How the buffalo is unifying nations across Turtle Island
Every year hundreds of people gather to hear the stories and lessons offered by the buffalo
Lucille R. Contreras wants to see buffalo freely roaming across Turtle Island as they once did before colonization.
She is part of a growing movement of Indigenous people across Turtle Island who are bringing buffalo back into their territories to restore their connection with the animals, the land and each other.
"I think as the future generations learn the importance of the buffalo that will help heal us and heal the land and solve climate mitigation. Buffalo are the number one stewards of the land," she said.
For Indigenous people, buffalo, commonly known in North America as bison, are a keystone species for the environment, ecological balance and culture with many songs, stories and ceremonies being related to the animal.
Watch: Lucille R. Contreras wants to see the return of buffalo across North America, including on the homelands of the Lipan Apache.
Contreras is Lipan Apache and Aztec and is the CEO and founder of the Texas Tribal Buffalo Project based in Welder, Texas.
She says the mission of the Texas Tribal Buffalo Project is to connect Texas Indigenous lineal descendents to each other by reestablishing kinship and connecting to the buffalo as a relative.
"The buffalo provided everything for us at one time. Home, shelter, spirituality, tools, medicine, comfort, as well as guidance," she said.
In reconnecting to buffalo, Contreras says the Lipan Apache are rediscovering teachings and stories.
Contreras' buffalo journey began in 2018 with the Knife Chief Buffalo Nation Society from the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota where she was taught about buffalo kinship. She learned that female buffalo and calves are the centre of the family unit and that females gather together to help each other when giving birth.
As life givers, we innately know what it is to care for, to nurture, to grow, not just ourselves, but others and our community.- Lucille R. Contreras
"All the herds, no matter if they're herds from north to south, they're all led by the women," she said.
Learning that buffalo were almost pushed to the brink of extinction but now are thriving all over Turtle Island inspired her to bring buffalo back to her own people.
"I just always felt that if I was able to feel the healing, the strength, the love, and the connection with myself, just by being next to the buffalo, how amazing would it be for our Texas Indigenous communities at home, to have the same experience."
Since 2020, Contreras has been helping to grow a herd of buffalo through Texas Tribal Buffalo Project at a female-run ranch in Welder, Texas.
"I saw an opportunity for Indigenous women to come forward in leadership, just as the buffalo women are leaders and they have stepped forward to lead their herds into survival," she said.
"As life givers, we innately know what it is to care for, to nurture, to grow, not just ourselves, but others and our community."
Buffalo Treaty gathering of nations
In September, Contreras travelled to Stand Off Alberta, a community on the Kainai Blood Reserve, to take part in the tenth anniversary celebration of the Buffalo Treaty.
The annual gathering brings people together from nations on both sides of the medicine line who are working to bring buffalo back to their communities and incorporate their teachings into their lives.
For generations before the colonization across what is now known as North America, buffalo roamed the land freely - and Indigenous peoples lived in harmony with them.
Ten years ago, The Buffalo Treaty was signed on the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana between four First Nations in Canada and four Tribes in the United States.
"The Buffalo Treaty speaks to our relationship with the buffalo, but more specifically to conservation, culture, education, health, economics and research," said Blackfoot professor and leader Leroy Littlebear.
This year from September 22 - 25, over a thousand people from across Turtle Island came together to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Buffalo Treaty on the Kainai Blood Reserve in southern Alberta. In the decade since the treaty was initially drawn, dozens of Nations have joined in the commitment to return buffalo to their territories and incorporate buffalo teachings into their lives.
"Before contact, we lived on this continent with the buffalo. They knew their role. We knew ours," Cree filmmaker Tasha Hubbard, told Unreserved's Rosanna Deerchild during the 10th anniversary gathering.
Hubbard has been documenting the movement to rematriate the buffalo for over two decades. Her latest film, Singing Back the Buffalo, follows that journey.
"Bringing back buffalo is not easy," said Hubbard.
She has been involved with the Buffalo Treaty since 2015 and has seen the movement growing every year and says she's seen a shift happening that others have also noticed.
"I've asked several elders who've done Buffalo work and have committed their lives to bringing them back, and they see the movement that's happening," Hubbard said adding that those same elders did not see the return of buffalo happening in their lifetime, but chose to do the work anyway.
"They're just so grateful that they're witnessing this time, this revitalization, this shift that's happening."
Quietly growing buffalo in Kainai
Just over 20 years ago, Dan Fox quietly brought a small herd of buffalo to the Kainai First Nation.
He keeps knowledge of the herd mostly within his family but says that people will hear about it through word of mouth and come visit. Visitors will also come out to his ranch during their annual buffalo harvest where Fox facilitates the passing on of traditional knowledge, such as how to prepare the animal and its parts for food or ceremonial purposes.
"I don't go out of my way to advertise anything, but I just try to lead, and take that lead role to continue to do it," Fox said.
He says it took about five to get the herd large enough to use in their annual bison harvest but that has been taking place ever since.
Watch: Unreserved Host Rosanna Deerchild is on the search for Buffalo in the Kainai First Nation
The first few harvests took place under the guidance of the Buffalo Women's Society, which is a matriarchal organization guided by buffalo knowledge charged with restoring wellness in their community.
To this day Fox's family still carries on the traditions taught by the Buffalo Women's society who shared with them what to harvest from the animals and what is used in ceremonies.
"The bison bones were kind of the most important part for me, because we still harvest the bison bones every year, and we give them back to the community."
Fox says he does this work because he wants to see the buffalo return to the land in every way possible.
"That's our culture. That's our history."
"The bison are such a keystone part of not only the environment but in the traditional Indigenous way of life - that was our heartbeat."
Fox and Contreras have similar dreams for the future of the buffalo despite being on opposite sides of the medicine line.
"When you talk about the future of the buffalo, it's also tied hand in hand with the health and the future of our future generations and our people growing to be healthier," she said.
Her dream is to see the Buffalo Corridor, which was a pathway that went from Canada all the way through Mexico.
"And as the buffalo moved, the people moved, the water moved," Conteras said.
"How beautiful it would be for the corridor to be reestablished by efforts from all people."
This story is part of a series from Unreserved called Sacred Seven. The series explores the seven sacred teachings and introduces us to Indigenous Elders, knowledge keepers and community members who are putting those teachings into action.
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