The Wind River Tribal Buffalo Initiative is
Restoring Our Connection with the Buffalo
We are on a mission to restore conservation Buffalo through land rematriation, community revitalization, and youth education. Our vision is Buffalo living as wildlife, protected under Tribal law.
Support Our Work
One acre of land restored to Buffalo habitat costs $6,000. One mile of wildlife-friendly Buffalo fencing costs $60,000. One Native youth reconnected to their cultural roots and ceremony through Buffalo is priceless. Your gift in any amount will help us do what it takes to bring Buffalo back to the Wind River landscape — healing our ecosystem and our people.
10
BUFFALO IN 2016
150+
BUFFALO IN 2024
1000+
BUFFALO IN THE FUTURE
News & Stories
Buffalo Hides Are as Important as They Are Strong. Here’s Our Process.
Photo: Initiative Interns Darwin St.Clair (Eastern Shoshone) and Miles Daskivich (Northern Cheyenne) and Financial Director Xavier Micheal-Young (Seminole Nation of Florida). Buffalo Nations Buffalo Nations, those who rely on and have lived with massive Buffalo herds...
What is Treaty Day? An Interview with WRTBI Director Jason Baldes
In recognition of Treaty Day on July 3rd, we sat down with our executive director, Jason Baldes, to talk about the history of the Fort Bridger Treaties and how we all can work to uphold and exercise our treaty rights. This interview was edited for length and clarity....
Trust Responsibility and Buffalo as Food Sovereignty
Who decides what we eat? Who controls how our food is grown, harvested, and shared? Who benefits, and who is left out? These questions are at the forefront of any food system, and our own efforts toward Indigenous food sovereignty. Sovereignty is about the right of a...
Healing the Land, Healing Ourselves
Millions of Buffalo once roamed the Great Plains of America. They were integral to the ecosystem of prairies and the Native peoples who long called them home.
Buffalo provided food, clothing, and shelter, and were essential in the spiritual ceremonies of Tribes. Nearly every part of the animal was used, including horns, meat, and tail hairs.
As we work to restore the Buffalo, a process of renewal and healing begins that balances human, animal, and environmental health.
Buffalo Territory
Before 1800, it is estimated that 60 million Buffalo roamed the plains of North America. By 1900, there were fewer than two dozen left in Yellowstone.
Notes from Sage Country
“The Buffalo was part of us, his flesh and blood being absorbed by us until it became our own flesh and blood. Our clothing, our tipis, everything we needed for life came from the buffalo’s body. It was hard to say where the animals ended and the human began.”
Meet Jason Baldes
Founder of Wind River Tribal Buffalo Initiative
“The Buffalo have helped me, personally. I know that as the Buffalo heal and are restored to this land, our people will also be healed and restored. Because, we have a connection with them. We are people of the Buffalo.”
The Story of the Buffalo
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Buffalo in Shoshone
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