HISTORY & CULTURE

At long last, the American buffalo has come home

A conservation effort has returned bison to Blackfeet Nation tribal lands more than a century after the animal was nearly slaughtered to extinction.

A close up of golden light on a buffalo waiting in the corrals on the morning of the Chief Mountain release at the Buffalo Spirit Hills Ranch on the Blackfeet reservation

An American bison waits to be released on the Blackfeet Reservation. Its herd will be the first wild, free-roaming herd to be returned to the land by a sovereign Indigenous nation in 150 years—since the near total extermination of both the buffalo and attempted genocide of Native peoples.

Photographs byLouise Johns

ByLailani Upham

July 7, 2023

8 min read

“Nititawahsi” is the Blackfeet name for our land—the land where the iinnii (buffalo) live. Our people are Niitawahsin-nanni: the people of the land where the iinnii live.

As colonizers moved west, millions of buffalo were killed and brought to the edge of extinction. Millions more Native peoples were murdered, displaced, and forced to assimilate. By the end of the 19th century, only 300 buffalo were left in the wild and Native populations dropped to less than 300,000.

Now, after more than 150 years, iinnii have finally returned to their homeland, the Amskapi Pikuni (Blackfeet Nation) tribal lands, to roam free.

Buffalo run out of the soft release enclosure towards Chief Mountain on the Blackfeet reservation — Forty-nine buffalo run out of their temporary enclosure towards Chief Mountain on the Blackfeet Reservation. The rest of the herd (about 70 buffalo) will join them at the end of the summer. Chief Mountain is not only prime buffalo habitat, but also a sacred place for Native people in both the U.S. and Canada.

“I can’t hardly describe the feeling that I have. I have this jittery feeling, goosebumps,” says Ervin Carlson, director of the Blackfeet Nation Buffalo Program. “It just feels so good to finally see them here in this place they want to be.”

On June 26, 49 iinnii were released into the wild at the base of our sacred Ninaistako (Chief Mountain), a strong miistaaki (mountain) that stands tall like the warbonnets of Blackfeet warriors. This miistaaki towers along the border of the Blackfeet Nation, Glacier National Park in Montana, and Waterton National Park in Canada.

Our people, the Siksikaitsitapi (Blackfoot Confederacy) always believed the land we came from was a gift of the Creator, Ihtsi-pai-tapi-yopa. Our stories tell us that iinnii was created as a gift for our people as our life source. The iinnii were and still are our staff of life.

The iinnii coming back and being free on Blackfoot lands again is the beginning of reconciliation, says Cristina Mormorunni, director of Indigenous Led, the organization that supports cultural restoration and conservation of buffalo on Blackfoot lands. “This is the beginning of the truth being told about what happened, and they’re the best ambassadors,” she says.

Brian Lee from Erminskin Cree Nation in Alberta signs on to Buffalo Treaty. — Brian Lee from Erminskin Cree Nation in Alberta signs on to Buffalo Treaty in 2019, an intertribal agreement to restore buffalo on Tribal/First Nations Reserves or co-managed lands within the U.S. and Canada. Every year, new tribes join the treaty.

A Blackfoot elder shows Ashton Falcon how to paint rocks for the medicine wheel that is being constructed at the site where the Blackfeet buffalo will be released near Chief Mountain. — Brian Lee from Erminskin Cree Nation in Alberta signs on to Buffalo Treaty in 2019, an intertribal agreement to restore buffalo on Tribal/First Nations Reserves or co-managed lands within the U.S. and Canada. Every year, new tribes join the treaty.

Buffalo are corralled and sorted at the Buffalo Spirit Hills Ranch on the Blackfeet reservation — Buffalo are corralled and sorted (calves from adults, and males from females) at the tribal-owned Buffalo Spirit Hills Ranch on June 25, 2023. The herd, originally from Canada’s Elk Island National Park, have been living on the ranch since 2016. The herd descends from the last remaining wild buffalo before they were nearly extirpated.

Helen Augare, a Blackfeet knowledge keeper and director of the Blackfeet Community College Native Science Field Center, has been an integral voice in the return of buffalo to Chief Mountain for the past 15 years.

Now that the buffalo are free, she says “there’s so much still to reconnect to and learn from them.”

“What does that future look like and what [do] our children and grandchildren need to know to be able to help iinnii live a full and prosperous life with us again?” Augare says. “It entailed everything from healthy people, healthy land, healthy water, and most of all healthy relationships. That in itself requires a lot of healing, growth.”

Blackfeet tribal member Wyett Wippert takes a photo of his daughter, Ruby, in front of the buffalo in their soft release pen at Chief Mountain. “We put so much of our hearts into getting them here,” he says. “It’s a very good feeling knowing that they are under Chief Mountain. People know what they’re going to be doing for their environment and for us as Blackfeet people.” The buffalo are held here for several hours to settle into their surroundings before being released into the wild.

Chazz Raccine carries a gate to secure the corrals where the buffalo are kept — Chazz Racine secures the corrals where the buffalo are kept before they are loaded onto trailers to ship to Chief Mountain, about 50 miles away. Racine is foreman of the Blackfeet Buffalo program, in charge of managing buffalo on the ground.

Josh Monroe and Alonzo Skunkcap load a buffalo calf into the trailer as part of the herd that will be released at Chief Mountain. — Chazz Racine secures the corrals where the buffalo are kept before they are loaded onto trailers to ship to Chief Mountain, about 50 miles away. Racine is foreman of the Blackfeet Buffalo program, in charge of managing buffalo on the ground.

Chazz Raccine, Ervin Carlson and Josh Monroe of the Blackfeet Buffalo Program stand for a portrait — Racine, Monroe, and director Ervin Carlson of the Blackfeet Buffalo Program, on June 25, 2023, after a long day of preparing buffalo to be released at Chief Mountain. “It’s a lot of work to get these animals to this point… they are wild buffalo,” Racine says. “Nobody can do it by themselves. It’s a real honor to be able to have the Iinnii here and to be doing this.”

Helen Augare sits in her home in Browning, Mont., on a hide from a Blackfeet buffalo — Helen Augare sits on a buffalo hide in her home in Browning, Mont. on June 27, 2023. She holds a skull that was used in the Okan, an ancient Blackfoot medicine lodge ceremony. “The buffalo are a significant part of every aspect of the ceremony because they bring life and healing and prosperity,” said Augare. The skull is one of many examples of the importance of buffalo in Blackfoot ceremony.

The bison shows up in ancient arts and crafts, such as this drum that has been passed down through the generations in the Mad Plume family. — Helen Augare sits on a buffalo hide in her home in Browning, Mont. on June 27, 2023. She holds a skull that was used in the Okan, an ancient Blackfoot medicine lodge ceremony. “The buffalo are a significant part of every aspect of the ceremony because they bring life and healing and prosperity,” said Augare. The skull is one of many examples of the importance of buffalo in Blackfoot ceremony.

Blackfeet tribal members Wyett Wippert and Christen Falcon work together to stretch their bison hide onto their handmade wooden frame, the first step in tanning the hide by hand at their home in East Glacier, Mont. on April 9, 2023.

The Blackfeet buffalo herd known as the Elk Island Herd run across a pasture at Buffalo Spirit Hills Ranch in Browning, Mont. on June 25, 2023. They are being gathered and sorted for the soft release at Chief Mountain. — “Bison are a keystone species, they are ecosystem drivers and engineers. They were here for thousands of years,” says Brandon Kittson, wildlife biologist for Blackfeet Fish and Wildlife. “Now having them back on this landscape is a good thing. It’s going to help revitalize some systems and help drive diversity among the different vegetation and communities found in this area.”

Children collect and examines clumps of buffalo fur from the corral at Buffalo Spirit Hills Ranch on June 25, 2023. ThChildren collect and examines clumps of buffalo fur from the corral at Buffalo Spirit Hills Ranch on June 25, 2023. The fur is integral to the health of the grassland ecosystem, as certain species of birds using it to line and insulate their nests.e fur is integral to the health of the grassland ecosystem, as certain species of birds using it to line and insulate their nests. — Children collect and examine clumps of buffalo fur from the corral at Buffalo Spirit Hills Ranch on June 25, 2023. The fur is integral to the health of the grassland ecosystem, as certain species of birds use it to line and insulate their nests.

Photojournalist Louise Johns is a National Geographic explorer. Her National Geographic Society-funded project, "Buffalo Renaissance," is about Native American efforts to restore bison to build cultural resiliency and ecological integrity.