steve] That's teased out sort of.

- [Patti] Once we get it out, you can get it out in a big flat piece, and you would slap it on something flat and let it dry in a good way, and then you rehydrate them if you need to, but it's great thread.

Anything, and it's very strong.

I imagine you could even use dental floss.

The cool thing about all of this stuff and what I would like to share with young kids or anyone, it takes who you are inside to find connection to these parts.

And I could, you know, go and talk until I'm blue in the face about what I know, but there might be something inside of you that has a great tool or a great use for these things as well, and that's what connection does.

And using all these parts is a way for us to honor this being after they're gone.

So this is a rib.

The ribs are pretty...

They were used for many things.

A lot of times they were used for skill building, for hunting, for gathering food.

So, you know, we didn't have the guns then.

And small animals are probably a lot harder to hit with a bow arrow than a larger one.

So grouse, rabbits, you would teach yourself, but you'd get good at like throwing these at these animals, stunning them so you could get to them.

They could also be lashed together in a way if they were all from the same side.

And sleds, you'd carry your dogs, your babies, your tools.

This here are the horns.

This looks like this is a bull's horn, and this is a female's horn, a male and a female.

You can usually tell the difference.

The base of a bull's horn is a lot bigger and tapers down, where the cow's almost stays about the same, you know, circumference all the way up until the point.

- Now is it hollow?

- They're hollow.

They're also natural containers, so you could use this to drink out of.

Made out of hair, like an antelope, a pronghorn.

But the buffalo keep their horns their whole life, the sheath, where antelope do shed theirs.

- It was used to transport, am I right about this, fire sometimes?

- Well, yeah, you can... - Warm, or at least coals inside.

- Right.

- Well, to keep you warm while you're traveling, and to maybe to light a fire once you got to a destination.

- Yeah, it's quite the utensil there.

(chuckles) So this is also a horn.

So this would've come like this.

My husband actually made this one.

- [Steve] I'm gonna tell you what it looks like.

You tell me what it's for, and then I'll tell you what it looks like to me.

- Well, it is a spoon.

- A spoon.

- It's a spoon.

In my tribe, Northern Arapaho Tribe, it's called heebiyoo, and it's considered a living, animate object.

This is something we would keep with us at a very young age throughout our lives and make it our own.

Yeah, yeah.

It's very important.

- [Steve] It reminds me of a shoehorn.

- [Patti] For real.

(chuckles) See?

- [Steve] And maybe that's where the name comes from.

- [Patti] Yeah, for real.

- [Steve] First ones were made of, actually where shoe horns.

- [Patti] And this is also a spoon or a ladle type, also made out of a horn, but a very big one, a very big bull.

Probably close to a 10-year-old bull.

That one is pretty big.

Also from the keratin family are the hooves.

These hooves are quite special.

You do kind of overlap as you can see.

They kind of rub their own little way.

So when a buffalo walks, they move like this, but they have this curve that naturally aerates the ground when they walk, so they don't smoosh down good plants and things.

And also this bottom part here, maybe not used by my tribe so much, but the northern tribes, a caribou's hoof is quite similar.

And you'd cut this bottom part out, and it naturally fits the curve of your face.

So we would make glasses, and they would cut a slit to prevent snow blindness.

And also there is the magic inside of these is a bunch of collagen, so we'll make hoof soup.

I've had hoof soup.

Was lucky enough to learn how to make it with milkweed pods, and delicious.

But it's very good for you.

Here we have some wool.

Let's see.

I have another piece maybe.

But the buffalo hair is considered wool.

It has seven times more hair per square inch than a cow does, and, you know, they're able to live all the way from the north, all the way to as far south as we could.

- [Steve] And turn and face the cold wind.

- They do.

And, you know, they face that storm, I think, to get through it quicker, but, you know, they're just a smaller-backed animal.

- Yeah.

That's where the wool is.

- Right.

And that big hump is full of muscle that is able to move that big head back and forth through the snow and find the food they need to.

So this cord, you can make cordage.

It's very strong, and we're just trying to find more folks that know how to work with that stuff so we can make more tools for ourselves.

This is part of a bone, scapula here.

This is actually quite beautiful polished, and this is something that Larry had made in the box.

This is something.

This is a scapula.

This one's kind of beat up (chuckles) and a little dry, but we'll set them out to dry, and this is one of the only bones in the buffalo's body that's flat.

So this part here is very valuable.

We would cut it out to make forks, needles, fish hooks.

The kids always wanna make an oar out of it.

- If I'm a buffalo, the scapula are here.

- Yeah, yeah, right here on the front of the shoulders.

This is a part of the beard, part of the buffalo's beard.

Both females and males have them, but the males' can get pretty long.

As much as we don't like to name our buffalo, we do have one guy that we call Buffalo Goodbeard because he spread seeds like crazy, and you can just see his beard full of pollen.

Here we have soap.

- Soap.

- Buffalo tallow.

So we definitely were able to soap up years and years and years ago, and you can definitely mix it with the sages or sweet grasses or anything that you'd find to make it smell how you'd want it to.

Not like this, of course.

- [Steve] But another example of using everything, - Everything.

You know, you'd use this for fire.

A lot of these are used, and the buffalo scat is used for our ceremonies.

A certain number amount that are used.

I'm not specifically aware of that protocol, but we've had healers and people come out to gather that for our ceremonies.

And we have a tail here.

This one's been done up pretty well.

So it's on a stick.

Fly swatters, definitely.

Definitely, you could use this to clean things, you know?

- That's what they use them for.

Yeah.

- And like I said, if you found a good use for that, and of course, you know, we even actually have a couple tails on regalia, or, you know, jackets, just something that you'd like to wear.

Here we have, this is probably one of my favorite parts of the buffalo.

These are the foot bones.

These four are in each of the feet, and they kind of fit here somewhat like this maybe.

So this was a toy area of the buffalo.

So these are little ponies, or little buffalo that run around.

So you'd have quite a herd, you know, depending if your dad or mom were really good hunters, you could have a lot of those.

This is a really cool part, the smaller bone.

And these were also toys, but the size is really perfect for infants to grab onto.

It's knobby.

And when they're teething, they could grab onto this, and this part in particular they would rub it on their gums and chew.

But it's just the right size.

They can't choke on it either.

But they won't drop it.

- Reminds me, that's what worry bone almost too.

- Sure.

- Just a comforting thing just to have in your hand.

- One of the, I think maybe why that's my favorite part is we were doing a presentation in Lame Deer once, and one of the elders came up afterwards, and it's always a little, you always feel a little shaky presenting in front of elders and you don't wanna mess up and you don't wanna be disrespectful.

And he came walking up right afterwards, and he pulled a pony out of his pocket that he had had since he was a young boy.

Those are really cool.

These are some teeth.

When buffalo get older, their teeth get fuller, and then what I mean is more solid.

You can see some of these are hollow.

You can see right inside.

Like this is a good one.

So, you know, those were used for decoration as well.

It really is up to you.

I mean, in this day and age too, we're still learning, and what we say a lot in our ceremonies, or just trying to get to a good place of finding our, meeting our identity, is we know what we don't know.

But you have to participate or meet your prayer halfway to find that out.

- Well, there's no manual that says this must be used this way and only this way.

- No.

- It's whatever you can make of it.

- So here we have some bones.

This is from the hump bone.

It is dried, and then the outer layer is scraped off.

But this is a paintbrush.

It's very porous, and able to hold a bunch of paint.

Yes.

This is from a bone, probably the shin bone, one of the leg bones, and an awl.

So we have some tape on there.

That should go in the bladder bag.

And this is just a stick made to move to use for our hide glue.

The glue, which would come from, which I forgot, the hooves.

- Hooves as well.

- Yeah.

We would boil these down to make glue.

- [Steve] It reminds me of a honey stick.

- It does look a honey stick.

- The same concept.

- Yeah.

- [Steve] You'd drizzle the glue where you needed it.

- Sure.

Here we have dew claws.

They would be used as decoration.

They make great sounds.

We put them on our powwow regalia.

Maybe even if a bunch of them strung together to make somewhat of a doorbell outside your lodge, 'cause there's a really lovely sound when they make that.

And you can actually kind of hear those.

- Yeah.

I can hear.

- And these, when they walk.

Here's a hide scraper.

Very important tool.

Like the right angle here, and like, you know, scraping through.

The buffalo's hide around his neck and his hump, it's about an inch thick, so this came in very handy in that area of the hide.

- So we're seeing everything from containment, containers, hauling things, storing things, carrying things, making things, eating, entertainment, play, and that's just some of the things we can think of.

- Right.

- And many more than that.

- For sure.

The one thing I don't have here is in another buffalo box is a stomach.

They have four stomachs.

It very much interests me.

So being able to take them apart, learning how to cook them and prepare them, but even just get them to that point, it's a lot of work.

Kind of find out what you're made of.

(chuckles) So, but it's so interesting.

You know, we didn't have pots and pans, so the stomach was very important.

- As a vessel.

- To use as a vessel for that.

You know, we'd hang it on a tripod and put in the meat and the berries, or, you know, the sage, and next to this tripod would have a fire burning, and the hot rocks would be dropped into this vessel, and it would cook inside the stomach.

And the stomach is so thick.

I have gotten one down, actually when you first take it out of the animal, it's probably about that thick, pretty heavy.

And I have gotten it down to where it looks like Teflon tape, and that huge thing comes down to this little ball, and clear, and it's a huge water vessel.

- Using this?

- Just taking it apart with my hands.

- I see.

- It's very interesting how the meat grows around the stomach.

The big one, it's kind of like spaghetti.

It's like spaghetti meat, like strings of meat that you can pull off.

It just goes on and on, it feels like.

(chuckles) - For many people, Yellowstone is the place where you can come and see a big herd of bison as they're called here, buffalo as they're more commonly called elsewhere.

And we're gonna use that term.

But this is something you know a lot about outside Yellowstone, because you're deeply involved in the reintroduction, the restoration of the buffalo into areas of Wyoming that aren't Yellowstone.

- Mm hmm.

I'm lucky enough to know a guy.

(chuckles) So my husband, Jason Baldes, was very instrumental in reintroducing buffalo or bison back to our reservation.

He's Eastern Shoshone.

The Northern Arapaho Tribe has also reintroduced a herd.

They can see each other across the river, so we laugh and say like we can wave across and see our family.

- What's your tribal affiliation?

- Oh, I'm an enrolled Northern Arapaho, and my mother is a Northern Paiute.

Since that happened, the first 10 came in 2016, there hadn't been buffalo there for close to 135 years, at least harvested by a tribal member.

This last year and the year before buffalo were harvested for our ceremonies, our sun dances.

They're harvested for, they like to feed the community.

And with their reintroduction, the important thing to remember is that we want them to be buffalo.

- And you spend a fair amount of time in their presence, right?

- Right.

- So you hear them and smell 'em and watch 'em and... - Yes.

- Touch 'em sometimes?

- (chuckling) I haven't.

No.

- I know that's not recommended, but- - (chuckling) No, yeah, they're in our backyard.

They're right there.

Before the buffalo came in a way where we were almost like we're they're caretakers, we get to be near them.

And it was just funny, 'cause they're mostly like our caretakers.

But it was so exciting.

It's still exciting waking up and looking out the window and seeing one down in the field.

It's exciting to see the babies.

- [Steve] Well, it's a great animal to photograph, one of the very, very best.

How'd you get interested in photography?

- Oh, well, I remember being very young, and it was mostly around Christmas time with the Polaroid, but I almost wanted to crawl in the tree every year, and just feel like, get shots of the inside and what it looked like outside, because it's such a joyous time.

- And a camera's a great thing to get as a gift when you're a little kid, isn't it?

Just, it's all yours and no one can make you take the picture.

You can do what you want with it.

- I've been gifted cameras since then, and all of my photos really are of buffalo and flowers and the land.

I rarely take pictures of people, except my husband.

I mentioned I like to take pictures of pretty things, and he's definitely one of those to me.

- Or when you do, you can't exactly tell who you're seeing.

- Right, exactly.

- Is that him?

- That's him.

- That's him.

I wondered about that.

What do you want people to get from your presentation when they come in here and spend 10 or 15 minutes with you?

- Oh, I'd hope they could find something relatable, something that they can walk out and maybe share with someone that they met a Native person that wasn't what they expected.

I like to be funny.

I like to laugh with people, and I definitely like just to share a calm, fun way rather than having anyone treat me differently just because I'm tribal.

- What do you think their expectations of you might have been?

Does anyone end up being astonished at the way you are?

- I feel like they maybe expect a little more- - [Steve] This pedestal sort of thing?

- Like a flute music, and, you know, like, "Come in."

And when I am not that way- - In person.

- Encourage them.

Yes, encourage them to touch everything, ask the wrong questions.

It's important for me to have them see me how I would want to see them, in a comfortable way I guess.

- There was some thinking that went into creating the Tribal Heritage Center, better representation of tribal heritage at Yellowstone coinciding with 150th anniversary.

How do you think the park's doing with that?

Are you satisfied at least with the direction that it's going?

- I am.

The relationships that I've made seem honest.

I feel, like I mentioned before, I do feel like I can speak as I am and not have any compromise or contortion to make the whole project work.

And it's nice.

It's nice to sit and visit with Cam Sholly.

- This is the park superintendent.

- Superintendent, yes.

In a very honest, real way.

I don't think that anything is perfect by any means, but the real try and the generosity, I think from both sides is going to make it be better.

- Patti Baldes, I've really been pleased to talk with you today.

I feel I've learned a lot from you.

I'm sure visitors coming to see you here will feel the same, and I thank you for being with us on "Wyoming Chronicle."

- Thank you.

(bright upbeat music)

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Wyoming Chronicle | Tribal Voice in Yellowstone | Season 15 | Episode 18 | PBS

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Patti Baldes brings an authentic voice to Yellowstone National Park.

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Madison Buffalo Jump -- Virtual Tour with Dr. Shayne Doyle

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Madison Buffalo Jump -- Virtual Tour with Dr. Shayne Doyle

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Share your videos with friends, family, and the world

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Wind River Tribal Buffalo Initiative -- Traditional Uses of the Buffalo

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Wind River Tribal Buffalo Initiative -- Traditional Uses of the Buffalo

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Abstract

Ethnopharmacological relevance

It is becoming increasingly clear that ethnopharmacology cannot be disassociated from food production, human nutrition and the conservation of the biodiversity that constitutes its resource base.

Aim of the study

This paper aims to provide a perspective of ethnopharmacology that explicitly extends the range of disciplines it covers so as to embrace food and nutrition and the biodiversity basis, both wild and agricultural, and also places it in the context of the dramatic changes to our planet that we are experiencing during a period of rapid global change and the impacts that these changes are having on human health and nutrition and on its resource base.

Materials and methods

A review is made of recent initiatives and developments that show linkages between ethnopharmacology, agriculture, food production, nutrition and biodiversity conservation.

Results

Ethnopharmacology, biodiversity, agriculture, food and nutrition are inextricably linked but suffer from compartmentalization and a lack of communication which have to be overcome if progress is to be made. Fortunately, a convergence of interest between the agricultural biodiversity and the biodiversity conservation sectors has emerged in recent years and there is an increased appreciation of the need to adopt a wider approach to human nutrition than the conventional agricultural model allows; there is also a greater awareness of the important role played by diversity of crops, especially local species, and consumption of wild species in achieving balanced nutrition. An increased recognition of the key role of local communities in managing agricultural biodiversity is evident. While ethnopharmacologists have expressed concern at the relentless loss of biodiversity, there has been little direct involvement but it is perhaps now time to consider a more proactive role. Attention is also drawn to the need to assess the implications of global change for ethnopharmacology.

Conclusions

Ethnopharmacologists need to take much more cognizance of the fate of the resource base - the plants, animals and microorganisms - and of the actions being undertaken under the auspices of treaties, such as the Conservation on Biological Diversity and its Global Strategy for Plant Conservation, and the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, to counter its degradation and loss. In addition, they should play a more active role in determining the actions needed to assess, monitor and conserve the resource base. Although it has been suggested that the 'golden days' of ethnopharmacology may be over, it is proposed that by embracing the challenges of broadening the remit so as to include the health aspects of wild biodiversity employed in nutrition, a new 'golden age' beckons. The paper concludes with some suggestions for action.

Introduction

'No broadly informed scientist can be optimistic about the long-term future of humankind without assuming we will soon recalibrate human numbers, wants, needs, and actions with the requisites of ecology within a finite biosphere'. D. Orr (2005).

This paper offers a perspective of ethnopharmacology that places it in the context of the dramatic changes to our planet that we are experiencing during a period of rapid global change and the impacts that these changes are having on human health and nutrition and on its resource base - biodiversity. Ethnopharmacology has been defined as a 'a multidisciplinary area of research concerned with the observation, description, and experimental investigation of indigenous drugs and their biological activity' (Rivier and Bruhn, 1979) and as Fabricant and Farnsworth (2001) note, it is highly diversified in approach and based on botany, chemistry, biochemistry, pharmacology, and many other disciplines such as anthropology, archaeology, history and linguistics that contribute to the discovery of natural products with biological activity.

In that it has to do with people's health, ethnopharmacology cannot be disassociated from human nutrition (Chivian and Bernstein, 2008). This is reflected in the growing use of vitamin supplementation and biofortification to address the problem of micronutrient deficiency, the widespread interest in and commercialization of nutraceuticals (Heinrich et al., 2006a, Heinrich et al., 2006b, Wildman, 2007, Wildman, 2009, Keservani et al., 2010) and the increasing demand in recent years for 'functional foods' that confer health benefits (Riezzo et al., 2005, Stanton et al., 2005, Wildman and Kelley, 2007). 1 The use of traditional medicine is closely linked with issues of human nutrition, especially in the case of indigenous peoples: as Darrell Posey (1999) reminded us, it is important to recognize that the distinctions between food, medicine and health are Western ones and for many indigenous and traditional peoples make little sense - foods are medicines and vice versa. This is echoed in recent reports by the World Bank (2007) and other bodies. The relationship between human health, nutrition and biodiversity is, however, still poorly understood by the general public and also by many scientists (Chivian and Bernstein, 2008, Wilson, 2008), thus emphasising the need for a joined-up approach as discussed below.

The perspective adopted in this paper explicitly extends the range of disciplines covered by ethnopharmacology so as to embrace food and nutrition and the biodiversity basis, both wild and agricultural. In dedicating this paper to the memory of Nina Etkin, I recall that the pharmacological potential of foods in the specific cultural contexts in which they are used around the world was the subject of her books Eating on the Wild Side (1994) and Edible Medicines. An Ethnopharmacology of Food (2006). In these and other works, she made an important contribution to our understanding of the links between biology and culture, describing the interface between diet, medicine, and natural products.

Given that biological diversity - of plants, animals and microorganisms - provides the raw material for ethnopharmacology, it is reasonable to suggest that its practitioners be aware of the major developments that are taking place in biodiversity assessment and conservation as well as the fate of biodiversity itself. As discussed later, 2010 was the International Year of Biodiversity and also the year in which the Convention on Biological Diversity failed to meet its major conservation goal of a significant slowdown in biodiversity loss. In addition, because of the linkages between ethnopharmacology and nutrition, they should also note the changes that are occurring in agricultural biodiversity and food production and the Programmes and Decisions of the relevant treaties, not just the Convention on Biological Diversity, but the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA, 2004) and the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD, 2009).

Section snippets

Linkages between biodiversity, agriculture, human nutrition and health

Ethnopharmacology, biodiversity, agriculture, health, food and nutrition are all inextricably interconnected as noted above but the way our science is organized makes it difficult to establish the necessary linkages or make them work effectively. As Sands et al. (2009) note, 'The traditional fields of research have diverged into disparate and often poorly communicating scientific disciplines such as food science, plant genetics and breeding, plantpathology, soil science, nutrition, toxicology,

Food production, nutrition and health

'Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.' (World Food Summit Plan of Action, 1996).

'Global agricultural policy relating to human health has largely been directed at issues of food safety and within this remit has been reasonably successful. It has not effectively addressed the far greater agricultural effect on health, namely its

Global change and ethnopharmacology

'Scientific and societal unknowns make it difficult to predict how global environmental changes such as climate change and biological invasions will affect ecological systems', Hellmann et al. (2008).

Ethnopharmacology does not exist in a vacuum and is subject to many effects of global change on biodiversity and human populations, especially the effects of increasing levels of CO 2 in increasing surface temperatures and changes in weather patterns and the potential consequences for human health,

Conclusions

Approaches to issues of human nutrition and health have become increasingly interdisciplinary, reflecting the linkages between biodiversity and agriculture, food production, nutrition, diet and human health. The importance of wild and agricultural biodiversity in addressing the problems of nutrition and malnutrition involves a range of topics such as the role of traditional agricultural systems, home gardens, vegetable production, underutilized species and wild gathering of local species, all

Anderson, E.N., 1993. Southeast Asian gardens: nutrition, cash and ethnicity. Biotica, nueva época...

Anderson, E.N., 1993. Gardens in tropical America and tropical Asia. Biotica, nueva época...

Anon., 2010. Hunger: For what, why, and what to do? [Editorial] World Nutrition, May 2010; 1,...

Batal, M., Hamadeh, S., Hwalla, N., Kabbani, N., Talhouk, S., 2007. Wild Edible Plants: promoting dietary diversity in...

Billé, R., Kleitz, G., Chabason, L., Chiarolla, C., 2010. Should we be disappointed by the Year of Biodiversity? In:...

Bouis, H.E., 2010. Plenary lecture. Biofortification. The First Global Conference: From Discovery to Delivery. November...

Convention on Biological Diversity COP 10 Decision X/17. X/17.Consolidated update of the Global Strategy for Plant...

CBD Secretariat, 2010. Global Biodiversity Outlook 3. Global Biodiversity Outlook 3. Secretariat of the Convention on...

Sustaining Life. How Human Health Depends on Biodiversity

Crops for the Future, 2008. Crops for the Future: paths out of poverty. Global Facilitation Unit for. Underutilized...

Home gardens-a genetic resources perspective

Eating on the Wild Side

Home gardens agrobiodiversity: an overview across regions

IPGRI's strategy for neglected and. underutilized species and the human dimension of agrobiodiversity

FairWild
FairWild Standard: Version 2.0
FairWild Foundation

Las plantas en la cultura popular de la provincia de Albacete

FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations)
Global Plan of Action for the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture

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The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2006

FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations), 2010a. The State of Food Insecurity in the World....

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Ethnopharmacology, food production, nutrition and biodiversity conservation: Towards a sustainable future for indigenous peoples

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It is becoming increasingly clear that ethnopharmacology cannot be disassociated from food production, human nutrition and the conservation of the bio...

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Cultural plant biodiversity in relict wallow-like depressions on the Wind River Indian Reservation, Wyoming, & tribal bison restoration and policy

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MSU uses DSpace software, copyright © 2002-2017 Duraspace. For library collections that are not accessible, we are committed to providing reasonable accommodations and timely access to users with disabilities. For assistance, please submit an accessibility request for library material.

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Jason Baldes: Buffalo Restoration Key to Wildlife Economy

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Jason Baldes, executive director of the Wind River Tribal Buffalo Initiative & an Eastern Shoshone tribal member, wants to bring buffalo back onto tribal lands.

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Check out the amazing work happening on the Wind River Reservation.

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Millions of Buffalo once roamed the Great Plains of America. They were integral to the ecosystem of prairies and the Native peoples who long called them home.

Buffalo provided food, clothing, and shelter, and were essential in the spiritual ceremonies of Tribes. Nearly every part of the animal was used, including horns, meat, and tail hairs.

As we work to restore the Buffalo, a process of renewal and healing begins that balances human, animal, and environmental health.

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Restoring connection with the Buffalo. Our mission is land rematriation and youth education through Buffalo restoration.

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Yellowstone Bison: Conserving an American Icon in Modern Society

Edited by P.J. White, Rick L. Wallen, and David E. Hallac

This book examines the history of bison conservation and management in the United States, compiles the latest scientific information about Yellowstone bison, and discusses both the opportunities for and challenges to plains bison conservation within the Greater Yellowstone Area and across their historic range.

The authors outline the multi-jurisdictional partnerships tasked with successful bison management and offer a candid assessment for moving forward with bison conservation. The book is important not only for the information it provides, but for the framework it creates for engendering strong, diverse-stakeholder conservation partnerships in modern society.

Published by Yellowstone Forever (formerly Yellowstone Association).

Download a copy (4.6 MB PDF)
Purchase a copy (via Yellowstone Forever)

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Duration:

6 minutes, 55 seconds

Yellowstone is the only place in the United States where bison (Bison bison) have lived continuously since prehistoric times. Yellowstone bison are exceptional because they comprise the nation's largest bison population on public land. Unlike most other herds, this population has thousands of individuals that are allowed to roam relatively freely over the expansive landscape of Yellowstone National Park and some nearby areas of Montana. They also exhibit wild behavior like their ancient ancestors, congregating during the breeding season to compete for mates, as well as migration and exploration that result in the use of new habitat areas. These behaviors have enabled the successful restoration of a population that was on the brink of extinction just over a century ago.

However, some Yellowstone bison are infected with brucellosis, a livestock disease that can be transmitted to wild bison and elk as well as to cattle through contact with infected fetal tissue. To prevent conflicts with ranching and other activities outside the park, the National Park Service (NPS) works with other federal, state, and tribal agencies to manage and develop policies for bison access to habitat in Montana. Conservation of wild bison is one of the most complex of Yellowstone's resource issues. All of the interested parties bring their own wide-ranging values and objectives to the debate.

Number in Yellowstone

Around 5,900 bison counted in summer 2022. This includes two primary breeding herds: northern (~4,460) and central (~1,360).

Where to See

Year-round: Hayden and Lamar valleys.

Summer: grasslands.

Winter: hydrothermal areas and along the Madison River. Blacktail Deer Plateau, Tower, and the Gardiner Basin.

Size and Behavior

Male (bull) weighs up to 2,000 pounds, female (cow) weighs up to 1,000 pounds.

May live 12-15 years, a few live as long as 20 years.

Feed primarily on grasses and sedges.

Mate in late July through August; give birth to one calf in late April or May.

Can be aggressive, are agile, and can run up to 30 miles per hour.

History

Yellowstone is the only place in the lower 48 states to have a continuously free-ranging bison population since prehistoric times.

In the 1800s, market hunting and the US Army nearly caused the extinction of the bison.

By 1902, poachers reduced Yellowstone's herd to about two dozen animals.

The US Army, who administered Yellowstone at the beginning of the 20th century, protected these bison from further poaching.

Bison from private herds were used to establish a herd in northern Yellowstone.

For decades, bison numbers were reduced due to belief that they, along with elk and pronghorn, were over-grazing the park.

By 1968, herd reductions of bison ceased.

Reductions began again in the 2000s due to increasing numbers and litigation about migration into Montana.

Bull bison bellow during rutting season to display their dominance.
NPS / Jim Peaco

Description

Bison are the largest land-dwelling mammal in North America. Males (2,000 lbs/900 kg) are larger than females (1,100 lbs/500 kg) and both are generally dark chocolate-brown in color, with long hair on their forelegs, head, and shoulders, but short, dense hair (1 in/3 cm) on their flanks and hindquarters. Calves of the year are born after 9 to 9-½ months of gestation. They are reddish-tan at birth and begin turning brown after 2-½ months. Both sexes have relatively short horns that curve upward, with male's averaging slightly longer than those of adult females.

All bison have a protruding shoulder hump. Large shoulder and neck muscles allow bison to swing their heads from side-to-side to clear snow from foraging patches, unlike other ungulates that scrape snow away with their front feet. Bison are agile, strong swimmers, and can run 35 miles per hour (55 kph). They can jump over objects about 5 feet (1.5 m) high and have excellent hearing, vision, and sense of smell.

Behavior

Bison are mostly active during the day and at dusk, but may be active through the night. They are social animals that often form herds, which appear to be directed by older females. Group sizes average about 20 bison during winter, but increase in summer to an average of about 200, with a maximum of about 1,000 during the breeding season (known as the rut) in July and August. Bison are sexually mature at age two. Although female bison may breed at these younger ages, older males (>7 years) participate in most of the breeding.

During the rut mature males display their dominance by bellowing, wallowing, and engaging in fights with other bulls. The winners earn the right to mate with receptive females. Once a bull has found a female who is close to estrus, he will stay by her side until she is ready to mate. Then he moves on to another female. Following courtship, mature males separate and spend the rest of the year alone or in small groups. Group sizes decrease through autumn and into winter, reaching their lowest level of the year during March and April.

Diet

Yellowstone bison feed primarily on grasses, sedges, and other grass-like plants (more than 90% of their diets) in open grassland and meadow communities throughout the year. They also eat forbs (weeds and herbaceous, broad-leafed plants) and browse (the leaves, stems, and twigs of woody plants) through the year, but those usually comprise less than 5% of the diet. They typically forage for 9 to 11 hours daily. Bison are ruminants with a multiple-chambered stomach that includes microorganisms such as bacteria and protozoa to enable them to effectively digest plant material. Bison alternate between eating and ruminating, which is regurgitating partially digested food and chewing it again, to allow microorganisms to further break down plant material into volatile fatty acids and other compounds. Their large digestive tract allows them to digest lower quality foods with greater efficiency than other ungulates such as cattle, deer, or elk.

Interaction with Other Wildlife

Wolves and grizzly bears are the only large predators of adult bison. Dead bison provide an important source of food for scavengers and other carnivores. Bison will rub against trees, rocks, or in dirt wallows in an attempt to get rid of insect pests. Birds such as the magpie perch on a bison to feed on insects in its coat. The cowbird will also follow close behind a bison, feeding on insects disturbed by its steps.

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Duration:

3 minutes, 35 seconds

What is the difference between a bison and a buffalo?

In North America, both "bison" and "buffalo" refer to the American bison ( Bison bison). Generally, "buffalo" is used informally; "bison" is preferred for more formal or scientific purposes. Early European explorers called this animal by many names. Historians believe that the term "buffalo" grew from the French word for beef, "boeuf." Some people insist that the term "buffalo" is incorrect because the "true" buffalo exist on other continents and are only distant relatives.

The seasonal distribution of Yellowstone bison is shown here in comparison with the Interagency Bison Management Plan management areas.
Adapted from Atlas of Yellowstone, Second Edition. ©2022 University of Oregon

Migration

Most other ungulates of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem follow the "green wave" of sprouting plants and grasses during spring because young plants are highly nutritious. Bison begin spring by leaving winter ranges in sync with the green wave but let it pass them by as they migrate and graze, not reaching summer ranges until weeks after green-up. Bison can move out-of-sync with forage green-up because they engineer the ecosystem. Rather than just moving to find the best foods, bison create high-quality foods by how they move and graze. When bison let the green wave pass them by, they spend their time returning to graze the same areas repeatedly at high intensity. The behavior keeps plants growing, although the plants never appear more than a few inches tall, and allows bison to keep getting highly nutritious foods. In winter, bison will move from their summer ranges to lower elevation as snow accumulates and dense snowpack develops. Bison migrate up to 70 miles between summer and winter ranges. Most animals travel about 1,000 miles over the course of the year by repeatedly leaving and returning to the same areas. This means bison travel a greater distance than any other ungulate in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.

Habitat

Yellowstone bison historically occupied approximately 7,720 square miles (20,000 km2) in the headwaters of the Yellowstone and Madison rivers. Today, this range is primarily restricted to Yellowstone National Park and some adjacent areas of Montana. The bison population lives and breeds in the central and northern regions of the park. The northern breeding herd congregates in the Lamar Valley and on adjacent plateaus for the breeding season. During the remainder of the year, these bison use grasslands, wet meadows, and sage-steppe habitats in the Yellowstone River drainage, which extends 62 miles (100 km) between Cooke City and the Paradise Valley north of Gardiner, Montana. The northern range is drier and warmer than the rest of the park, and generally has shallower snow than in the interior of the park.

The central breeding herd occupies the central plateau of the park, from the Pelican and Hayden valleys with a maximum elevation of 7,875 feet (2,400 m) in the east to the lower-elevation and thermally- influenced Madison headwaters area in the west. Winters are often severe, with deep snows and temperatures reaching -44°F (-42°C). This area contains a high proportion of moist meadows composed of grasses, sedges, and willows, with upland grasses in drier areas. Bison from the central herd congregate in the Hayden Valley for breeding. Most of these bison move among the Madison, Firehole, Hayden, and Pelican valleys during the rest of the year. However, increasing numbers of bison are travelling to the northern portion of the park and mixing with the northern herd. Some of these bison do not return to the Hayden Valley for the subsequent breeding season, and instead breed and rear young on their new range.

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Duration:

2 minutes, 52 seconds

Conservation

Yellowstone has played a key role in the conservation of wild bison in North America. If fact, we've been so successful that we now face the challenge of helping to manage a rapidly growing population of migratory bison that frequently roam beyond our borders onto private land and land managed by other agencies. Read more about the history of bison management and the challenges of maintaining a wild, migratory population of bison in a modern landscape.

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Yellowstone Bison - Yellowstone National Park (U.S. National Park Service)

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Yellowstone is the only place in the United States where bison (Bison bison) have lived continuously since prehistoric times.

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Explore this Draft EIS and its potential impacts on bison and people alike.

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Yellowstone presents alternative bison strategies in draft plan - WyoFile

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Park officials are soliciting public comment on the plan, which comes on the heels of a tumultuous year for bison and people who hunt them.

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CBS Reports explores the American icon’s incredible return from the brink, and its remarkable role in revitalizing and restoring sacred tribal culture and traditions.

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Bison Restoration Spending -- News Article

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Bison Restoration Spending -- News Article

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News Article by John Thompson. The Department of the Interior announced its plans to restore wild bison herds in states across the West months ago, but has been quiet about the plan ever since. A Montana congressman is calling for transparency.

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Wolves and grizzly bears continue to expand their territories across Wyoming, Montana, Idaho and a few other states, and although an effort to encourage bison to do the same is underway, the specifics are being kept under wraps.

A Montana congressman is calling for transparency regarding an effort to expand bison numbers on public lands in the West.

Through the Inflation Reduction Act, the Biden administration in March allocated $25 million to the U.S. Department of Interior to explore restoration of bison over an undefined region of the northern plains.

That came in concert with a Department of the Interior announcement dated March 3 that loosely spells out the broad intent to restore bison and prairie grassland ecosystems. But in the months since, mum's the word from the department on its progress.

The relaxed level of communication on the matter prompted Montana Congressman Matthew Rosendale last week to send a letter to Interior Secretary Deb Haaland seeking minutes from meetings, meeting schedules, participant lists, agendas, a list of groups that provided input, a list of invited participants and a written statement on why the meetings are not open to the public.

Congressman Rosendale also asked for a response to his request by Monday.

Livestock, Rural Interests Left Out

The March Interior announcement states numerous federal agencies are involved in the planning process with "robust engagement" from Native American tribes.

The fact that livestock and rural communities have so far been left out of the process is cause for concern, according to officials who represent those interests.

Jim Magagna, executive vice president of the Wyoming Stockgrowers Association, called the lack of information "alarming" during an interview with Cowboy State Daily on Monday.

Former Montana State Veterinarian Martin Zaluski said all affected stakeholders deserve to be part of the conversation on a controversial matter like restoring bison to areas around the West.

Bison, like no other species, have been central to the land management and politics of the West since the early 1800s. Written accounts describe wagon trains waiting two hours for a herd to pass or later after the railroads were established, miles of bleached bison bones covering the prairies.

Bison were hunted to near extinction by market hunters who were encouraged to do so by the U.S. government in its effort to force the plains tribes onto reservations.

Rewilding Underway In Central Montana

The American Prairie Reserve is a 3.2 million-acre section of private ranch land and public land in north-central Montana. The reserve is focused on restoring and preserving the natural prairie and about 1,000 bison now graze there.

The reserve is fenced to keep the bison from roaming too far and the reserve claims if the animals needs are met they don't attempt to escape.

The reserve, along with several conservation groups, champion the concept of rewilding, which is a conservation effort to restore biodiversity by protecting core wild areas, providing connectivity between such areas and reintroducing apex predators.

Magagna said rewilding means turning the clock back by 200 years.

"Rewilding fits the agenda of those who want to get rid of grazing and create this vision of what the West was like before Europeans arrived," he said. "We don't think it's realistic to think that can be accomplished on a broad scale."

Magagna said the American Prairie Reserve is embroiled in a lawsuit brought by Montana livestock interests that are challenging the transfer of grazing permits to bison. Central to the lawsuit is the livestock interests contention that grazing permits were developed for cows, sheep and horses, not bison.

He added that rewilding is not an obtuse concept. It's a threat in Wyoming and all over the West's rural counties where livestock production is an important economic driver.

He cited last week's release of the Rock Springs Bureau of Land Management resource management plan that intends to create 1.8 million new acres of areas of critical environmental concern could be used to place limits on livestock grazing.

That resource management plan also was called out as detrimental to oil and gas leasing on federal land.

Neglecting Livestock Interests

The BLM's April announcement to accept public comment on a proposal to allow conservation groups to lease public land and compete with grazing interests is another serious concern for livestock interests and appears connected to the concept of rewilding.

Zaluski, who served as Montana's state veterinarian for 16 years, said by neglecting the livestock community, the Interior Department has set the table for a tumultuous launch of the plan to reintroduce bison.

Although bison in Yellowstone National Park carry brucellosis, a disease that causes ungulates to abort, it shouldn't be a concern with a reintroduction effort elsewhere, he said, because the animals can be tested. The same is true for other diseases that can be passed from livestock to bison.

"Bison don't behave like deer, elk or antelope, so the concept of having free-roaming bison is not realistic in the 21st century because of practical challenges and constraints," Zaluski said. "However, from my understanding, the American Prairie Reserve is not an existential threat to farmers and ranchers like many of the challenges they currently face."

According to the Interior Department Order 3410, there are about 15,000 wild bison in the United States across 4.6 million acres of federal land in 12 states. The Yellowstone National Park herd holds about 4,800 animals, and most herds are between 300 and 500 animals. Various tribes manage an additional 20,000 bison in the Northern Great Plains and Intermountain states.

provides significant information about the history of bison and the established goal of restoring wild, healthy populations, but few specifics related to how and where the restoration will take place.

It states that bison restoration is imperative and made more urgent by climate change.

"The best science shows that returning bison to grasslands can enhance soil development, restore native plants and wildlife, and promote carbon sequestration, thereby providing benefits for agriculture, outdoor recreation, and Tribes," the order states. "In addition, restoring bison and healthy grasslands can serve as a step toward national healing and reconciliation after centuries of federal policies designed to erase Native people and their cultures."

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Feds Spending $25 Million On Bison Restoration, But Won't Give Details

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The Department of the Interior announced its plans to restore wild bison herds in states across the West months ago, but has been quiet about the plan ever since. A Montana congressman is calling for transparency.

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Become immersed in the powerful sounds of buffalo!

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Sound Library - Bison - Yellowstone National Park (U.S. National Park Service)

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Explore this photo essay by Michell McCarron.

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When Europeans arrived on the North American continent it is believed there were approximately 60 million bison (buffalo) roaming across the land. Now there remains only 5000 pure wild bison inside Yellowstone and they are listed as a 'near threatened' population according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. As winter sets in on the high Yellowstone plateau the bison move out of the park where cattle ranchers see them as competition with cows for grass. Montana sued Yellowstone National Park in 1995 and won and every winter hundreds of bison are hunted or sent to slaughter to appease the state's ranching industry. State and park officials cite the transmission of brucellosis which causes cows to abort as the reason that bison should not be allowed roam outside of the national park, yet there has never been a recorded transmission of the disease from bison to cattle. The disease exists because European cattle brought it with them. Research over the years concluded that the main spreader of disease in the ecosystem are in fact elk and yet elk are free to roam.
As of 2023 almost 14000 wild bison including pregnant females have been slaughtered, hunted, died in traps or quarantine facilities as part of the Yellowstone Bison Management plan overseen by Yellowstone National Park, the state of Montana, state and tribal hunters.
See my in depth story with words and photos published in New Scientist magazine here.

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When Europeans arrived on the North American continent it is believed there were approximately 60 million bison (buffalo) roaming across the land. Now there remains only 5000 pure wild bison inside Yellowstone and they are listed as a 'near threatened' population according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

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The American Buffalo Film -- Lesson Plans

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The American Buffalo Film -- Lesson Plans

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Explore standards-aligned lessons and videos inspired by the film.

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The American Buffalo | Ken Burns in the Classroom | PBS LearningMedia

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This two-part, four-hour film takes viewers on a journey through more than 10,000 years of North American history and across some of the continent's most iconic landscapes, tracing the American buffalo's evolution, its significance to the Indigenous people and landscape of the Great Plains, its near extinction, and the efforts to bring the magnificent mammals back from the brink.

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Traditional Use of Tatanka (Buffalo) | PBS LearningMedia

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Access many Native American Studies Resources for classroom use. Lesson: Traditional Use of Tatanka (Buffalo) is a PowerPoint series developed by Badlands National Park and South Dakota Public Broadcasting.

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Native News Report Featuring Native artist John Pepion

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Native News Report Featuring Native artist John Pepion

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https://www.pbs.org/video/hotshot-artists-and-smokejumpers-cese4c/?fbclid=IwAR1p2laSXHRQACD6YsfNPtXQfXYVQzTzud9lzx3o0G2LMuN_2jPDVxP4RsU

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- On this native report, we revisit the Chief Mountain Hot Shots and learn more about fighting fires within the boundaries of the reservation.

And we talk with Leslie Harper who is the President of the National Coalition of Native American Language Schools and Programs.

Plus, we hear from artist John Pepion as he shares his passion in Pictographic Arts.

We also learn what we can do to lead healthier lives and hear from our elders.

(upbeat flute music) - [Promoter] Production for Native Report is made possible by grants from the Blandin Foundation, Anishinabe Fund and Alexandra Smith Fund in support of Native American Treaty rights administered through the Duluth Superior Area Community Foundation.

The generous support from viewers like Jack and Sharon Kemp, DSGW Architects personalizing architecture online at dsgw.com.

And viewers like you.

(upbeat tribal music) (upbeat tribal music continues) (upbeat tribal music continues) - Welcome to Native Report and thanks for tuning in.

I'm Rita Karppinen.

In this episode, we visit the Blackfeet Nation where the love for fighting fires is evident in the Chief Mountain Hot Shots.

This elite crew is one of the most highly-trained type of wild land firefighters.

They're responsible for all wild land fire management within the boundaries of the Blackfeet Reservation.

(gentle music) - We're region one, which is all of Montana.

The mountains are, geez, 33, 45% grades, big trees, a lot of coniferous, like it's rolling hills, like it's rocky.

When you think of what a mountain range would be we gotta go up that and then some.

Go down it and go right back up the next day.

So it's some of the toughest country in the world.

We're working on the backbone of the world, every fire usually.

And geez, that backbone's pretty damn steep at times so.

- In my experience, well, you've got to be, you gotta be dedicated, you gotta be committed.

And we're fortunate to have this program here where we can develop young firefighters to become a career.

I know people and they can work at it maybe 20 years.

- Out of the people that are here I'm definitely the rookie.

I was born and raised right here in Browning.

I grew up south of the town about 15 miles.

So, kind of a little country kid.

You bring up Chief Mountain, wherever, whatever fire camp, there's someone that, oh, we worked with your uncle back.

Or you know, like they have a Chief Mountain story.

Had family members that did it.

And yeah, it was just kind of a, but it's a big deal on the res, it's kind of a known thing.

- Just being a Hot Shot in general is an experience.

It's awesome when you get out there and you get to help out a community.

- Get up 05:30, breakfast at 06:00.

Just get your assignment, usually on the line by 08:00.

You get a hike, they will look at us as close as we can.

We're not, you know, hiking 10 miles every day, like to the place we'll get safely, good camp safely.

And then just depending on what we have to do, whether we're dropping trees.

(tree crashing) And we usually do it all, but we'll have diggers, cutters.

We'll have overhead and helicopters.

We'll be burning out and then off she's 16 hours maybe, that's a good long day.

That's some good pay too.

Say 12 hours at the most.

Get back to the camp, and if you're lucky there'll be a couple showers there.

If that, dinner, go to sleep, wake up, do it again.

You know, live, breathe fire for up to 21 days at a time.

When you do it and you realize what you're doing and get back to the camp that day.

And it's just a surreal feeling.

You just like, I just did something, jeez, no one's ever, not many people do.

- I look all year love fighting fire with some of the dirtiest terrain ever.

Hardest work you wanna do.

Then you have the off-season to kind of wind down and then you get bored and you're like, come on, come on, let's go April.

Come around April so we can get started.

Bring the guys back.

It's a big family of being a firefighter.

It's a huge family.

And we wouldn't be who we are if we didn't all work together.

This is my office today, you know.

In two weeks, my office is gonna change every day.

And it's gonna be some of the most beautifulest country that people will pay to go see.

And we go there to preserve these places.

Us as the Blackfeet people, we used fire to burn the prairies out before the buffalo.

So we'd have new grass and stuff to eat.

And we also used it as war techniques, strategies and stuff like that.

It's not just a title.

I think it's the pride that we take in helping in doing what we do and being able to work with other people out there to do what we do too.

What you put in is what you get.

And most of the guys put 150% into this job.

- If it was easy, everyone would do it.

And if people go on their first fire and they never come back, you know, and they just weeded out.

There's more people that quit then stick around.

I got two kids myself so, but they keep me going too.

A lot of times you might not have cell service or anything, so yeah, you just carry your pictures and get up every morning thinking of what you're doing it for.

When I first applied, I wanted to do something that was a service.

I wanted to make a difference somehow.

And I knew like this was something that I always thought about.

So, I said I'm lucky and grateful to be here.

- At the end of the day, we're all Chief Mountain.

There's no standouts.

We're all one, one identity.

- Chief Mountain is one of only seven Native American Hot Shot crews in America.

(upbeat flute music) - A cataract is a cloudy area in the lens of your eye.

The lens is clear and shaped like a telescope lens and is inside your eye.

The lens changes shape in order to help you focus.

Over time, proteins build up in the lens and make it more difficult to see through.

Cataracts are common as people get older.

Sometimes they're caused by injury, but most of the time they're age related.

You may not notice a change in vision when cataracts are mild, but as they grow, they cause vision changes.

Your vision can become cloudy or blurry and sometimes colors are not as bright.

Lights can seem too bright and road signs can have halos at night.

Changing the prescription for your glasses or contact lenses doesn't help as much or last as long.

Some things put you at higher risk for cataracts, smoking, alcohol use, eye injuries a family history of cataracts, taking long-term steroids or having spent a long time in the sun, all increase your risk.

Most of the time cataracts are related to your age.

A dilated eye exam is the way to check for cataracts and you should have this done every one to two years, if you're over 60.

An eye doctor will put drops in your eyes to widen your pupils and check your eyes for cataracts and other problems.

Using brighter lights, getting a new glasses prescription and using magnifying lenses can buy you some time, but the definitive treatment for cataracts is surgery.

This is a safe and common operation during which your cloudy lens will be replaced with an artificial lens.

Talk to your healthcare provider for more information.

Most people don't need to rush into surgery and waiting won't make the eventual surgery more difficult.

And remember to call an elder.

They've been waiting for your call.

I'm Dr. Arne Vainio and this is Health Matters.

(upbeat flute music) - We sat down with the President of the National Coalition of Native American Schools and Programs, which advocates for the use of indigenous languages as a medium of instruction.

(gentle music) - Hope.

(Wesley speaking in Native American language) I am Wesley Harper, I'm a member of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe.

I'm the President of the National Coalition of Native American Language Schools and Programs.

That is a grassroots organization that is made up of Native American language immersion schools and programs all around the US.

We're a coalition that came together to advocate for the rights of Native American languages.

Several years back, I was involved locally in helping to start and to build an Ojibwe language immersion school at Leech Lake at our reservation within our communities.

And that was one in which we used the Ojibwe language for all subjects and English would not be introduced until third or fourth grade when it would be taught as a subject.

We modeled that on some earlier efforts that were happening in Hawaii with Hawaiian language medium schools that were happening in New York with Mohawk language immersion sites.

As a way to reclaim time with our families and with our kids to revitalize our languages.

There was like so much pressure that discouraged us from using our language, because it looked different than education systems in English.

And so it's really hard to go against those kind of institutional pressures when you're all alone and when you're doing something that's totally out of the norm.

And so we reached out, we would reach out to each other across these state lines and across these language lines and say what are you doing in your area that works?

How are you facing down these pressures to teach in English when we really wanna be providing an all-native language environment for our kids and for our families.

We were really informally organized for many years in the early 2000s, kind of, you know, 2000 to 2010.

And then there were more efforts for federal policy.

So, we started coming together to start advocating for our rights at a national level.

In 1990, United States Congress itself passed this law called the Native American Languages Act in which they made these really great statements in which US Congress finally took responsibility for all of the genocidal actions, all the institutional pressures that they had pushed against Native American languages.

And think of it, there's something like almost 600 tribes, American Indian tribes across the US.

There's the peoples of Hawaii, the Native Hawaiians and their language.

There are all of the Alaska native languages up in that area.

There are the like the Marianna's territories and the Chamorro language.

There are all these places where the United States came in and colonized and worked intently to wipe out languages, and we're somewhat successful in a lot of areas.

So, when we got down to operating our schools, operating our childcare sites, our daycare sites in our languages, and saying, we can get public funding for this.

We want the same funding that English schools get for educating our kids in English.

They haven't been doing a great job for a long time.

We're gonna try this and this is our right under the Native American Languages Act.

So that's been kind of the rallying or the umbrella of the effort of the National Coalition of Native American Language Schools and Programs.

And every word in that whole big long title of our organization is really necessary.

We say Native American languages, 'cause that's a legal definition.

And that brings us all together so we know exactly what populations we're talking about.

Native American languages, we've linked it to a piece of public policy, a really positive piece, that is really optimistic and we say put teeth into that law.

And some of our language immersion sites are schools, some of them are their own school on their own, some of them are merged with another school, some of them are a charter school or they might be a track in a school, so they might be a program.

Some are childcare sites, but these are all places in which local Native American language speaking community has said, our kids are gonna be in this compulsory space.

Why don't we reclaim it and use our language, promote our language, really promote our own localized culture, our own Native American way of understanding and being and make sure that we too are being responsible to carry this forward and to generate new life in our language, in our culture.

- Having formally been established in 2014 the National Coalition of Advocates have been informally meeting for more than 20 years.

(gentle flute music) - I believe it's important for the youth to come out and learn our ways so that they're not lost and connect with nature in one way or another.

A lot of youth today we're losing our traditions and it's very important that we pass those on to our children.

Children like to be outside and the youth are really our future, and we seem to be losing a lot of them lately.

So, the more we pass on our traditions and knowledge and language, the better we will thrive.

(gentle flute music) - Growing up on the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana, John Pepion didn't care much for school and eventually, dropped out.

Years later, Pepion is now an art teacher at Heart Butte School and a Plains Indian graphic artist specializing in pictographic arts.

He shared his story with Native Report.

(gentle music) - Welcome to Blackfeet Country.

We are in Heart Butte, Montana on a Blackfeet Indian reservation.

And standing in front of one of the murals that me and Lewis Still Smoking did for the Heart Butte School, we're at the Heart Butte schools where I'm a art teacher.

My name is John Isiah Pepion.

I consider myself a plains Indian graphic artist.

And what I mean by that, I do more of the pictographic art based off of and inspired by winter accounts, which were done on buffalo hides and deer hides.

Also, the petroglyphs and pictographs and ledger art.

I'm not just limited to ledger paper, but I do the pictographic style, like these horses here.

But it's just based off of a lot of designs off our teepees here as in the Blackfeet country.

Our war shirts, our quilt work and mainly our culture and creation stories.

I feel like I'm still telling our stories, but more days and the times we're now, we're reclaiming what was taking from us, our designs, our land, our stories.

Because we work with a lot of museums and I say we a lot of indigenous artists, our groups and galleries, and they always have this idea of where they want to tell our story, but we're going in these spaces and we're telling them the world of who we are.

What I brought was a skateboard, a buffalo skull, a couple wood panels and a current ledger piece I'm working on.

So, the preferred medium I work with is ink drawings, but do all kinds of things, painting, mixed media.

So, on this mural is Heart Butte Mountain, and Heart Butte Mountain is one of the sacred places to the Blackfeet Confederacy.

People still go there to fast, pray.

A lot of people got their power from there, get their power from there.

So, it's very powerful place to be out here too.

Sacred place.

Oh yeah, being in the mountains is truly inspiring.

You can feel the power, see the power, the animals, the horses, the bears, the game, our culture.

Our culture is alive and well, our ceremonies.

So, being part of that, being witness to that, that's why I choose to be here in our community.

People always suggest that maybe I should go live in Seattle or Santa Fe or New York to be a successful artist, but I'm in my community being a successful artist.

And people will say, well, what is success to me?

Success is being able to be in my community, creating and being here.

And during COVID like so much death.

We lost so many people, and everything we were going through, that's why we decided to use the word hope.

- [Speaker] Yeah.

- Especially for people graduating still and finishing school because during COVID here across the United States, everybody dropped out, everybody quit school.

I myself was a troubled youth and I felt like I couldn't be reached growing up or going to school.

I was a high school dropout.

Now, I'm a high school art teacher and I feel, hey, I'm giving back to my community, and reaching students is through art.

We are alive, that we are still here, and that we are not going away.

Working here, I'm letting these students know like, hey, you could be proud of who you are, where you're from.

There's nothing wrong with that.

You could be anything.

You could be any kind of artist nowadays.

Especially, with graphic art, computer art, digital art, music, everything.

So, but me, like I said, I feel like I am carrying on a tradition of storytelling.

So this is probably our most favorite mural.

And it was the first mural we did.

It probably took a whole summer, because of COVID and a wildfire and scaffolding.

But these are warriors from this community, leaders.

This one is mountain chief, also known as Big Brave.

The other warrior there with the hat on is Running Crane.

The other warrior with the feather is Arrow Top Knot.

And the other warrior back there is John Spotted Eagle, the son of Spotted Eagle.

And all these people here that are painted on are actual warriors from this community.

And a lot of their relatives and students here come from these warriors and leaders.

There were several other leaders, but this is what the community chose.

And then, a lot of the design work on the murals represent the Blackfeet nation.

And then the buffalo, we have a buffalo theme going on in the school.

As a member of the Blackfeet Confederacy and being Plains Indian, The horse culture's very big.

When the horse came to the plains and it changes our lives rapidly.

And back then the more horses you had the more wealthy you were.

So, nowadays you'll see a lot of horses on a Blackfeet reservation.

Everybody has a horse, rides horses or draws horses.

A lot of art tribute horses, like on this mural picture graphic ledger style horse here.

Got the lightning on a leg.

Sometimes we paint lightning on the legs to believe it makes a horse run faster.

then a circle around a eye.

Sometimes we paint that around a horse's eye to make it see farther.

Yeah, so especially, if we're going to war, but we don't go to war nowadays.

Nowadays we do different things, racing.

And on the reservation, there's still wild horses in these mountains from Blackfeet long time ago, having so much horses.

As being a native artist, someone working with native artists in other communities, it's hard to be like, look at me, I'm an artist.

I don't even really identify like, hey, I'm an artist.

It's hard to say you're an artist, but I come from a huge artist family.

I've been doing art all my life.

It wasn't just like, hey, I'm an artist, I'm still learning.

So, it's just a constant growth, yeah.

- Pepion wants to carry on the tradition of storytelling through his art.

Keeping alive cultural and creation stories for future generations.

(gentle tribal music) - My name is Sam Zimmerman.

The title of the book is "Following My Spirit Home".

And it's a collection of paintings and stories.

I would say, I began to paint professionally when I moved home to Minnesota in the summer of 2019.

Blackberry Blueberry Publishing had reached out to me about an interest in illustrating some children's books.

And after our first meeting with them, not only did I begin illustrating children's books for them they were very excited to be my partners and teach a new author, a new bookmaker about what I needed to do.

Well, all the paintings that are within the book have the stories.

They're partnered with them in English.

But there were stories that also were very personal to me.

Either stories shared from my family or my own experiences.

And so, those stories were not only written in English, but Ojibwemowin.

All the paintings that are in particular in this book were created between July, 2019 and July, 2020.

So it was a year.

It's funny, I've never sat down and read the entire book myself since it came out.

I haven't been ready to, but I think there's like 110 total paintings in this book.

And this, I think I'm really proud of the Moose Story.

It was the first painting I ever did for to honor my grandfather who used to tell us kids moose hunting stories as a child.

And then I was able to moose hunt with elders in my family.

I think Nemi, she's an Ojibwe character.

She's the only character that I paint.

Nemi means she dances.

She's a Shaw dancer and she's a story that I like, I enjoy telling, 'cause I've painted her as a little girl and then I painted her as a woman coming home and starting her own family.

Her stories are really personal to me as a two-spirited artist, male and female.

And so, that's one way that I get to celebrate the beauty of the female.

Through writing this book, I actually learned more language.

I, as a child, I don't remember seeing the Ojibwemowin written down as like a children's story.

My grandfather would share language with me, but I never saw a book.

So that was what really got me excited about doing that.

This was a present to my family to put all of a lot of our stories that we grew up together with.

And then also just to thank them for being so supportive of my own work.

- If you missed a show or wanna catch up online, find us at nativereport.org and follow us on Facebook, YouTube and Instagram for behind the scene updates.

And drop a comment on social media if you enjoy the show.

Thanks for spending time with your friends and neighbors from across Indian Country.

I'm Rita Karppinen.

We'll see you next time on Native Report.

(upbeat tribal music) (upbeat tribal music continues) (upbeat tribal music continues) (upbeat tribal music continues) - [Promoter] Production for Native Report is made possible by grants from the Blandin Foundation, Anishinabe Fund and Alexandra Smith Fund in support of Native American Treaty rights administered through the Duluth Superior Area Community Foundation.

The generous support from viewers like Jack and Sharon Kemp, DSGW Architects personalizing architecture online at dsgw.com and viewers like you.

(upbeat music)

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Native Report | Hotshot Artists and Smokejumpers | Season 18 | Episode 7 | PBS

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On this native report, we revisit the Chief Mountain Hot Shots and learn more about fighting fires within the boundaries of the reservation. And we talk with Leslie Harper who is the President of the National Coalition of Native American Language Schools and Programs. Plus, we hear from artist John Pepion as he shares his passion in Pictographic Arts.

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Bison reintroduction = increased biodiversity

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Bison reintroduction = increased biodiversity

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The Konza Prairie Biological Station in eastern Kansas, operated by Kansas State University, is a world-class prairie research site. It's part of the Flint Hills ecoregion, home to the largest intact tallgrass prairie on the North American Continent. Researchers are using the site to compare management strategies on prairie land.

The site is divided into three distinct sections for measurement. One is left ungrazed by large ungulates so the grasses and woody plants (forbs) grow uninterrupted. The second is grazed seasonally by cattle-a common land use in the Western United States. The third is grazed year-round by bison. Each of the three subdivisions have near identical soil composition, annual rainfall, and have never been plowed for agriculture. The three pastures of the Konza prairie make it the perfect comparative study site to observe different grazing practices.

A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS) tracked how these three different land uses affected plant communities. The study took twenty-nine years and provides decades of data utilized by biologists to track the effects of bison reintroduction on the landscape. The study asked two questions: How do bison and cattle grazing impact the abundance and kinds of plants that grow in a tallgrass prairie? And, how does bison grazing affect plant community's ability to cope with extreme drought? The results are striking.

The pastures grazed by the bison had a native plant species richness increase of 86 percent compared to the ungrazed portion of the prairie. Dozens of native plant species returned to the prairie. This suggests that the long-term presence of bison is inherently linked to these plants' survival. Native plant diversity increased by only 30 percent under the cattle treatment-less than half the positive effect of bison (86 percent). As an added benefit, these gains in biodiversity were resilient to extreme drought. Bison-mediated restoration creates effective and durable conservation outcomes.

To explain these results, researchers hypothesize that bison exhibit a trait called keystone herbivory. This means that they control dominant grasses that would otherwise outcompete and take over the prairie ecosystem. Bison selectively graze four grass species that proliferate in the ungrazed system. It's also hypothesized that bison boost biodiversity through a behavior called wallowing. Bison bathe in dust and dirt, creating shallow depressions in prairie soil that hold rainwater and runoff. Wallows create new and unique habitats where native plant species can gain a foothold. Selective grazing and landscape alteration through wallowing create a competitive advantage for dozens of new native plant species to return to the landscape, resulting in richer, more biodiverse grasslands.

A richer assortment of plant species gives rise to a greater variety of insects. Small mammals eat those plants, which in turn provides more options for their predators. Things come into balance. Life flourishes within these conditions of complexity, and bison are key to bringing about such biodiversity.

Going forward, land managers should consider the effects that bison have on the prairie. With climate change, drought will become longer, hotter, and more extreme on the Great Plains. Bison are a species that has great potential to maintain and enhance ecosystem biodiversity and resilience in the 21st century.

You might like these articles that share the same topics

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The Konza Prairie Biological Station in eastern Kansas, operated by Kansas State University, is a world-class prairie research site. It's part of the Flint Hills ecoregion, home to the largest intact tallgrass prairie on the North American Continent. Researchers are using the site to compare management strategies on prairie land.

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The Three Buffalo Bulls by Cheyenne and Arapaho Productions

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The Three Buffalo Bulls by Cheyenne and Arapaho Productions

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Have your class compare and contrast this video with The Three Billy Goats Gruff for a fun fable/fairytale lesson!

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Buffalo Objects on Exhibit at the Center of the West

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Buffalo Objects on Exhibit at the Center of the West

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View up-close images and descriptions of objects made from buffalo materials on exhibit at the Plains Indian Museum.

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Jason Baldes: Land Rematriation with Buffalo Restoration is Reconciliation

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Jason Baldes: Land Rematriation with Buffalo Restoration is Reconciliation

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Jason Baldes presents a lunchtime talk on buffalo restoration at the Draper Natural History Museum

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Jason Baldes presents Land Rematriation with Buffalo Restoration is Reconciliation

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VIRTUAL EXHIBIT: Bison of the Bighorn Basin

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VIRTUAL EXHIBIT: Bison of the Bighorn Basin

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Explore the Meeteetse Museum's virtual exhibit.

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A project dedicated to learning more about bison morphology, or shape, and ecology within the geographic Bighorn Basin. Join us in exploring the story of the bison.

Albert Bierstadt (1830-1902). A Bull Buffalo, c. 1878. Oil on paper mounted on board, 13.25 x 15.25 inches. Buffalo Bill Center of the West, Cody, Wyoming. Gift of Carman H. Messmore. 1.62

Thank you to our sponsors, advisors, funding sources, and the Bighorn Basin Community for their participation and support of this project.

Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area

Washakie Museum and Cultural Center

Buffalo Bill Center of the West

Brian Beauvais, Park County Archives
Sam May, Antlers Ranch
Dr. Kenneth Cannon, Cannon Heritage Consultants, Inc.
Dr. Lawrence Todd, GRSLE Archeaology
Dr. Chris Widga, Head Curator of the Gray Fossil Site
Jason Baldes, Executive Director, Wind River Native Advocacy Center

Dr. Jeff Martin, Director of Research for the Center of Excellence for Bison Studies

Michael Stites, Bighorn National Forest

Kyle Wright, Shoshone National Forest

Medicine Lodge State Park

Houston Martin, Cannon Heritage Consultants, Inc.

Dr. Todd Surovell, University of Wyoming

Levi Shinkle, Wyoming Dinosaur Center

Heather Bender, Buffalo Bill Center of the West

Hunter Old Elk, Buffalo Bill Center of the West

Karen McWhorter, Buffalo Bill Center of the West

"American Bison" courtesy of USFWS Mountain Prairie.

When Europeans first encountered bison, they called them "buffalo" perhaps because of their resemblance to the African buffalo. The name stuck and today many refer to the bison as "buffalo". Bison and buffalo are not the only names for bison. The numerous Native American tribes of North America co-existed with bison for over 14,000 years and called the bison names including: Iinni, Tatanga, Tatanka, Paskwâwimostos, Xaniti, Qwisp, Kamquq̓ukuǂ ʔiyamu, Iyanee, and more.

North American conservation was just beginning as bison populations plumeted. Learn more about saving this icon of the Great Plains.

As of 2016, the bison became the national mammal of the United States. At the same time, bison are being returned to the landscape.

What the measurements of 106 bison crania in the geographic Bighorn Basin tell us about bison.

Bison have a long history in North America, learn more about their relationships to the environment, people, and more through time!

History of Bison in North America

Close to 200,000 years ago bison first entered North America by way of the Bering Land Bridge. This was a time known as the Pleistocene and glaciers, huge sheets of ice, covered much of North America. As the glaciers receded, they created corridors through which the bison could disperse across the continent.

Humans arrive in North America roughly 14,000 years ago. Because bison exist in both Asia and North America, the first humans in North America were likely already familiar with bison as a prey species. North American bison, however, were suddenly sharing the landscape with a new predator, one that could rapidly change its behavior and hunting techniques.

The Horner Site outside of Cody, Wyoming sits on a flat terrace above the Shoshone River. The site is a mass kill site which dates between about 10,500 and 11,500 years old (calibrated Frison dates Table 4.1). The lack of natural features or drive lines separates the Horner Site from many other kill sites. The bison at the Horner Site appear to be lying where they were killed, on the open terrace.

Modern bison morphology (shape) emerges on the landscape. All the bison measured during the Bison of the Bighorn Basin Project are morphologically modern, meaning they date from within the last 3,000 years.

Christopher Columbus "discovers" North America. Columbus, not realizing his error in navigation, initially believes he is in India and calls the Indigenous Peoples "Indians." The term would stick around, being used by Europeans and their future descendants to address all North America's Indigenous Peoples, regardless of tribal affiliation or identifiers. His accidental "discovery" set into motion a series of events that would impact all American residents, including the bison. Europeans brought with them new diseases including brucellosis and a demand for the warm furs from the "New World" including bison hides. This would reach a peak in the late 1800s.

Idaho Territory passes a mandate stating that bison should not be hunted at all. At the time the mandate was passed, there were no bison remaining in the state outside of what is today Yellowstone National Park.

Two years after the end of the Civil War, a member of the U.S. Army reportedly ordered his troops to "kill every buffalo you can. Every dead buffalo is an Indian gone." The following year, General Sherman wrote to General Sheridan stating, "I think it would be wise to invite all the sportsmen of England and America...this fall for a Grand Buffalo hunt ... and make one grand sweep of them all." On 26 June 1869, the prestigious Army Navy Journal reported that "General Sherman remarked, in conversation the other day, that the quickest way to compel the Indians to settle down to civilized life was to send ten regiments of soldiers to the plains, with orders to shoot buffaloes until they became too scarce to support the redskins." Removal of bison from the landscape directly impacted the ability of Native American groups to wage war against the United States for their traditional lands.

From April - November of 1868 the Treaty of Fort Laramie was negotiated and signed. The treaty was the newest in a series of failed attempts to negotiate peace between the Sioux, Arapaho, Cheyenne, Crow, Assiniboine, Arikara, Hidatsa, and Mandan tribes and the United States government. Among the other things, the treaty established the tribes' rights to hunt bison "so long as the buffalo may range thereon in such numbers as to justify the chase."

Wyoming Territory prohibits the waste of bison meat. Though timely, unfortunately, the law was not enforced.

"The Shoshoni were allowed to make a seasonal bison hunt after settling on the Wind River Reservation in 1868. As late as 1874, and possibly for a few more years, the Shoshoni travelled to the Bighorn Basin to hunt. James Patten, government teacher on the reservation, accompanied Chief Washakie and the Shoshoni in October 1874. From Wind River they crossed over the Owl Creek Mountains into the southwestern portion of the basin and found bison 'herds on the Gooseberry about forty miles from its mouth,' or west of the Bighorn River, where they killed 'one hundred and twenty-five buffalo." - Blazing the Bridger Trail Route, pg. 59

Otto Franc visits the Bighorn Basin during a hunting trip from 1878 and picks out the location of the Pitchfork Ranch on his journey. During their trip, Franc and his party hunting bison regularly. On September 7, 1878, Franc writes,
... not wishing to waste powder at such miserable game I return to our party & the buffalo go off at a slow trot, all my illusions about buffalo hunting formed from books of western adventure are dispelled & I look upon [it] as the worst kind of sport hunting in which no true sportsman will indulge; I am speaking here only of hunting the Bulls, we have seen no cows or calves yet but we hear they are much more wary and wild.
He goes on to write that having tasted bison meat he found it, " in all cases almost entirely unfit for food being tough & stringy. " He relates that for the most part, his company would just remove the tongues of bison, despite the meat wastage being illegal in Wyoming Territory at the time.

Only an estimated 325 wild bison remain in the United States, 25 of which were located in Yellowstone National Park.

Meeteetse is established as a town. The same year, the United States Army takes up residence in Yellowstone National Park on August 20, 1886. Their presence in the park helps bison populations which increase from the 25 of 1884 to roughly 200.

Tom Osborne, foreman of the Pitchfork Ranch from 1884 to 1894, reported, "The last wild buffalo was on Meeteetse Rim at the head of Horse Creek in 1892. About seven cowboys with six-shooters kept up with the animal and peppered him until he dropped" (Meeteetse Museums Archives).

Ed Howell is arrested for slaughtering bison in Pelican Valley of what is today Yellowstone National Park.

The first law to protect bison and other wildlife species within the boundaries of Yellowstone National Park is passed.

The United States Army turns their National Park duties over to Park Rangers.

The Buffalo Treaty is first signed on September 24, 2014, at the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana by the following nations: Blackfeet Nation, Kainai/Blood Tribe, Siksika Nation, Piikani Nation, the Assiniboine and Gros Ventre Tribes of Fort Belknap Indian Reservation, the Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of Fort Peck Indian Reservation, the Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Indian Reservation, and Tsuut'ina Nation. Today, the Treaty has 31 signatories who meet annually to celebrate the work they've completed in the past year and plan for the future.

In October of 2019, the Eastern Shoshone signed the Buffalo Treaty in Chico Hot Springs, Montana. That same month the InterTribal Buffalo Council signed the Treaty as well.

In 2016, the bison was declared the United States' national mammal.

This photograph, courtesy of Dr. Lawrence Loendorf, shows a bison petroglyph at Legend Rock. Petroglyphs are created by pecking the stone. Many petroglyph (pecked) and pictograph (painted or drawn) image sites like Legend Rock are sacred.

For over 14,000 years in North America, bison co-existed with humans. Today we know those people collectively as Native Americans. For many Native Americans dwelling on the Great Plains, known as the Plains Tribes, the bison were a main food source. But bison were more than just a meal - they were and are viewed as kin or family. This relationship was exploited by Euro-Americans in the mid-1800s through the deliberate slaughter of bison by the hundreds of thousands.

Gweechoon Deka

"American Bison" courtesy of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service - Midwest Region.

"The buffalo to the Shoshone People were very important like many other Native American tribes. The buffalo was life's commissary, so everything that we needed came from that animal and our people thrived on the wildlife economy, the buffalo economy, the wildlife ... biodiversity of plants and animals is what allowed our people to thrive and flourish. And so, the name for ourselves, we're the Eastern Band of the Shoshone, but the name for ourselves is the Gweechoon Deka, the Buffalo Eaters. Because we distinguished ourselves by the foods we ate. And so, there's the Sheep Eaters, the Salmon Eaters, the Rabbit Eaters, we're the Buffalo Eaters. And so, the buffalo was not only life's commissary, but it was also central to our spirituality and belief systems. Our relationality to the planet, to the earth, to the inhabitants and so the buffalo was a central part of that medicine wheel philosophy. And so, they're a very important animal not only to Shoshone People but to many other tribes." - Jason Baldes, "Meeteetse Stories" Podcast Season 2 Episode 4

Bison were important for their meat, but the relationship between bison and many Native American tribes goes much deeper.

Sustenance

Spiritual/ Celebratory

Material Relationship

Spiritual/Celebratory Role of the Bison

The bison gave Native American tribes food, shelter, and clothing and in return, the tribes honored the bison through ceremonies and spiritual practices. Today, though many Plains Tribes have not had access to the bison for many years, bison are being returned through reintroduction efforts. The physical return of bison brings with it healing for both the buffalo and the tribes. For some, the bison is a living symbol of tribal resilience and survival.

This ceremonial mask was used in a Mandan Okipa ceremony which dramatizes the tribe's origins and creation of earth. The ceremony took place before the buffalo hunt, bringing the herds closer to the village. NA.203.359. Plains Indian Museum. Buffalo Bill Center of the West.

An understanding of animal behavior allowed North America's first humans, commonly referred to as "Paleoindians," to exploit the natural instincts of animals. This knowledge combined with an intimate, cultural knowledge of the landscape made Paleoindians effective hunters. For over 14,000 years, bison were hunted individually in encounter hunts, in large groups, driven over cliffs, run into arroyos, trapped in sand dunes, and killed in places with no natural containment.

Sustenance

Photograph of Sioux people drying meat on racks. Notice the internal organs at the far left of the photograph. PA.35.174 courtesy of the McCracken Research Library, Buffalo Bill Center of the West.

Paleoindians would sometimes move their people to the location of the kill. There, they would butcher the bison and camp at the site until they were forced to move on looking for more food.

Photograph of stone tool cut marks on a bison radius courtesy of Dr. Lawrence Todd, GRSLE Archaeology.

Butchering with stone tools

Domesticated dogs made it easier to transport meat. It was now possible to butcher multiple bison and then transport the meat to more desirable camps on a travois tethered to the dogs.

Native American woman holding staff with dog pulling travois. P.35.191. MS 35 North American Indian Photograph Collection. Courtesy of the McCracken Research Library, Buffalo Bill Center of the West.

After 1519, the reintroduction of horses to North America by the Spanish made it possible to transport even larger quantities of meat. The Vore Buffalo Jump is an example of a site that illustrates how this transition from using dogs for transportation to horses was reflected in butchery practice.

This photograph shows Crow people breaking camp and using travois pulled by horses to haul their possessions. This same method made it possible to move people and meat to and from butchery sites with ease. Photograph courtesy of the McCracken Research Library, P.35.215.

In addition to playing a spiritual role for tribes, bison featured prominently in material possessions.

For thousands of years, the Indigenous peoples of North America operated in a trade-based economy. Instead of using coins to purchase goods, you would trade for them. Valuable bison hides and meat could be traded for things like sea shells, raw material for making stone tools, horses, agricultural products like squash and corn, tobacco, and more. Trade networks were vast, obsidian quarried from present-day Yellowstone National Park has been found in archaeological sites as far as Ohio. Eventually, tribes also traded bison for goods such as metal arrowheads known as "trade points," glass beads, and guns. Learn more about the trading networks in Wyoming here.

This toy bison is in the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History and dates from the late 1800s. It was crafted by the Inuna-Ina (Arapaho) out of wood and bison hide. Scraps of bison hide used for things like clothing and shelter were often used to make toys for children.

Toys for the young served many purposes for Native Americans. While a source of entertainment, toys could teach skills that would be important as an adult, teach cultural values, and more. Materials from the bison were used in many toys. Bison horns were used by the Apsáalooke (Crow) as spinning tops. The hide and sinew from the bison were used to make dolls which could instruct children about cultural values, societal roles, and decision making. Sinew and hide toys could also be used to teach hand-eye coordination.

Bison are large animals and in addition to providing food, their hide could be used for clothing. Clothing reflected the season. Summer clothing would have the fur removed, making a much lighter garment. For winter-wear, the bison fur was left on the item for added insulation like these moccasins.

In addition to becoming clothing for everyday wear, bison hides were often used for buffalo robes. If the fur was kept on the buffalo robe was used primarily to keep the wearer warm. The fur could be removed for summer wear. Sometimes the outward facing hide-side of these robes was painted. These painted robes could have many purposes. They could be worn by the sick to speed up the healing process or record war deeds, tribal history, personal histories and more. When these robes were gifted, that too was a significant act for many tribes including the Lakota because of the warmth and protection of the robe. Buffalo robes are important historical records as they represent the history of the tribes told by the tribe, rather than an outsider.

Learn More about Buffalo Robes:
Smithsonian "Tracking the Buffalo" online exhibit about buffalo hide painting
Nebraska's Metropolitan Community College Buffalo Robe Project, 2013

The Museum Journal by the Penn Museum, "A Buffalo Robe Biography" by Henry Usher Hall

Bowl made from bison hide. Sioux. NA.106.243. Chandler-Pohrt Collection, Gift of Mr. William D. Weiss. Plains Indian Museum, Buffalo Bill Center of the West.

Bison are large animals, and every piece could be used. Their bones could be made into tools to make foraging easier (shovels, awls, digging sticks) or to help them when they were processing future kills through fleshing tools and scrapers. The horns could be used for utensils, cups, and to transport fire. Tendons were made into strings for bows and sinew. Hooves made rattles, spoons, and glue. The bladder made containers to transport food, water, and medicine. Teeth, hair, and the beard could be used for ornamental purposes. Fat could be made into tallow, soap, hair grease, or used to tan the hide. Even the gall bladder was used for its yellow pigment.

Altogether Plains Indians had over 150 uses for various components of the bison, but this did not mean that every bison was used in its entirety. Leaving some parts behind provided for other inhabitants of the ecosystem.

The bison hide had many uses from clothing to toys to shelter. The hide could form sweat lodges or domestic dwellings. Sometimes, like the buffalo robe, the hides were painted. The tepee that many associate with Plains Indian dwellings was made up of anywhere from 15 - 20 hides.

Bison and Conservation

Brink of Extinction

When Europeans first came to North America, an estimated 30 to 60 million bison roamed the Great Plains.

William Jacob Hays, Sr. (1830-1875). A Herd of Bison Crossing the Missouri River, The Herd on the Move, 1863. Oil on canvas, 36.125 x 72 inches. Buffalo Bill Center of the West, Cody, Wyoming. Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney Trust Fund Purchase. 3.60

When Euro-Americans reached the Great Plains, they began to trade with many Plains Tribes for valuable bison hides. The hide market was first dominated by Plains Tribes who would trade the hides for various goods.

Alfred Jacob Miller (1810-1874). A Surround of Buffalo by Indians, 1848-1858. Oil on canvas, 30.375 x 44.125 inches. Buffalo Bill Center of the West, Cody, Wyoming. Gift of William E. Weiss. 2.76

George Catlin, an artist who also portrayed scenes of the West in his work, wrote in a May 1832 report that he had learned that hundred of the men from the tribe had gone hunting for bison despite having "full larders" so they could obtain tongues for the American Fur Company in exchange for gallons of whiskey. Early in the trade of bison hides, Native Americans were the primary hunters. Though while they were in control of the market (by being the distributors), the trades were oftentimes unfair, favoring the American Fur Company rather than being equal.

After the Civil War the market shifted and Euro-American men became the primary "hide hunters." The demand for hides was insatiable as both the American and European market called for more.

The lucrative market soon attracted European-descendant hunters who would kill as many bison as they could to strip them of their hides, leaving the bodies to rot.

On the Brink of Extinction

Photograph of Rath & Wright's buffalo hide yard located in Dodge City, Kansas in 1878. There are 40,000 buffalo hides in this photograph. That is more hides than the population of Laramie, Wyoming. Courtesy National Archives, photo no. 26-G-3422.

William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody's Reflection on the hide market:
"I had a force of men with me to skin and cut up the animals I shot, and after the railroad builders were supplied I was the first man to ship buffalo meat to Europe. I sent it by express, shipping only hindquarters and tenderloins, with the hide left on to prove that it was clear, sure enough buffalo meat. The number of animals killed by me and by other white men and all the tribes of Indians, for food, would seem enormous if it could be correctly written down, yet all that killing, so long as it was confined to such legitimate supply, did not seriously diminish the herds. The Indians did not kill so many buffaloes as the white men, because they never killed wantonly. They only slaughtered what they needed for the flesh to eat, or for the hides to make lodges or robes.
But the death knell of the buffaloes sounded when white men got to killing them for their hides, simply to make leather. For that use they could kill at any season of the year, and they did, cruelly, recklessly-exterminating them for the sake of the two or four dollars each they got for the hides, and leaving the carcasses by hundreds of thousands to rot on the plains. There was no refuge or relief for the buffaloes anywhere. The hide-hunters followed them, in hundreds, from Texas clear up to the British possessions, slaughtering and skinning, until they finally wiped them out." Source: https://codyarchive.org/texts/wfc.nsp09021.html

Removal of bison impacted the ability of Native American groups to survive or defend their traditional lands against the United States. The slaughter reached its peak in the 1870s and 1880s, and bison numbers fell to their lowest point, roughly 1,000 in North America. Only approximately 300 of those were Bison bison bison while the other 700 were Bison bison athabascae, or wood bison.

Bison killed for their hides photographed by L.A. Huffman (1854-1931). P.79.01.018. McCracken Research Library, Buffalo Bill Center of the West.

L.A. Huffman photographed a changing frontier in the late 1800s and early 1900s. From 1880 until 1883, Huffman photographed the prairie surrounding Miles City, Montana. The result was some of the last photographs of wild bison on the Great Plains.

Over-exploitation due to commerce was not the sole reason for the removal of bison from the landscape. On 26 June 1869, the Army Navy Journal reported: "General Sherman remarked, in conversation the other day, that the quickest way to compel the Indians to settle down to civilized life was to send ten regiments of soldiers to the plains, with orders to shoot buffaloes until they became too scarce to support the redskins."

Bison hunting was hailed as an "American sport" that could be won by whoever killed the most bison. The Army relied on this sport to keep idle troops entertained on the frontier.

Despite playing a hand in their extermination, the US Army would soon be tasked with protecting one of the remaining wild bison herds in Yellowstone National Park.

Nick Eggenhofer (1897-1985). Col. Cody Hunting Buffalo, ca. 1952. Gouache on board, 15.5 x 13 inches. Buffalo Bill Center of the West, Cody, Wyoming. Gift of the artist. 39.73

The Buffalo-Hunt, Camp Seventh United States Cavalry, Near Fort Hays, May 28, 1867. Harpers Weekly, July 6, 1867, page 426. MS51.337-Pg426. McCracken Research Library, Buffalo Bill Center of the West.

Bison were saved from extinction in large part due to the North American Model. The model originated during the late 19th century in large part thanks to Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt. During Roosevelt's presidency, the National Parks were designated as areas of preservation meaning their resources could not be used while the subsequently formed National Forests were conservation areas for wise-use.

The North American Model is an approach used by agencies today for the use of natural resources. It is because of the North American model that the number of hunting tags vary from year to year as wildlife biologists try to manage wildlife populations.

In 1886, William Temple Hornaday, the Smithsonian's United States National Museum's chief taxidermist, was sent to Montana to collect bison specimens for display. Hornaday had been a big game hunter before his position at the National Museum. Like many early conservationists, Hornaday's background in hunting was a major factor in his interest in wildlife populations. Hornaday had seen the large herds of bison before his 1886 trip and was shocked to see them diminished.

During his trip to Montana, Hornaday collected the bison seen in this exhibit and subsequently dedicated his life to preserving the species. He acquired two live bison to be displayed for the public at the Smithsonian, they were the start of the Smithsonian's National Zoo which was founded in 1888. The following year, Hornaday published "Extermination of the American Bison with a Sketch of Its Discovery and Life History" which popularized the effort to save bison from extinction. In 1905, Hornaday organized the American Bison Society which helped to put bison from zoos back into conservation herds, the first of which occurred in 1907 as fifteen bison were donated to the Wichita National Forest and Game Preserve in Oklahoma.

For more information:

Smithsonian Museum virtual exhibit "William Temple Hornaday- Father of the American Conservation Movement."

Private conservation of bison is the main reason we can view bison today in places like Yellowstone National Park. When the bison population numbered only 1,000 individuals, many of them were part of private herds and necessary for the revitalization of the species. The Bighorn Basin's most famous resident and Cody, Wyoming's namesake, Buffalo Bill, was the owner of one such herd.

Buffalo Bill stands on the front porch of the lodge at Pahaska Tepee in 1903. Photo courtesy of Park County Archives.

Learn more about Buffalo Bill Cody

William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody killed 4,282 bison in an eighteen-month period in 1868 for the Union Pacific Railroad.

After establishing a hunting lodge outside of Cody, Buffalo Bill began noticing a decline in large game species and soon became an advocate for conservation and limits on hunting.

At the end of the 19 th century bison were interbred with cattle. The interbreeding was an effort to make cattle better able to deal with the cold winters of the West. Interbreeding resulted in the presence of cattle genetics in many herds. Genetically-pure bison, like those at Yellowstone National Park, do not have the introgression of cattle genes. Because of the near-extinction of bison, genetically-pure bison are important for maintaining genetic diversity in herds across North America.

Buffalo Bill's hunting party in front of the lodge at Pahaska Tepee. Photo courtesy of the Park County Archives.

William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody, photograph courtesy of the Park County Archives.

One of Buffalo Bill's bison at Cody, Wyoming. Courtesy of Park County Archives.

Almost twenty years after Buffalo Bill renounced his actions, the Army was tasked with protecting the bison in Yellowstone National Park- one of the remaining wild herds. Within just a few years, the bison population increased, but bison would not freely roam the Great Plains again. Today there are an estimated 362,406 bison in North America. One hundred eighty-three thousand seven hundred and eighty of those bison are in private herds. Bison are the only mammal native to North America that can be farmed without a permit

When the Land Belonged to God Charles M. Russell Oil on canvas, 1914 Montana Historical Society Collection, X1977.01.01

Archaeology vs. Paleontology

In the United States, there are laws governing the collection of non-renewable resources. These resources cannot be replaced which means both archaeological and paleontological remains are subject to this legislation.

Archaeology is the study of human history through excavation of materials left behind.

Paleontology is the study of fossils including dinosaurs, plants, and animals.

Photograph courtesy of Larry Todd depicts an archaeologist excavating site 48PA563 in August of 1984.

Excavation courtesy of the Wyoming Dinosaur Center, Thermopolis, Wyoming

Finding Bison

Archaeology vs. paleontology

Wild bison have been absent from the Bighorn Basin since the late 1890s. This means, any bison remains found in the area are either archaeological or paleontological finds.

A pile of bison skulls and elk antlers at the TE Ranch. P.6.1618, McCracken Research Library, Buffalo Bill Center of the West.

Humans have made their home in Wyoming for more than 13,000 years. Reminders of this long history are scattered across the landscape in the form of the archaeological record.

During a survey, archaeologists take inventory of the archaeological resources in a specific area. Each flag marks an archaeological resource. Photograph courtesy of Dr. Lawrence Todd.

The disturbance or removal of archaeological resources on Federal lands (for example, Forest Service, BLM, National Parks) is illegal under the Archaeological Resources Protection Act (ARPA) of 1979.

The official purpose of ARPA reads:
"The purpose of this chapter is to secure, for the present and future benefit of the American people, the protection of archaeological resources and sites which are on public lands and Indian lands, and to foster increased cooperation and exchange of information between governmental authorities, the professional archaeological community, and private individuals having collections of archaeological resources and data which were obtained before October 31, 1979."
Read the act in its entirety here.

ARPA applies to both surface and sub-surface resources found on federal public lands that were collected after October 31, 1979.
Bureau of Reclamation on ARPA National Park Service on ARPA Forest Service on ARPA Bureau of Land Management on ARPA
There's more than meets the eye when it comes to archaeological resources. Archaeologists use a variety of different approaches to make inferences about the past. Explore a site to learn more!

Photo courtesy of the Wyoming Dinosaur Center, Thermopolis, Wyoming.

What can we learn from an archaeological site? Pick one to find out!

The Horner Site consists of Horner I and Horner II and is located outside of Cody, Wyoming. The site dates between about 10,500 and 11,500 years old (calibrated Frison dates Table 4.1).

Photograph of the Horner Site excavations by University of Wyoming courtesy of Dr. Lawrence Todd.

48PA201 is a rockshelter on the banks of the North Fork of the Shoshone River that was occupied from approximately 7280 B.C. to 1580 A.D.

Photograph of the Mummy Cave, courtesy of McCracken Research Library

48PA563 is a Shoshonean winter camp located in Sunlight Basin occupied during the Late Prehistoric Period (after 1300 A.D.).

Photograph of 48PA563 during excavation courtesy of Dr. Lawrence Todd.

What is a Site? A "site" refers to a group of artifacts. According to the Wyoming State Historic Preservation Office, a site is either 15 prehistoric artifacts within a 30 meter area or one feature. Anything under this threshold is labeled as an isolate. For sites consisting of historic artifacts, there must be 50 or more within a 30 meter area. The sites can be much larger than the 30 meters, but this provides guidelines for survey crews to determine what they do and do not report. Some of these sites will then get excavated to learn more.

A feature is a non-moveable element of an archaeological site. While artifacts, like stone tools, can be moved from the site, a feature remains in place. Examples include trash pits, hearths, walls, and more! Because they cannot be created by natural processes, features indicate human presence at a site.

Horner I, shown here, represents a wide range of activities including hide processing. This could mean it was a short-term occupation site, likely used during the late fall or early winter. The area contains well over 100 bison.

Analysis of sites depend on the artifacts or objects being found in situ. In situ means the objects are found where they were left originally. This is important because of the surrounding context. A projectile point embedded in a rib bone beside a hearth tells a much different story than a lone projectile point or rib bone.

The remains of bison found at the Horner Site are full of information. From analyzing bones, archaeologists can learn approximately how many animals were killed during the event (known as the MNI or minimum number of individuals), how the bison were butchered, if they were gnawed on by carnivores, and even seasonality of death. At Horner Site 1, examination of dental eruption (when teeth emerge) indicated the animals were all killed in late fall or early winter. The bison may represent a single event or repeat kill events all taking place in the same location in the same season.

Feature 13, viewed here, may have been a storage pit, post-hole for a structure or drying rack, cooking pit, related to the location of the kill, or some other as yet undetermined use.

Feature 25 is a charcoal scatter interpreted to be a hearth or fire. Fires during butchering could be useful in a variety of ways including cooking, processing of fats, providing light to work by, or protection from predators.

Stone tools, also known as lithics, give insight into the activities being performed at the site. Different tools were used for cutting, scraping hides, killing the animal, and more. At the Horner 1 site depicted here, analysis of the stone tools led to the conclusion that the site shown here was used for cutting and skinning of the hides and hide working. One of the researchers E.N. Wilmsen suggested, "it is likely that Horner represents an annual harvest of fresh pelts for conversion into warm winter robes."

The Horner Site was discovered by James M. Allen on July 2, 1939. After finding the site, Allen developed an interest in seeing the site investigated further and showed the site to Dr. Glenn Jepsen of Princeton University. Jepsen began excavating the site in 1949 and in 1951, turned to the Smithsonian Institution for assistance in excavating the site. Princeton and the Smithsonian would excavate the site 23 years before the University of Wyoming conducted two field seasons at the site in 1977 and 1978.

Leaving portions of archaeological sites is common practice as it allows future archaeologists to come back with more advanced technology and learn even more! At the Horner Site, this happened two times after the first 1949 excavation.

Archaeological sites are divided into excavation blocks. Today, excavation unit typically measures 1 meter x 1 meter. Each archaeologist is assigned to excavation unit. They are tasked with mapping items withing that area as they excavate, making it possible for maps like this one. Each block as a name designated by a letter and number as well as a metric locational designation.

Sometimes referred to as "Mummy Cave" because of the ancestor's remains found in the cave, site 48PA201 represents almost 9,000 years of continuous occupation. The rockshelter's dry conditions resulted in the preservation of perishable objects such as baskets, wood, hide, and feathers alongside the more frequently seen projectile points, chipped stone knives and scrapers, faunal remains and tubular bone pipes. As each layer was radiocarbon dated, archaeologists were able to establish a timeline for changes in the shape of projectile points. This timeline can be used to estimate the age of an undated site.

48PA201 consists of 38 unique stratigraphic layers. This level of preservation is unique for a site, especially in Wyoming. Archaeological sites usually deal with things like burrowing rodents which disturb the layers. Additionally, windy Wyoming tends to be an environment of erosion rather than deposition.
These two images show rodent burrows on the surface (left) and underground (right). Known as these burrows can cause a mixing of layers. Site 48PA201 does not have any krotovina. Photographs courtesy of Dr. Lawrence Todd.
Projectile points, or arrowheads and dart points, are diagnostic artifacts. This means their shape changes regularly through time. Projectile points can be used to relatively date layers in excavated sites or when found on the ground surface.

Here in the West, many collect projectile points because of their beauty. When they remove projectile points from the landscape, they also remove the quickest way archaeologists can tell time. Some sites studied now are void of these diagnostic artifacts, sometimes requiring advanced analysis like radiocarbon dating to get a date of occupation and sometimes no longer datable at all.

The stratigraphic layers in 48PA201 are numbered 1 (the oldest layer) to 38 (the youngest layer). The numbering system allows for each layer to be interpreted which contributes to our understanding of the site as a whole.

Layers 19-23 date from 6,900 to 6,000 years ago. According to the site report by William Husted and Bob Edgar, the thinness of these layers suggests sparse population in Wyoming and at the site at that time.

Stratigraphy refers to the layers of sediment that build up over time. The youngest layer will be on top while each layer under that will be older. Archaeologists excavate these layers to learn more about people through time.

In radiocarbon dating, the decay of carbon-14 is measured. Carbon-14 is incorporated into living organisms through plants consumed during its lifetime. During an organism's lifetime, levels of carbon-14 in the body remain relatively constant. When an organism dies, the carbon-14 begins to decay at a predictable rate allowing us to estimate when that organism died. This date is presented as Radiocarbon Years Before Present but can be calibrated to years before present or as calendar years (AD or BC). The half-life of carbon-14 is 5,730 years and radiocarbon dating can be used to date organic remains to roughly 50,000 years.

Cross-dating uses material culture that changes in a predictable way through time, such as projectile points or pottery, to estimate the age of an undated site.

48PA563: Bugas-Holding Site

48PA563 was discovered during a gas line trench excavation. The site was first tested in August 1983. The site was occupied from November until early spring (March/April) about 1300 A.D. After the site was abandoned, it was quickly covered with sediment from alluvial flows.

provenance

Datum

Every archaeological site has a datum. The datum sets up the grid system used to keep track of everything that comes out of the site. You can see the grid on the site map, but it's not just a conceptual grid drawn on after the excavation. The grid guides the excavation.

Each grid unit, usually 1 meter by 1 meter, is given a name. The larger block is then divided into four quadrants. When an object comes out of the excavation block, its location is recorded. That location includes the block name, quadrant within the block, relation to the datum (i.e. its location north and east within the site), depth, and orientation (for example, which way the object's long axis is facing).

Tools at Bugas-Holding were repurposed from existing tools, but not likely created from freshly collected material. On stone tools you can tell how close a piece was to its raw material source (for example, a unaltered cobble of chert) based on something called cortex. Cortex is the outer shell of the rock. The closer flakes were to the outside of the rock, the more cortex they have on them. Additionally, flakes that are used to make stone tools are taken off cores. A core is a large block of raw material that is used to get smaller bits off.

Excavations at 48PA563 found that the lithic debitage, flakes from making and resharpening stone tools, were concentrated around the up-wind sides of the 8 hearths that make up the site. The absence of cores, large pieces of raw lithic material, suggests the inhabitants of this site were primarily re-using tools brought there at the beginning of occupation.

This site map shows how anatomic refitting shows movement of bones through the site.

One of the ways archaeologists can learn more about sites like this one is through a process known as refitting. Age, sex, and species are used to determine which bones are likely to have come from one individual animal. From this information, it is possible to see relationships throughout the site as bones from a single individual are found throughout.

At Bugas-Holding, refitting indicates the bones received initial processing at Hearth 2 and 5 in the center of the site. Subsequently, parts of the different bones were moved to other locations in the site. For example, the distal ends of bones which are marrow rich were moved to Hearths 6 and 7 where they were likely processed further. Bulky bison crania were broken open at Hearth 2 before being moved to Feature 9, a probable dump.

Seasonality refers to what season a site was occupied. Animal bones help archaeologists learn what season a site was occupied. At this site, there were seven fetal bison. Since bison give birth to their young in the spring, archaeologists can estimate what months the site was occupied based on fetal development. Like humans, bison develop their skeleton in predictable stages. For example, in humans the cartilage growth plate known as the anterior fontanelle in our heads fuse between 9 and 18 months. Two of the infant bison were estimated to be 7 months old, putting occupation of the site in December.

During excavation, the provenience of each object is recorded. Provenience is essentially an object's origin. This origin can be general (this object came from 48PA563) or very specific (this object came from site 48PA563, Level 3, Block B). In an archaeological dig, provenience is marked as precisely as possible. At Bugas-Holding, the goal was to locate items within about 5 mm accuracy. The 1 meter by 1 meter grid system assigned to each site is one tool to do this, but a site datum (control point for measurements)is also used to keep track of objects in necessary detail.

Refitting of bone fragments shows that the grease-rich distal ends of long bones were moved from Hearth 2 to Hearths 6 and 7. These two hearths also see a higher frequency of bighorn sheep bones.

All of the hearths at Bugas-Holding show ashy piles on the same side of the hearth. What would cause this? Likely wind. Much like today, when cleaning out a fire, you wouldn't put the ash upwind of the occupants because it would just blow back at you. Depositing the ash down-wind would clear it out of the hearth and save the occupants from getting covered in ash. Since all the hearths exhibit the same pattern, archaeologists infer that the hearths were located outside of any dwellings where wind direction has less impact on hearth fires.

In addition to canid (dog or wolf) tooth marks on bones such as the vertebra from the dump, Bugas-Holding has 6 canid bones at the site, four of which were modified into tools and ornaments.

Superposition is an important principal in archaeology. According to superposition, the oldest layers of a site are at the bottom and the younger layers are at the top (see 48PA201 for more). This is important when understanding Hearth 5. Which came first, the elk antler, vertebral column, or hearth?

Knowledge of animal behavior is essential for interpreting the archaeological record. At Bugas-Holding, MNI (minimum number of individuals) tells us there are at least 15 bison, 14 bighorn sheep, 2 elk, and 1 pronghorn at the site. Animal behavior can help us learn how these individuals were procured.

Take the two most common animals at the site- bison and bighorn sheep. During the winter, bighorn sheep congregate into larger herds that take shelter from severe winter weather in sheltered valleys, like the Sunlight Basin. Bison, however, disperse from their large herds into smaller groups during the winter. The inhabitants of Bugas-Holding likely procured bison through encounter hunts because of these smaller herds. The bighorn sheep would have been easier to kill in mass in larger groups. Sheep traps in the area make this a real possibility. While these behaviors would have made bighorn sheep a more available food source for the Bugas-Holding site inhabitants, just one adult bison can provide as much meat as 4-5 bighorn sheep.

Collecting without a permit

Not covered by PRPA, you can collect common invertebrate or plant fossils on public lands but the amount cannot exceed 100 lbs a year and must be gathered by hand (without the use of tools). Additionally, you cannot sell the fossils collected.

Bison

Many bison bones occur in archaeological and/or cave contexts, are protected under ARPA and Federal Cave Resources Protection Act (FCRPA), and can only be collected by qualified researchers with an authorizing permit.
Bison bones occurring in sediments or ice (outside of caves or archaeological context) often qualify as vertebrate paleontological resources under PRPA, and can only be collected with research and collection permit of the requisite federal land management authority.
Best Practice - treat bison bones as natural/cultural resources protected by ARPA/FCRPA/PRPA.

Collecting the remains of organisms like vertebrates, which include mammals (like bison) and reptiles, requires a permit from the Federal Government. Studying vertebrate fossils is important because it gives us and understanding of what past ecosystems may have looked like before human involvement.

Paleontological Resources Preservation Act
National Park Service on PRPA Bureau of Land Management on PRPA Bureau of Land Management Fact Sheet on PRPA Bureau of Reclamation on PRPA
Leave it in place! The original context of archaeological and paleontological resources can yield valuable information, not all of which is apparent to the naked eye. Record where you found it-use GPS, take a photo of setting, make notes.

Report anything you find to the proper authorities.

When You Find Something

Each public lands entity (the Forest Service, BLM, Bureau of Reclamation, etc.) all have archaeologists on staff. These are the people to contact when you find something on public lands in the Bighorn Basin.

Kyle Wright, Shoshone National Forest Archaeologist, kyle.d.wright[@]usda.gov

Michael Stites, Bighorn National Forest Archaeologist, michael.d.stites[@]usda.gov

Kierson Crume, Bureau Land Management, kcrume[@]blm.gov

Wyoming Historic Preservation Office (SHPO), https://wyoshpo.wyo.gov/
Even the Soil is Important
As technology advances so too does our knowledge. Did you know that the soil surrounding archaeological resources can contain information in the form of pollen on the plant life during that time? This information can help us learn about the climate, helping archaeologists make more informed inferences about the past. But wait, there's more! Scientists can now extract DNA from soil. Known as "eDNA" or environmental DNA, this can help us learn about early hominids, extinct animals, and more! These leaps in technology cause archaeologists to change the way they excavate sites and make it even more important for a portion of the site to be left untouched.

Passport in Time is a project started through the Forest Service that now includes the BLM and HistoriCorps. Through Passport in Time volunteers work with professionals to help with things like archaeological survey, restoration, research, and more!

Site Stewardship Program

The Wyoming Site Stewardship Program is run through the Historic Preservation Office. Trained volunteers work with professionals to monitor cultural resources throughout the state.

What is a cultural resource?

A cultural resource is anything that is evidence of past human activity. Cultural resources can take the form of artifacts, structures, rock art, and more. Even landscapes that have been altered or feature prominently in a belief system or way of life can be a cultural resource. Sites sacred to different Native American tribes would be considered a cultural resource. Cultural resources sometimes have special laws that govern their use. Learn more here.

Staff took up to 26 measurements of each cranium, depending on completeness (photograph left). These measurements were established by a 1947 paper written by Morris Skinner and Ove Kaisen (below).

A project like this requires the expertise and skills of many different people. The Museums is lucky enough to have access to just such a group of people! This project was suggested by Meeteetse Museums Board President, Dr. Lawrence Todd. Director of Education and Programs, Amy Phillips, and Dr. Ken Cannon of Cannon Heritage, Inc. were the co-Principal Investigators on the project. Measurements were conducted by Amy Phillips and Director of Collections, Alexandra Deselms.

The team was advised by a group of scientific advisors consisting of Jason Baldes (Executive Director, Wind River Native Advocacy Center), Dr. Chris Widga (Head Curator, Gray Fossil Site and Museum, East Tennessee State University), Dr. Jeff M. Martin (Director of Research for the Center of Excellence for Bison Studies at the West River Research and Extension Center, South Dakota State University in Rapid City) as well as the formerly mentioned Dr. Lawrence Todd (Colorado State University, Emeritus) and Dr. Kenneth Cannon (Cannon Heritage Consultants). The advisors were interviewed for a season of the Meeteetse Museums' podcast "Meeteetse Stories" which can be found wherever you listen to podcasts.

Finding Bison

As part of Wyoming's Archaeology Awareness Month in September 2020, the Meeteetse Museums introduced the "Bison of the Bighorn Basin" project. Though wild bison have been absent from the Basin for over one hundred years, signs of their presence are still found throughout the area. The most iconic of these is the cranium. Bison crania are found throughout the Bighorn Basin decorating fences, barns, gates, and fireplaces. The bison cranium is a record of that individual's life, giving us insight into the past.

To gather this information and learn more about the geographic Bighorn Basin's ecological past, the Meeteetse Museums sent out a call for anyone with a bison cranium found in the Basin to bring it to the Museums for measurement. Over the course of the project, the Museums measured 106 bison crania!

Morphology

"Morphology" is the study of shape. The shape of bison changes through time. Bison latifrons, for example, was much larger than modern bison despite belonging to the same genus.

This side-by-side comparison, courtesy of Yukon Palaeontology Programme, Yukon Government, shows the left humerus of a Bison priscus (top) beside a Bison bison (bottom). Bison priscus, also known as the steppe bison, were not as large as Bison latifrons.

Bison latifrons lived in forests and woodlands throughout North America including Florida, Texas, and California. This species grazed at eye-level and its primary food source would be trees and shrubs. Bison latifrons is thought to have been similar to modern moose in that they were largely solitary and possibly territorial animals. At the shoulder latifrons stood 8 foot tall and had horns with a spread ranging from 5 to 7 feet. Notice on this 3D scan from the Idaho Virtual Museum that latifrons has a particularly large first cervical vertebra. The wing-like features on the vertebra are muscle attachments, allowing the bison to support the weight of its horn cores. This massive species would have weighed approximately 2,000 pounds when full grown and had a life expectancy of roughly 14 years.

The bison measured during this project were compared with metrics (measurements) from a national dataset gathered by Dr. Chris Widga, head curator at the Gray Fossil Site in Eastern Tennessee. The comparison revealed that the Bighorn Basin bison are morphologically modern. This means the bison lived within the last 3,000 years, before the population-bottlenecking event of the late 19th century. To learn more, the Project radiocarbon dated 23 of the 106 crania measured during the project.

Morphology

Stable Carbon Isotope Analysis

Stable Nitrogen Isotope Analysis

With funds from the George C. Frison Institute, Buffalo Bill Center of the West Fellowship program, and private donations, the Meeteetse Museums sent 23 samples to John Southon at the University of California, Irvine W.M. Keck Carbon Cycle Accelerator Mass Spectrometer Lab for analysis. The majority of bison radiocarbon dated (73.9%) likely lived in the 1700s while the rest (26.1% ) are even older. This sample spans some interesting periods of change.

First, between the mid-1200s to the early 1800s AD the Medieval Warming Period ends, and the Little Ice Age begins. Second, our data set has bison from both before and after the reintroduction of horses to North America. Third, all the radiocarbon dated bison pre-date the population bottlenecking event of the 19th century. And finally, these bison also predate intensive, sedentary settlement of the Bighorn Basin by at least 75 years. How did bison in the Bighorn Basin respond to these changes?

For more information visit our blog.

Coming soon!

Coming soon!

Coming soon!

Courtesy of Cannon Heritage Consultants, Inc. this image shows the distribution of C3 and C4 values in the Bison Project samples.

Two categories of plants are recognized based on their carbon-fixation pathways. C3 plants represent 90% of all plants including all trees and herbaceous plants from cold and temperate climates. Their stable carbon isotope values range from -23% to -32%, with an average at about -26%. C3 plants do most of their growing during the spring and early summer.

C4 plants are more competitive than C3 plants during periods of stress, especially during periods of drought. Their stable carbon isotope values range from -9% to -16%. C4 plants thrive in warm summers accompanied by adequate precipitation. Unlike C3 plants, the growth of C4 plants correlates with mean annual precipitation (MAP) and mean annual temperature (MAT).

As generalist feeders of grass biomass, we expect bison stable carbon isotope values to reflect a mixture of the C3 and C4 plants available in their range. Stable carbon signatures from this sample indicate a diet of largely C3 grasses. This is expected considering the specimens from the Project are from mostly high altitude and latitude sites.

Bison are sexually dimorphic which means male bison are larger than female bison in a measurable way. Five measurements were used to determine the likely sex of each bison.

Bison use their horns much like humans use jewelry or clothing. For them, their horns are social signals. Large horn cores make male bison effective at gaining breeding rights and are representative of their overall health. Since male bison are the ones who initiate breeding, they are the ones who have to signal their prowess. This means male bison will have a greater measurement from the tip of one horn core to the tip of the other,

Reintroduction

Legislation & Agreements

Yellowstone National Park

Despite being endangered in the early 20th century, today bison are thriving. As of 2016, the bison became the United States' national mammal. It's a tribute to the uniqueness of the species. Bison are the only large-game animal native to North America which can be raised on ranches without a permit. They also live in conservation herds like those at Yellowstone National Park and the Wind River Reservation.
Bison in Lamar Valley, NPS.

Eastern Shoshone bison herd on the Wind River Reservation courtesy of the Casper Star Tribune.

"Legal Writing" by Dave Wilson Cumbria is marked with CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

Today bison are returning to their former ranges through the efforts of people like Jason Baldes, Eastern Shoshone. On the nearby Wind River Reservation, the Eastern Shoshone Tribe has 66 buffalo, and the Northern Arapaho Tribe has 32, as of October 2021. For Baldes and the Eastern Shoshone, the goal is to eventually allow the tribes to return to traditional subsistence ways after an absence of upwards of 100 years. The return is important for tribal sovereignty and tradition but also the land.

"...education around buffalo is very important for our young people because on our reservation, the majority of our population is under the age of 30. And we have to be able to create leaders on the Reservation that are knowledgeable about our history with buffalo but also our history with our language, with our culture, with governments, with our environmental issues. And so, this buffalo institute or buffalo education center is being implemented and created so that we can teach our young people how to be grounded in our cultural ways so that we are grounded as Tribal Leaders in the future." - Jason Baldes, Season 2 Episode 4 "Meeteetse Stories"

Reintroduction

Bison are what is known as a keystone species. Their presence on the landscape affects many other organisms, both plants and animals. As bison find food, a behavior known as foraging, they aerate the soil with their hooves. This aeration aids in plant growth and is a behavior mimicked today for the growth of grass in residential and commercial lawns. As bison graze, they also distribute seeds, spreading native plants across large tracts of land while also providing food for other animals including birds. Bison also roll in the soil, creating wallows or areas of compacted soil which are better suited to retaining water. These wallows are crucial for amphibians and other wetland species.

Many tribes of the Great Plains relied heavily on bison for their food, clothing, and tools. In the mid-1800s as bison became increasingly scarce on the landscape and tribes were forced onto reservations, the tribes were forced to consume rations provided by the United States government. These foods included things such as flour, tea, coffee, salt, beans, and beef. These new foods were nutritionally inferior to the tribes traditional foods and ultimately resulted in health problems including malnutrition, diabetes, and more.

The reintroduction to tribal lands is not just about the return of a relative and the spiritual health that return brings. The return of bison to the land allows for food sovereignty.
"Food sovereignty is the right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems. It puts the aspirations and needs of those who produce, distribute and consume food at the heart of food systems and policies rather than the demands of markets and corporations."
- Declaration of Nyéléni, the first global forum on food sovereignty, Mali, 2007

Food sovereignty helps to solve the health issues created by the sudden reliance on rationed, nutritionally inferior foods and allows Plains Tribes to return to cultural food practices.

Legislation and Agreements

"Legal Writing" by Dave Wilson Cumbria is marked with CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

On September 24, 2014 the following nations signed a document pledging their commitment to returning the buffalo back to its former ranges. Those nations were: Blackfeet Nation, Kainai/Blood Tribe, Siksika Nation, Piikani Nation, the Assiniboine and Gros Ventre Tribes of Fort Belknap Indian Reservation, the Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of Fort Peck Indian Reservation, the Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Indian Reservation, and Tsuut'ina Nation. In 2019, the Eastern Shoshone joined the treaty and today a total of 31 signatories have signed the document known as "The Buffalo: A Treaty of Cooperation, Renewal and Restoration." The signatories meet annually to discuss the progress that has been made and determine next steps of action.

"Existence is a 'spider web' network of relationships in the Indian mind world. That mind world forever is in search of regular patterns that give existence to our people through our cultural life ways. The Buffalo is keystone to the maintenance of life ways of cooperation, kindness, renewal, and sharing amongst and between peoples."

In December 2020, the Indian Buffalo Management Act was passed by the House of Representatives. The Act acknowledges the importance of the buffalo to many Native American tribes and works to assist the management of buffalo and buffalo habitat on Indian lands.

Indian Buffalo Management Act

For hundreds of years, the United States government tried to remove the bison as a way of wiping out Native Americans. Through this act, the government signals its intention to promote tribal ownership of bison on tribal lands.

In 2016, the bison became the United States of America's national mammal. The Act acknowledges the relationship between Indian tribes and the bison, their continuing efforts in restoring bison to the landscape, and the complex history of bison in North America.

National Bison Legacy Act

What do you think the adoption of the bison, with its complex history and near-extinction, as the National Mammal means for the future of bison reintroduction and tribal sovereignty?

Bison are a native species in the Park and the surrounding ecosystem, known as the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Learn more about their long history in the area here.

What is brucellosis and why does it relate to the Yellowstone National Park herds?

New research has been conducted by the Park along with other partners to learn about the migration of their bison. Learn more!

Bison in Yellowstone National Park
Bison may be icons of the United States' first national park, but the Park herd is important for more than just their good looks. Since the bison in Yellowstone are genetically-pure, they are important for starting additional conservation herds and reintroducing bison to the landscape. They are also living in a very large, unfenced area which means studying them can give us clues about how bison of the past may have behaved.

Brucellosis is a disease that can cause abortions and infertility in bovines, which includes bison and cattle, as well as loss of weight, decreased milk production, swollen joints, and more. The disease is not native to North America but was introduced along with domestic cattle. Brucellosis has been eliminated from 48 states, existing in the continental United States only in Yellowstone National Park. The disease can be transferred through feces and is also carried by elk. Unlike bison, elk, managed as wildlife, are allowed to move freely between Yellowstone and surrounding areas and have been documented to transfer the disease to cattle. Cattle are susceptible to the disease, which can result in loss of profit for local ranchers. Before bison leave the Park for introduction in other herds, they must be certified brucellosis-free. This lengthy process requires the animal to be removed from the herd for anywhere from one to two years.

Learn more about how the Park certifies bison as brucellosis-free here:

https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/management/bison-conservation-transfer-program.htm

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A project dedicated to learning more about bison morphology, or shape, and ecology within the geographic Bighorn Basin. Join us in exploring the story of the bison. Albert Bierstadt (1830-1902). A Bull Buffalo, c. 1878. Oil on paper mounted on board, 13.25 x 15.25 inches. Buffalo Bill Center of the West, Cody, Wyoming.

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IEFA Resources from the Center of the West

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IEFA Resources from the Center of the West

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Our virtual and in-person resources to help you meet IEFA standards.

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Lesson plan created by the Meeteetse Museums

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Painted Buffalo Robes Lesson Plan with Worksheets _ June 3 Draft

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Lesson plan created by the Meeteetse Museums

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Bison and Economy Lesson Plan_June 1 Draft

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Lesson plan created by the Meeteetse Museums

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Bison as Shelter Lesson Plan_May31 Draft

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Lesson plan created by the Meeteetse Museums

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Native American Nutrition Conference Day 1: Elsie DuBray on Buffalo Lipids

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Native American Nutrition Conference Day 1: Elsie DuBray on Buffalo Lipids

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Elsie DuBray's research on buffalo lipids.

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Annual Conference on Native American Nutrition

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Native American Nutrition Conference Day 1: Elsie DuBray

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Are you interested in information about FREE virtual field trips for your classroom? Check out our website to see what we have available and schedule your field trip today.

Contact Alex Martin at alexm@centerofthewest.org or 307-578-4028 for more information.

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Virtual Field Trips - Buffalo Bill Center of the West

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Take a virtual trip out West! Visit the Buffalo Bill Center of the West by signing your class up for one of our free, interactive virtual field trips. Take your [...]

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Enroll in our next Indian Education for All Teacher Professional Development course!

This course is FREE to you! Earn Wyoming PTSB, UW Continuing Education, or Montana Renewal Units.

Contact Heather Bender at heatherb@centerofthewest.org or 307-578-4096 for more information.