The return of American Buffalo (bison) to tribal lands is important for so many reasons. From the perspective of Western science “their presence is integral to thousands of natural relationships. Their grazing behavior and the effects they have on the prairie naturally promotes biodiversity and helps a wide range of wildflowers, plants, insects, and amphibians flourish.”
But for Indigenous people this return of the bison to their ancestral grazing lands is much more. It is known as “[R]ematriation—the Indigenous concept of restoring balance to the world.” These rematriation efforts are surprisingly large in scale; “Today, the lands of Indigenous Peoples across the U.S. and Canada contain more intact ecosystems than all national parks and nature preserves combined. Indigenous Peoples within the United States manage approximately 20,000 buffalo on over 1 million acres (many, but not all, of these animals began life on TNC preserves).”
The bison and the return of them to tribal lands does much more than just creating a magnificent photo opportunity or feel-good moment; the bison “also help relieve grazing pressure on public and private lands while benefitting Native communities, families and Tribes who want to start new, Tribally, family-, or community-managed herds, or who want to grow and supplement existing herds through continuing restoration efforts.”