Buffalo Treaty: Native tribes sign bison revival plan in US and Canada

Native tribes from both the United States and Canada came together to sign their first treaty in 150 years: a pact that promises to bring the famed bison back to its original home in the Great Plains and Rocky Mountain regions.

by RT

© Autonomous Nonprofit Organization “TV-Novosti”, 2005–2014
published on RT 24 Sep 2014
republished here under the term of Fair Use

Photo: Reuters/Jose Luis Gonzalez

Native tribes from both the United States and Canada came together to sign their first treaty in 150 years: a pact that promises to bring the famed bison back to its original home in the Great Plains and Rocky Mountain regions.

The new “Buffalo Treaty” treaty was signed this week by 11 tribes hailing from the state of Montana and Canada’s Alberta province, according to the Associated Press.

Ultimately, the Native American tribes and their indigenous Canadian counterparts – known as the First Nations in Canada – hope to restore the ability of bison to roam freely between the US/Canada border and reestablish the animal’s important position at the center of the tribes’ cultures.

“Hunting practices, ceremonies, songs – those things revolved around the buffalo. Sacred societies used the buffalo as a totem. All of these things are going to be revised, revitalized, renewed with the presence of buffalo,” Leroy Little Bear, a professor emeritus of Native American studies at the University of Lethbridge and Alberta Blood Tribe member, said to the AP.

Although there’s no timetable regarding this plan, the signing of the treaty was welcomed as a positive development between the indigenous groups and a hopeful sign for the future.

“It shows support that we’re all (together) as Indian nations, that we can all be together supportive of the others and we have one big thing in common, and that’s buffalo and what they mean to us culturally and spiritually. It shows the cohesiveness that the tribes can come together and do this together,” Blackfeet Bison Program Manager Ervin Carlson told Montana’s KRTV News.

While tribal members are optimistic, their proposal is likely to draw opposition from the livestock industry, which has generally pushed back against plans to reintroduce buffalo populations.

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