The Blackfeet Nation in Montana made history on Monday when it released 30 wild buffalo near Chief Mountain, an area of cultural significance bordering Glacier National Park. The buffalo, which were brought to the tribe from Alberta in 2016, are part of a long-term effort to restore the species that was nearly wiped out by settlers in the 19th century.
The buffalo were released into a conservation district where they can roam freely without fences, unlike any other place in North America. The tribe hopes to reconnect with the buffalo, which were their main source of food, clothing, shelter and tools.
“They were our food, our clothing our lodging, our tools. They were our whole economy … we existed on them,” said Ervin Carlson, the director of the Blackfeet Buffalo Program and president of the Intertribal Buffalo Council.
The buffalo are also descendants of a herd that the Blackfeet had sold to the Canadian government in the 1800s to save them from extinction. In 2016, Canada allowed 100 buffalo to be returned to the Blackfeet Reservation. Since then, the tribe has been growing the captive herd in preparation for the release.
On Monday, the exploratory herd was loaded into trailers and hauled to a temporary paddock within sight of Chief Mountain. There, they grazed quietly until wranglers opened the gate. Then every buffalo rushed through, formed a single-file line and rumbled toward a distant tree line.
“I thought of the demise they went through. If they were to understand that our language, our culture, our buffalo would come back one day … it was absolutely momentous as a Blackfeet to be on our land within our sovereignty and do this. We’re the leaders. We’re choosing our future as we see it,” said Lauren Monroe Jr., a Blackfeet councilman.
The release also presents a new opportunity for scientists to study the behavior and movement of wild buffalo in their native habitat. Scientists do not know where buffalo want to go when they roam, as they have always been fenced in or killed or relocated when they leave the border of Yellowstone National Park.
“One thing scientists don’t know is where bison want to go. They’ve always been fenced in so we have no idea, as scholars and scientists, where they want to go when they roam,” said Rosalyn LaPier, a Blackfeet and Métis historian who owns 120 acres in the foothills of Chief Mountain.
The release was supported by leaders from Glacier and Waterton Lakes national parks, which may welcome the new wildlife. The tribe plans to increase the herd size and territory in the future.
“This is home to them,” Carlson said.
Relevant articles:
– ‘Absolutely epic’: Blackfeet release wild buffalo on tribal land, York News-Times, June 28, 2023
– Blackfeet release wild buffalo on tribal land, Billings Gazette, June 28, 2023
– How one Native American tribe is working to restore Montana’s buffalo population, CBS News, November 25, 2023
– Blackfeet Bring Bison Home to Chief Mountain, Flathead Beacon, June 28, 2023