Rewilding the American Serengeti

A tribal college internship aims to train the next generation of stewards for a recovering prairie ecosystem—its land, animals, and people.

By Sarah Mosquera

June 22, 2024

Source: Yes Magazine


A female buffalo runs into a corral on the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation. Scientifically called bison, many Plains Tribes refer to the animals as buffalo or use the two names interchangeably. Photo: Saraj Mosquera

On a blustery morning in mid-November, 31-year-old Dawn Thomas approaches a male bison. His eyes are wide with fear, his body held in place by a restraint machine. As Thomas slowly reaches her hands toward the bull’s head, he thrashes it wildly in warning, causing her to retreat. A full-grown bull can weigh up to 2,000 pounds, and as prey animals, bison are always on alert for predators. Shielding their eyes helps to calm them, so Thomas gently cups the outer edges of the bison’s large eyes with her hands and the animal’s body immediately relaxes.

Once the bison settles, Thomas approaches again with caution and determination. She closes her eyes and dips her chin, her lips slowly moving as she whispers an Aaniiih prayer over the bison—the animal with a deep cultural connection to her roots as an Indigenous woman. A tear slowly rolls down her cheek before the machine operator nods that the bull is ready to be released.

Dawn Thomas, 31, crouches as bison move through the chutes to prevent the animals from seeing her as they pass. (Photo: Sarah Mosquera)

“Working with the buffalo really pulls at my heartstrings,” Thomas says. “It is such a healing experience, especially for people living here on the reservation. It just makes me feel reconnected.”

Thomas is an intern visiting the American prairie in north central Montana, from the Aaniiih Nakoda College on the nearby Fort Belknap Indian Reservation. This bull is one of the more than 200 bison from the surrounding prairie getting hair and blood samples collected and tags put in their ears.

This internship is associated with the newly created Buffalo Center at the Tribal college, which offers students the opportunity to work alongside visiting and local scientists to learn the skills necessary to manage the land and wildlife on their reservation. The hope is to train the next generation of stewards for this recovering ecosystem—its land, animals, and people.

“Before colonialism, buffalo were our life source. They’re powerful and they gave us food and shelter,” Thomas says. “They were taken away from us and we are still trying to heal from that.”

“The buffalo have that trauma too. The buffalo almost went extinct, like us.” But now, she says, people and bison are recovering together. “We’re thriving. We’re emerging out of that difficult time.”

The Necessity of Landscape Connectivity

Fort Belknap is located along Montana’s Northern Hi-Line, which runs parallel to and about 50 miles south of the Canadian border. The militant rows of wheat and dusty cattle lots are evidence of the agricultural revolution that enabled humans to move away from hunting and gathering, toward farming and ranching practices. But it does not reveal the holistic ecosystem-wide food management that Indigenous peoples practiced in the region for tens of thousands of years.

With the Dawes Act of 1887, the federal government subdivided Tribal lands and tried to force Indigenous people to assimilate into an increasingly industrial United States economy. With this came the destruction of the prairie ecosystem, creating inhospitable environments for the species that once called the landscape home. Government-sanctioned poisoning campaigns decimated prairie dog colonies, subsequently driving the black-footed ferret to near extinction.

As more prairie was plowed for agriculture, the wild landscape fractured, and ecosystems became more and more fragmented. The grizzly bear, who once wandered the Northern Great Plains, retreated into the mountains, adapting to an entirely new way of life. The far-ranging swift fox, who relied on landscape connectivity to thrive, disappeared from Montana entirely.

And, most notably, the bison vanished. There were once an estimated 20 to 60 million bison roaming across what is now the contiguous U.S., and Plains Indians lived in harmony with the animals. They relied on the bison for every aspect of their lives, including food, shelter, and tools.

During settler colonialists’ Westward expansion, between 1820 and 1880, millions of bison were massacred. “It was a military strategy to eliminate the buffalo,” explains Mike Fox, director of fish and wildlife for the Fort Belknap Tribes. “[General Phillip] Sheridan famously said if they take away the buffalo, then they can starve the Indians into submission. They saw it as a solution for dealing with the Tribes.”

Beyond viewing the animals as “pests,” the U.S. military recognized the profound connection that Plains Indians held with the bison, and that by significantly reducing the animals’ population, the Tribes would be severely weakened. The U.S military sanctioned bison slaughter as part of the war effort against the Tribes. This, along with the introduction of European disease and competition from cattle, caused bison numbers to plummet to fewer than 1,000.

“It was devastating to the tribes for many reasons. We used to follow the buffalo and relied on them as our primary food source,” Fox says. “Then we had to transition to a sedentary lifestyle full of fat and beef. It’s had long-term health effects, and that’s why we’re trying to get them back.”

Today, thanks to tribal reintroductions and efforts from organizations like American Prairie, there are approximately 20,000 Plains Bison in conservation herds, managed as wildlife. Another 400,000 bison live in commercial herds across the country, managed as cattle. According to the guidelines set by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, only the bison in conservation herds function as wildlife and are considered ecologically restored.

“We are morally responsible to bring back such an important part of the landscape,” Fox says. “To let something as important as buffalo go extinct is unthinkable. And to bring them back to their homelands, it’s something that we have to do. And for Tribal members it’s something that has to be a part of our daily lives.”

Students As Future Stewards

In 2021, the Aaniiih Nakoda College received a $3.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation to create the ʔíítaanɔ́ɔ́nʔí/Tatag ́a (“buffalo” in Aaniiih and Nakoda) Research and Education Center. The goal was to offer students the opportunity to study the relationship between the Fort Belknap Indian Community, the Tribal bison herd, and the prairie ecosystem. By providing opportunities for ecological research on the bison herd, paired with academic training to increase community knowledge of sustainable land management practices, the center’s goal is to create a sense of connection for students.

The Buffalo Center not only provides unique educational opportunities to local students but also paid internships to work alongside employees in the field. Partnerships with World Wildlife Fund, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, and Little Dog Wildlife LLC offer students the opportunity to learn from working scientists.

World Wildlife Fund biologist Kristy Bly says 12 years ago, before the inception of the Buffalo Center, her team was unsuccessful in recruiting individuals to assist with fieldwork. “Now more students want to help than there are spotlights and GPS units,” she says.

In 2013, after years of fighting against anti-bison legislation in Montana, the Fort Belknap Tribes welcomed 31 genetically pure Yellowstone bison to their land. These animals were at risk of slaughter if they wandered beyond the national park’s boundaries. Despite opposition from nearby ranchers concerned about disease transmission and anti-bison bills in Montana seeking to prevent the transportation of the animals, the Tribes ultimately succeeded. The 31 bison became the foundation of a genetically pure herd on Aaniiih and Nakoda land. The herd has since thrived, growing and roaming freely across 3,500 acres of prairie grasslands.

They are one of two separate herds the Tribes now manage. Bison were originally returned to the reservation in the 1970s, but the animals were not descendants of the original bison that used to roam the Great Plains, meaning they are not genetically pure. The Snake Butte herd contains genes from European cattle and therefore are kept in a separate pasture to prevent genetic crossover with the Yellowstone bison.

In addition to successfully reintroducing bison twice, the tribes are also reintroducing other prairie species to their land in hopes of re-creating an intact prairie ecosystem. Fort Belknap is now the only place in Montana where bison, critically endangered black-footed ferrets, and swift foxes have all been successfully restored. The Buffalo Center is working to ensure that the younger generation receives the opportunity to learn from these partnerships in order to foster a sense of passion and responsibility for the prairie, as future stewards of their land.

“I think the biggest enjoyment for me is seeing the students on the prairie, making a difference,” says Teri Harper, buffalo research coordinator at the college. “They are able to tell fellow Tribal members about what they are doing. They’re the ambassadors of the prairie for our Tribes.”

Wildlife biologist Jessica Alexander releases a black-footed ferret onto the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation. Now that the creatures have been successfully reintroduced, about 40 of the critically endangered ferrets live in the area—only about 400 remain in the wild. (Photo: Sarah Mosquera)

Saving Prairies From Habitat Destruction

In the northeast corner of the reservation, Snake Butte stands proud within a sea of golden prairie grasses. The 22,000 acres of the sacred site are now home to more than 1,800 buffalo introduced in the 1970s and at least 40 black-footed ferrets. The site offers an example of what can be achieved with community support and determination: a nearly intact prairie ecosystem in the land of conventional agriculture.

The World Wildlife Fund’s annual Plowprint Report found that 32 million acres of grasslands have been plowed for agriculture since 2012, and 1.6 million acres were plowed in 2021 alone. Prairie destruction is happening at a rate faster than deforestation, the effects of which will include increased carbon in the atmosphere, increased pollution, flooding, and loss of wildlife habitat.

Intact North American prairie is often referred to as the “American Serengeti” because of the abundance of biodiversity found on the landscape. As a keystone species, bison are integral to creating habitat for other prairie animals. Bison’s saliva, feces, and urine all contain important nutrients necessary for grassland health. Their hooves evolved with the landscape, so rather than trampling the prairie grasses their footprints help break up the soil, creating a healthy environment for new plants to grow.

Driving through the Snake Butte pasture, the barks of prairie dogs and sparrow songs fill the air. Antelope prance on the horizon while bison stand stoically along the butte’s ridge. The area buzzes with activity even after the sun goes down. As the prairie dogs retreat into their burrows, badgers, coyotes, and black-footed ferrets emerge to hunt in the moonlight.

In late October, long after sunset, six students from Aaniiih Nakoda College gather in the Snake Butte pasture as they await their instructor. Teri Harper’s headlights illuminate their outlines as she pulls up in a white truck. She hops out of the driver’s seat with her toy-sized blue heeler, Kingston, in tow, and points to some of the students: “You three are coming with me,” Harper says.

Dawn Thomas climbs into the back of Harper’s truck with her fellow students Colten Werk and KateLyne Goes Ahead. Thomas reluctantly rolls down her window, letting in the cold air in order to get a view of the nighttime prairie. As Harper drives along the bumpy dirt road, the students shine spotlights out their respective windows, scanning for emerald green eyes shining in the darkness.

They are hoping to see a black-footed ferret, an unfortunately rare opportunity given the animals’ status as extremely endangered.

Then Werk hollers, “I see one!” Harper quickly stops the truck and everyone cranes their necks to see the shape in question. “It’s not a rock!” Werk asserts. “It’s a ferret! It’s moving!” Goes Ahead and Thomas giggle in the back seat as Harper slowly drives toward what indeed turns out to be a rock.

Over the course of the night, Harper and the students do correctly identify four black-footed ferrets, an exciting feat considering the rarity of the animal. This is a unique experience available to students at Aaniiih Nakoda College through the Buffalo Center. And one that the students do not take for granted.

“The black-footed ferrets and the swift fox, they are so important to us,” Thomas says. “It’s a slow process, I know, but they are slowly growing. We are all slowly growing and reconnecting.”