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A2 u.s. news
Saturday 4 March 2023
U.S. to focus bison restoration on expanding tribal herds

Past administrations have
proposed or advanced
bison conservation plans
— including under former
Presidents George W. Bush,
Barack Obama and Don-
ald Trump — and tribes
have long been part of
that process.
Haaland's order puts Na-
tive American interests at
the center of the Interior
Department's bison pro-
gram. It also adds a tribal
leader, yet to be named,
to a group that's explor-
ing establishing new herds
on both tribal and federal
lands.Bison reintroductions
could put the Biden admin-
istration at odds with state
officials in Montana. Re-
publican lawmakers have
resisted returning the ani-
mals to federal lands and
opposed some previous bi-
son transfers to tribes.
State lawmakers voted
Thursday to advance a
resolution opposing the re-
introduction of bison to the
million-acre (400,000-hect-
are) Charles M. Russell Na-
Bison awaiting transfer to Native American tribes walk in a herd inside a corral at Badlands National Park, on Oct. 13, 2022, near
Wall, S.D. tional Wildlife Refuge in
Associated Press northern Montana — an
idea that's been floated
By MATTHEW BROWN son once roamed North ry food source for many Across the U.S., from New by the Biden administration
Associated Press America, moving in vast tribes and opened the way York to Oklahoma to Alas- and has support among
DENVER (AP) — U.S. officials herds that were central to for their land to be taken ka, 82 tribes now have Native Americans.
will work to restore more the culture and survival of away. more than 20,000 bison in "Bison were part of the cul-
large bison herds to Native numerous Native American The return of bison in some 65 herds. Numbers have ture 200, 300 years ago. We
American lands under a Fri- groups. locations is considered a been growing in recent aren't going back to that,"
day order from Interior Sec- They were driven to the conservation success. But years along with the desire said Montana state Sen.
retary Deb Haaland that brink of extinction more Haaland said they remain among Native Americans Mike Lang, who sponsored
calls for the government to than a century ago when "functionally extinct" and to reclaim stewardship of the resolution. Lang said
tap into Indigenous knowl- hunters, U.S. troops and more work is needed to the animals. he doesn't oppose bison
edge in its efforts to con- tourists shot them by the return the animals to tribal Many of the tribes' bison on tribal lands but added
serve the burly animals that thousands to feed a grow- lands and restore the grass- came from U.S. agencies, that as populations grow
are an icon of the Ameri- ing commercial market lands they depend on. which over the past two they can cause problems
can West. that used bison parts in ma- "This holistic effort will ensure decades transferred thou- for ranchers and present a
Haaland also announced chinery, fertilizer and cloth- that this powerful sacred sands of the animals to thin public safety threat.
$25 million in federal spend- ing. By 1889, only a few animal is reconnected to government-controlled About half of the $25 mil-
ing for bison conservation. hundred bison remained. its natural habitat and the herds so they don't out- lion announced Friday will
The money, from last year's Haaland, of Laguna Pueb- original stewards who know grow the land. The transfers go to the National Park Ser-
climate bill, will build new lo in New Mexico, is the first best how to care for it," often were carried out in vice. The remainder will be
herds, transfer more bison Native American to serve Haaland said in announc- cooperation with the South split among the Bureau of
from federal to tribal lands as a U.S. Cabinet secretary. ing her order Friday, during Dakota-based InterTribal Indian Affairs, the Bureau
and forge new bison man- She's championed tribal a World Wildlife Day event Buffalo Council. The group's of Land Management and
agement agreements with concerns on issues ranging at the National Geograph- director, Troy Heinert, said the Fish and Wildlife Ser-
tribes, officials said. from wildlife conservation ic Society in Washington, Haaland's order is an ac- vice.
American bison, also known to energy development, D.C.. knowledgement of the It includes about $1 million
as buffalo, have bounced and put a spotlight on past "When we think about In- work tribes have already to establish an apprentice-
back from their near ex- mistreatment of Native digenous communities, we done. ship program that will pro-
tinction due to commercial Americans through a series must acknowledge that "The buffalo has just as long vide training to tribes on
hunting in the 1800s. But of listening sessions about they have spent genera- a connection to Indige- managing bison, including
they remain absent from systemic abuses at govern- tions over many centuries nous people as we have to at national parks and na-
most of the grasslands they ment-run boarding schools. observing the seasons, it," said Heinert, a member tional wildlife refuges, offi-
once occupied, and many She told The Associated tracking wildlife migration of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe. cials said.
tribes have struggled to re- Press in an interview last patterns and fully compre- "They are not just a number The Interior Department
store their deep historical year that the decimation hending our role in the deli- or a commodity; this is re- currently oversees 11,000
connections to the animals. of bison by European set- cate balance of this earth," turning a relative to its right- bison in herds on public
As many as 60 million bi- tlers eliminated the prima- she added. ful place." lands in 12 states.q