The "Restoring Bison To Our Native Land" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Checking a few stories I have recently read about North American bison, also known as buffalo.  Seems that at one time tens of millions of bison once roamed North America until they were almost entirely wiped off the continent by white settlers, commercial hunters and United States troops.  

Their demise devastated Native American tribes across the continent who relied on bison for food, clothing and shelter.  Recently dozens of bison from a mountain park outside Denver, Colorado were transferred to several tribes from across the Great Plains.  It was the latest example of Native Americans reclaiming stewardship over animals their ancestors lived alongside for thousands of years.  During the transfer, ceremonial drumming and singing were carried out by the tribes.  About a half-dozen of the animals from Colorado will form the nucleus of a new herd for the Yuchi people out of Tulsa, Oklahoma.  The herd will be expanded over time, to reestablish a spiritual and physical bond broken two hundred years ago when bison were nearly wiped out and the Yuchi were forced from their homeland.  During the same time period the Yuchi's language was also revived and both language and bison were inseparable from the land.  Bison were "the original caretakers" of that land.  The colonial assault years ago caused the buffalo to be disconnected from the Yuchi people.  It is important now to reconnect and restore those relationships with the land, the animals and the plants. 

Transfers included 17 bison to the Northern Arapaho Tribe and 12 to the Eastern Shoshone Tribe, both of Wyoming.  One other animal was transferred to the Tall Bull Memorial Council, which has members from various tribes.  The recent transfers came a few weeks after U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland issued a bison observation order meant to further expand the number of large herds on Native America lands.  She also announced $25 million to build new herds, transfer more bison from federal to tribal lands and forge new bison management agreements with tribes.  The bison have bounced back from near-extinction in the 1880s, but remain absent from most of the grasslands they once occupied.  Today, 82 tribes now have more than 20,000 bison.  The animals have been transferred to reservations from other tribes, from federal, state and local governments and from private ranches.  The United States Government is now putting action to the words that they had once promised to the Native American tribes.  Buffalo are a part of Native American culture and should be part of the land where the Indigenous people now live.  They are taking their family members back to their ancestral home.  As of now, 85 bison from Denver have been transferred to tribes and tribal organizations.  Shipments will continue through 2030.  It's been a long-awaited journey! It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.