than any other animal, beaver changes the land- scape and waterscape of streams and creeks, creat- ing a whole different ecosystem.”
First Conservationists These efforts to restore species are just a few being led by tribes across the country. “Tribes are kind of the first conservationists,” said Julie Thorstenson (Lakota). She is executive director of the Native American Fish and Wildlife Society, a nonprofit founded in the 1980s to assist Native American and Alaska Native tribes with conservation work. “They recognize that every species and every animal has a place in the ecosystem.” But funding and capacity constrain these efforts.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Tribal Wildlife Grants can kickstart projects for any culturally sig- nificant wildlife, not just threatened and endan- gered species. They’ve helped the Karuk Tribe return porcupines to its lands in California and the Pueblo of Santa Ana in New Mexico add turkeys, sources of quills and feathers for traditional rega- lia. However, these grants are capped at $200,000, so they can’t sustain ongoing programs, Thorsten- son said. That tribes have piecemealed funding and staff to continue this work, she added, is testament to how much these projects matter. REDCO worked with the World Wildlife Fund
(WWF) to lease the 28,000 acres on the Wolakota Buffalo Range and fundraise millions toward the
$4 million estimated total costs to maintain the project. The WWF also funded a feasibility study, which allowed REDCO to create a business plan that demonstrated the long-term financial sustainabil- ity of the project. “It’s not that the economics is the driver; it’s
that the economics can make sense,” said Dennis Jorgensen, the bison initiative coordinator for the WWF who helped with this project and others in the northern Plains. “Restoring bison to these commu- nities doesn’t have to be an economic burden. It can be an economic boon, and it can bring food sover- eignty and pride and opportunity and investment.” When bison were released on Sicangu Lakota
Oyate lands in 2020, they were given a welcoming ceremony. Spiritual leaders set a painted buffalo skull, bundles of sage and sweetgrass, chokecher- ries, corn and a buffalo robe on the ground as offer- ings for the return of their relatives. Those offerings were then encircled by children, then women, and then men, who formed the outer ring. “I always think, what if all of society did that, and
circled up our institutions and our money and our resources around children?” Little Elk said. “How much of a better world would we have if we just took that one lesson from buffalo?”
elizabeth miller is an independent journalist who covers Indigenous issues, wildlife management and public lands.
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION SPRING 2022 23
The ponds the beaver created now house fish and amphibians, raise the water table, recharge aquifers and can stall wildfires.
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