Voices of the Buffalo Way 6 6 20

VOICES of the BUFFALO WAY

BUFFALO RISING
Voices of the Buffalo Way
B
ISON ONCE THUNDERED across North Amer-
ica 30 million strong, feeding and sustaining human and natural
communities, leaving an indelible mark on the heart and soul of
North America’s cultures, identities, and heritage. Their hoof-
prints also left an impression on the continent’s iconic prairies
and grasslands, an exquisitely woven wild tapestry of life, which
in the wake of buffalo’s near extermination, grows increasingly
dewilded, fragmented, and frayed.
Today, about 18,000 wild plains bison roam the continent.
The path to recovery has been slow, which is not surprising
when we consider that in the 1860s, an estimated 4,000 an-
imals were slaughtered daily, leaving only 500 wild buffalo to
wander the plains by the end of the century. The devastation

that was wrecked on the Indigenous and natural communities inti- knowledge systems and embraces the tools that science, culture,
mately intertwined with the lifeforce that is Buffalo defies descrip- law, economics, art, policy, and civic engagement offer. More
tion—both still live with the impact and repercussions of what was specifically, our Bison Program works to embody the language
undeniably politically orchestrated biocultural genocide. and culture of the Buffalo Way: Relation. Respect. Reciprocity.
Resilience. Reconnection. Rematriation. Reconciliation.
The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) was born out of this
unparalleled tragedy; a clarion call to conservation action that I have never been more clear that our work as conservation-
spurred our founder, William Hornaday and other conservationists ists, and even more importantly as humans, is to breathe life
like Theodore Roosevelt, to choreograph an extraordinary journey into the principles of diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice in
for 15 bison from WCS’s Bronx Zoo. In 1908, six bulls and nine everything and all we do. The Buffalo Way offers a path to fol-
cows were loaded on a train in New York City’s Grand Central low. In fact, there may be no time in human history that these
Station bound for Wichita National Forest and Game Preserve in words, spoken through the Voices of the Buffalo Way, carry more
Oklahoma. Not only was the extinction of bison prevented, but in weight. Join WCS’s Rocky Mountain Program in bringing this
the process, the first rewilding effort in the world was launched. bold vision to action and supporting the emergence of a conser-
vation model that rides on the wisdom of Buffalo to rewild the
We continue this work today. WCS’s Rocky Mountain Pro- Rockies and the natural and human communities that call this
gram rewilds, reconnects, and protects nature’s strongholds to mythic landscape home. There is no time to waste. If we have
restore the region’s ecological and cultural integrity and advance learned one thing living through the recent months of crisis, it is
large-landscape conservation. As the birthplace of modern con- that life is precious and we are all connected in this wild journey
servation, North America has both the responsibility and the we call life. We rise and fall together. And the future depends on
opportunity to serve as the platform for the emergence of a global our ability to craft a ‘we’ from the forceful, but false, dichotomy of
conservation paradigm that more effectively meets the realities us vs. them. Let’s turn into the storm together, like Buffalo, and
and challenges of the 21st century. The language of conservation cleave a new path to a just, equitable, and wild future for all of
has tended to the linear, the reductionist, leading us to measure humanity and the wild beings who share our home planet.
success by acres, miles, and conservation designations. The val-
ues embedded, consciously or unconsciously, reflect a language Cristina Lee Mormorunni
of ownership, control, dominion over—a language of separation Director of US Field Conservation
from nature as opposed to the indissoluble bonds of kinship. Our
commitment to the ecological and cultural restoration of bison Wildlife Conservation Society
embodies this new and much needed conservation model—an
integrated approach that draws on different values, identities, and



30,000,000At one time buffalo thundered

across the continent, making an indelible mark

on the heart and soul of North American culture.



ENDBut by the of the 1800s,

millions of animals had been slaughtered and

500less than bison remained.

EXTINCTION of a North

American icon was imminent.

Wildlife Conservation Society founder William Hornaday, with

support from Theodore Roosevelt and other conservationists,
REWILDlaunched a project to
bison in the face

of their likely disappearance from North America.



BUFFALO TVs flicker then fuzz
disrupt Netflix movies making mindless fools
Jimmy Santiago Baca grab guns and shoot away, grab knives and slice,
clubs and bludgeon,
All over the city bombs bombing,
I hear the Buffalo are coming
explosive sounds their furry, bulky bodies avalanche
rat-tat-rat- boom—and––nostril hissings hooves thunder rubbling pavement
chest huffings crack streets, toppling street lights,
Buffalo are coming hemorrhaging traffic, all exits jammed,
shuddering air, dust trails smoke across the sky Marshall Law is declared
spreading and clouding the air, armored military goon-squads in Bradley tanks
streams over housetops roam the night
obscures skyscrapers and stars, with orders to kill any four-hoofed creature, but
Buffalo are coming
down the Appalachia trail and Continental Divide
grinding false patriots beneath typhoon hooves
stampeding metal weapons, money, power
Buffalo are coming
across the Grand Canyon, splashing
over Niagara Falls,
spanning one end of the world to the other
Buffalo are coming
smashing homes and hearts,
Buffalo are coming
waking people, stirring them to think
to feel again, to do away with profit margins,
Buffalo are coming
in New Mexico, where I am, I see them
friends call they see them too––
New Hampshire woods, Seattle shoreline,
India’s mountaintops,
Buffalo are coming
cross deserts and Kansas corn fields
cross Alabama football fields,

Florida golf courses, Southern California beaches,
flattening New York City gyms, crushing
treadmills, stationary bicycles and elliptical machines.
And as the sun rises over the cliffs and on my cabin,
here I am, lying on my side
I watch the sun hit a distant peak,
slowly it comes into sight— emerges from dusk,
then it’s time to get up
and get the day’s chores done.
But this morning
a White Buffalo
stands visible in the Autumn mist, and I dash out,
it approaches me in my pasture and I give it a slap
on the rump and it bolts off
through thick forest trees
and watching it, I have a desire to follow,
answer what it is trying to tell me––
its voice spoke to me the way fire talks to darkness
Get on with lighting you up, it said,
gristle and knees, shoulders and neck,
stomach and fingers, its voice spread throughout me,
one beautiful smooth spreading of light,
live as a human
live as human
live as human

Written for the 2019 American Bison Society Conference



RELATIONSHIP



Buffalo are more than
animals; they are a mindset.
There are symbolic meanings
behind the buffalo. People have
a responsibility to understand
things other than themselves.

BEsAaiCA

Student and Poet

My grandmother told me,

“Bison are your

grandfather...you should

respect them.”

SDLavOidAN

Artist



RESPECT



Bison set an
example for how
people should treat
each other. They are
a life-sustaining,
important aspect

PVhIAil RRIALof our lives.

Director of Bison and Agriculture, Pueblo of Pojoaque





Bison and the American Indian

share a similar life journey from

the beginning of time. We are

related to the end of time.
GDARONUCEPBuffalo

Quote: Roger Fragua, Flower Hill Institute
Photo: Buffalo Dance Group from the Pueblo of Jemez and the OhKay Owingeh Nation











RECIPROCITY

Buffalo are the soul
of our nation. If we
lose the buffalo,
we lose our souls.

CBoObbTy NOIR

Artist and Advocate





Bison wallows
are the
guestbooks
of the prairie.

OWeLs SON

Retired National Park Warden, Parks Canada; Author and Illustrator



REWILD

We must honor the buffalo
by ensuring they have a place
to live without barriers.
We must ensure they are here
for our future generations.

BGlUiniFs FALO

Planner





PFaOuleXtte This land has
nourished us and
the engineers of
this land have been
the buffalo.

Environmental scientist

REMATRIATION



I hope for wildly, freely,
liberated bison. Bison are
a matriarchal society;
it is a time to lift women
up… allow them to lead us.

BDHiREanUAdrIDaSED

Climate Science and Resilience Expert





RFAmIIRDetShEyTsRt Iniskim is a sacred buffalo that came to
a Blackfoot woman to tell her where
the buffalo were for the men to go and hunt.

Women have had a special relationship
to buffalo.

Member of the Blood Tribe Proponent of Buffalo



RECONCILIATION

Terry Yazzie, Artist
Lynnette Haozous, Artist-in-Residence, Utah Diné Bikéyah



Buffalo speak to what is most
beautiful in all of us. They are
the path to a conservation
paradigm that breathes life
into the principles of diversity,

MORMORUNNICristina equity, inclusion and justice.

Director of US Field Conservation