In recent years there has been a push by Lakota people to return the Pte Oyate (Buffalo Nation) to the Great Plains Area, specifically to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Lakota people used to live off the land without making a negative impact on the environment, but in modern times there are hardly any buffalo and the Lakota people suffer from extreme poverty. The reservation and its surrounding area are rich grasslands above an aquifer, which makes it prime cattle country. There are too many cattle herds and this causes a problem with pests that compete for grazing area and habitat space. Although leading in the beef industry, the great plains are sacrificing wild prairie grasses and animal diversity for this prosperity.

This re-population project would incorporate Lakota values and beliefs, which are often absent from western thinkers, to revitalize the land and the culture of Lakota people. This reincorporation of the buffalo population and teaching of the culture involved with raising these animals will recreate prairie organism diversity, give back to the people, and hopefully build a more sustainable ecosystem.

Understanding the Past and importance:

Before western colonization and the civilization of the west, many Lakota and Dakota lived in close relation with the land and nature. Many Lakota beliefs and traditional practices revere the Earth and all that lives on her face. The Pté Oyate was one of the most respected and revered relative (animal relative) of the Lakota people. The Buffalo played one of the most important roles in Lakota lifestyle. The Buffalo provided more than just nutrition to the Lakota people. The Buffalo also housed them, the hide was used to cover the strong foundations of a Tipi; it also provided tools, medicine, warmth, weapons, and a spiritual altar and ceremony. When a buffalo was harvested the people used all of the buffalo. This was to ensure that there was never waste.

Lakota people also understood the complex relations in their surrounding environment. They understood that the Buffalo kept many other animal populations in check, like the Spispiza (prairie dog). The buffaloes grazing patterns and constant movement from one area to the next kept prairie dog grazing at a limit as well as kept them from spreading beyond their borders. The prairie dog brings up minerals and medicine from below the surface of the earth. The Buffalo, favoring some of these spots, will lick the dirt, paw at the soil to upturn it and wallow in these dusty spots. The prairie dog knows this and will not expand around these types of spots. Because the prairie dogs populations remain stable, so do their predators and scavengers that incorporate the prairie dog in its diet. Before current agricultural practices, the Plains of South Dakota had vast populations of wolves, foxes, ferrets, eagles, hawks, owls, bears, coyotes, mountain lions, and so on. In the past twenty or so years, the Black-Footed ferret has become endangered. Wolves and bears have been hunted out of the territory. Mountain lions are few but struggle with their populations due to hunting by humans.  Eagles and hawks are still very present but mostly near a prairie dog town. All of these animals are important to Lakota people. They all play their own roles, but all seen to be centered around, or the absence of, the buffalo.

Contemporary:

Few buffalo heard exist in South Dakota, and only one herd still remains on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Instead of buffalo, cows and other domesticated livestock graze the land. This proves unsustainable, even with agricultural practices like circulating herds from different pastures throughout the year. To the modern rancher, animals like prairie dogs and coyotes are considered pests. Cattle and prairie dogs compete for grass and cattle will often step in the holes left by prairie dogs and injure themselves leading to loss of that livestock and the money it brings in. The conflict between the rancher, his livestock, and the prairie dog almost always lead to the rancher poisoning a prairie dog town. The prairie dogs predators see this as a short-term bounty and will eat the poisoned corpses of the prairie dogs and as a result will also die. This vicious cycle of loss of livestock, poisoning, and loss of ecological diversity continues on. These types of cycles contribute to the current unsustainable system.

The Future:

Because this would be a Tribal Buffalo herd, run by Lakota people for Lakota people, the tribe would be able to incorporate traditional Lakota values in sustaining the buffalo herd. Lakota hunters will be able to turn to the tribe to hunt buffalo, this will also allow room for prayer and ceremony. Lakota holy people will be able to receive meat and skulls for ceremony, and families will be able to receive an altar (skull) for their family practices. This also means that the buffalo can be harvested in a manner that is humane (archery) to preserve the front of the skull. Hunting and butchering workshops can be put in place for Lakota people looking to relearn harvesting and tanning methods.

By managing a larger herd of buffalo, enough individuals can be harvested to put buffalo meat in tribal school lunches and the elderly meals programs. By doing so would create a healthier lunch and diet for Lakota children and the elderly. By incorporating the Lakota knowledge of using all of the buffalo, organ meat can be distributed to the Lakota Elderly care home, because organ dishes are popular among the older generations of Lakota people. Tendons and bones can be made available for artists and businesses such as Singing Horse Trading Post; to keep art materials available because there is a prospering artistic community adding economic value to the reservation.

The Tribe can also work with local Lakota Rancher on the reservation to start their own buffalo herds. Private ranchers can seek management assistance (fencing) from the state and the Tribe to start their own herds. Buffalo would roam (in respect to fence) the prairie again. By reinstating buffalo the prairie ecosystem will heal and eventually prosper. By healing the land we can also heal the people, which are both needed in a sustainable system. Other tribes can look to a project like this to develop similar projects to heal their communities. As Indigenous communities heal they will be able to work with state and federal governments to work towards a sustainable future.

Main Takeaways:

  1. Tribal Buffalo Herd
  2. Leaner and healthier meat
  3. Tribal control over lands: protection of sacred sites and paleontological sites
  4. Cultural enrichment
  5. Restoration of Prairie Biodiversity
  6. Food sovereignty
  7. Starting new opportunity for other Tribal communities