2016
Pre-colonization, an estimated 30 million bison (American buffalo) roamed the prairies of North America. A keystone species, they played a vital role in their plains ecosystems, as well as serving as a vital food source for Native people. With westward expansion, white settlers deliberately slaughtered bison en masse - a way to cut off Native foodways and further their genocide of Indigenous people. Now, there are fewer than 500,000 buffalo left.
The Wind River Tribal Buffalo Initiative works to reintroduce native buffalo to the Wind River Reservation following their eradication by white settlers. The tribe sees the restoration of this keystone species as a form of “land rematriation” crucial to the health both of local ecosystems and of tribal relations to the land.
Image credit: KHOL Jackson Hole Community Radio