Bison on the move: an updated plan from Yellowstone National Park
Buffalo Dance, Oklahoma by Paul Flying Eagle Goodbear | Smithsonian American Art Museum
The National Park Service just released its final plan for managing the bison herd in Yellowstone.
Since we reported on the first draft of that process last fall, the park received more than 27,000 comments from the public!
In the revised bison plan, the Park’s 'preferred option' follows a middle path—it allows the bison population to range as high as 6,000 individuals but keeps many existing policies in place.
There's much more to digest here, but for now, we're highlighting one aspect of the new plan: “prioritize using the Bison Conservation Transfer Program to restore bison to tribal lands." This change would bolster support for a program that's blossomed in a big way since the first season of Threshold. Below is a round-up of some great reads about the return of bison to Indigenous communities across the continent.
A Buffalo Renaissance | Modern Farmer
Bison have been woven into the lifeways of Indigenous peoples for millennia, and restoring bison to tribal lands is a big step in repairing that relationship. But restoring bison to tribal diets turns out to be a lot more complicated, and this piece details how the InterTribal Buffalo Council is working with the USDA to put bison back into Indigenous food systems from South Dakota to Alaska.
Blackfeet Bring Bison Home to Chief Mountain | Flathead Beacon
This time last year, the Blackfeet Indian Reservation welcomed free-roaming bison back to their land for the first time in 150 years. On the doorstep of Glacier National Park, this herd signals a new chapter in the relationship between the Blackfeet Nation and the Park Service, as the bison are expected to cross into federal land. You might recognize Ervin Carlson in this story, the Blackfeet Nation Buffalo Program director we interviewed in Season 1.
Bison return to Texas Indigenous lands, reconnecting tribes to their roots | Texas Tribune
This piece takes us out of Montana to Sulphur Springs, Texas, and the return of bison to one Muscogee (Creek) family’s ranch. It’s one of many new relationships unfolding as bison reenter landscapes across the country.