Yellowstone bison constitute the only wild herd in the United States and are among the last genetically pure bison in existence.
But Yellowstone National Park regularly reaches its legal capacity of 5,000 people.
Tribes that support the growth of the species have stepped up, believing that the health of the species is tied to their own history. Since 2019, the National Park Service has transferred 414 healthy bison from Yellowstone to 26 tribes in 12 states through the Bison Conservation Transfer Program.
Native people also have their own distribution system for bison, independent of the park’s efforts. Since 1992, the Intertribal Buffalo Council (a group of 83 tribes working to “restore cultural, spiritual, and historical ties” to the animals) has distributed 25,000 bison to 65 herds on tribal lands in 22 states.
“People don’t understand or realize that what happened to the bison happened to Native people and that our histories are intertwined,” said Jason Valdez, vice chairman of the council and a member of the Eastern Shoshone Tribe.
The return of the buffalo to the tribes marks a significant shift in federal policy in a country where soldiers were once ordered to kill all the buffalo to deprive tribes of food and supplies.
And officials are considering not only returning the animals, but also taking in more of them themselves. The National Park Service just completed an environmental impact study in Yellowstone that determined the herd size should increase from 5,000 to 6,000, but could hold up to 10,000. It’s the first time the park has proposed an increase in 24 years.
The growth of the bison herd is all the more surprising when you consider that up to 60 million bison were killed to claim land in the American frontier.
While the natives were known to use almost every part of the animal for food, shelter, etc., the settlers recklessly killed the animals, took their fur, and left the carcasses to rot.
By the 20th century, there were fewer than 1,000 bison left in the wild.
Large-scale cattle farming operations have taken over vacant lands, and commercial interests remain a source of conflict between the cattle industry and those who would like to see wild buffalo roaming the land as they once did.
