This post comes to PBS Nature from World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Views and opinions expressed in blog posts are those of the individuals expressing them and do not necessarily reflect those of THIRTEEN Productions LLC/The WNET Group.
On World Wildlife Day, it feels appropriate to celebrate a true wildlife conservation success story when, sadly, populations of so many other species are declining. Plains bison numbers, which were once nearly driven to extinction, are on the rise across the United States and Canada, with 45,000 found across North America today. Bison conservation isn’t just limited to this side of the Atlantic, either. WWF’s 2024 Living Planet Report shows that the number of European Bison, a species many Americans may be unfamiliar with, has increased from 54 to 6,800 in the wild across 10 European countries since 1927. Central to this remarkable animal’s recovery have been strong collaborations between North America’s Native and First Nations People and the public-private sector, whose shared vision of returning bison to Indigenous lands is paying off.
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© Clay Bolt
The near extermination of bison occurred because of a concerted effort in the US to subjugate Tribes during Westward expansion. During this time, hundreds of thousands of animals were wiped out in little more than a century. As one of North America’s most widespread and abundant mammals prior to European settlement, bison were central to the culture, spirituality, and economy of the Plains Indigenous people. By 1866, when the bison population had fallen to less than 1,000, those who depended upon them for many of their needs had little choice but to move onto reservations.
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© Tailyr Irvine/ WWF-US
Early efforts by Tribes, private ranchers, and governments to restore bison between 1905 and 1935 increased numbers to an estimated 20,000. This was one of the first-ever attempts to rescue a species from the brink of extinction. However, over a century later, the central role that Native Nations play in wildlife conservation is only now beginning to be recognized and uplifted by the conservation community.
As a member of WWF’s Great Plains Program, I currently support the efforts of our Native Nation partners in fulfilling their vision of a world where nature and people can heal and thrive. I’ve had the rare privilege of being welcomed by and finding warmth and openness from many members of these Nations whose ancestors, and many today, have endured suffering I can hardly imagine. And yet, their resilience as a people is undeniably evident in the way that these amazing communities care for the land and the wildlife that they share their lives with, despite the challenges they themselves continue to face.
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© Clay Bolt
I’ve heard it said that the fate of the people follows the fate of the bison (also called buffalo by many Native people), and in this sense, I have great hope that the restoration of bison to Tribal lifeways and lands will bring renewed health and prosperity to the Buffalo People. Perhaps Nick Tilsen of the Oglala Lakota Nation put it best when speaking about the efforts of Tribes to return bison to Indigenous lands saying, “What if our best days are not behind us, but ahead of us?” Certainly, these remarkable people who have cared for North American lands since time immemorial know how to do the work well. In fact, in the US alone approximately 25,000 bison now roam across nearly 1 million acres held by 85 nations across 21 states. Though bison numbers are increasing and stable, we should continue to seek out cross-jurisdictional landscapes (public-private-tribal lands) that could be managed as connected landscapes, providing increased habitat and opportunities for recovery.
Bison were once the principal large grazers in North America, playing a central role in shaping the landscapes they roamed. Their positive impacts on the land in turn contributes significantly to the health of the biodiversity found in those landscapes including the grassland plant community, wildlife like songbirds, amphibians, and more. Their grazing maintains grasslands by keeping woody vegetation at bay, their pounding hooves and wallowing breaks the surface of hard soils, allowing more water to seep into the ground, and in winter they plow highways in the snow that make it possible for smaller grazers like pronghorn to survive. It is my hope that once again bison will be given the freedom to roam across large landscapes in places where communities embrace their return.
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© WWF-US/ Clay Bolt
You can help by supporting efforts by Native Nations to achieve their vision for the return of bison. Organizations like InterTribal Buffalo Council (ITBC) support 85 member nations in these efforts and you can learn more about all the Nations that are bringing buffalo back at itbcbuffalonation.org. A bright light in this work is a new, historic effort called the Tribal Buffalo Lifeways Collaboration (TBLC) which supports 85 member nations and is a joint effort between InterTribal Buffalo Council, Native Americans in Philanthropy, The Nature Conservancy, and WWF. TBLC’s mission is to stabilize, establish, and expand Tribal-led bison restoration, and foster cultural, spiritual, ecological, and economic revitalization within Native communities. For many of North America’s Native Nations bison have been—and will always be—a part of their culture and traditions. It has been the honor of a lifetime to play even a small role in this effort to ensure their future.
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