When the bison were released on Sicangu Lakota Oyate lands in October 2020 (right), they were given a welcoming ceremony. Children, then women, and then men encircled offerings for them—a buffalo skull, bundles of sage and sweetgrass, chokecherries, corn and a buffalo robe (right, bottom).
Members of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, or the
Sicangu Lakota Oyate, had come to welcome them, leaning over the fences and calling out a send-off while bison trotted onto the tawny grasslands. The bison’s return in October 2020 not only restored a vital piece to this Plains ecosystem but also renewed connections to cultural practices, spurred economic development and reinforced food and tribal sovereignty. Wizipan Little Elk, a tribal member who was
then the CEO of the tribe’s Rosebud Economic Development Corporation (REDCO) that manages the herd, was among those who witnessed this significant event. “It’s a part of our revitalization,” Little Elk said. “Like many Plains tribes, the Lakota were buffalo people, and our identity is intrinsi- cally tied to buffalo from a spiritual and cultural perspective. We basically say that when the buffalo are strong, then we will be strong again.” The 135 bison that seeded this herd were relo-
cated from two national parks and the nonprofit American Prairie Reserve in Montana. Additional arrivals in late 2021 brought that number to about 750, significant progress toward the goal of manag- ing up to 1,500 of the animals by 2025. Little Elk, who is now principal deputy assistant
secretary for Indian Affairs in the U.S. Department of Interior, said this dream of restoring bison to his tribe’s lands was gifted to him by a Sicangu Lakota Oyate mentor, Rosalie Little Thunder, who envi- sioned a million acres of land for bison. The Wolakota Buffalo Range on which they now roam has nearly 28,000 acres of possible grazing land to start, but progress establishing this herd went “crazy fast,” he said, a sign their work builds on their elders’ prayers. Bison are just one of many species that Native
peoples are helping bring back to the landscape as they strive to reestablish healthier ecosystems and reassert traditional knowledge and land man- agement. Their return can help heal the land and Native communities.
Inextricable Ties Tens of millions of bison are thought to have once roamed across about two-thirds of North America. After Europeans arrived and began to move West during the 1800s, they targeted and slaughtered mil- lions of the animals. The near eradication of bison from North America paralleled the relocation of Native Americans onto reservation lands beginning in the mid-1800s. By the early 1900s, bison could only be found in private herds and two remnant wild populations in what is now Alberta, Canada, and Yel- lowstone National Park in Wyoming, Idaho and Mon- tana. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) reports about 14,000 American bison (which includes the North American Plains bison as well as the wood bison in Alaska and Canada) exist in the wild and that the species is considered near threatened. About 31,000 more are in managed herds. “When we talk about this genocide that was com-
mitted against Indigenous people, we also have to talk about the genocide against buffalo,” Little Elk
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION SPRING 2022 17
PREVIOUS SPREAD: ZACHARY STRAW / STRAW PHOTOGRAPHY AND MEDIA; WWF-US / CLAY BOLT (3)
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