Free-roaming buffalo released by Blackfeet Tribe east of Glacier Park

On Monday the Blackfeet Tribe released a herd of 20 bison in the Chief Mountain Wilderness. The animals could end up in Glacier National Park, the first herd in the park in more than a century.

The Park boundary is immediately adjacent and the area is a mix of meadow and forests.

The move comes after many years of planning and the cooperation of the National Park Service, the Tribe said in a release.

To the Blackfeet Nation’s knowledge, it marks the first time in America’s history that a sovereign indigenous nation has returned free-roaming buffalo back into their native habitat. Other tribes have restored Bison onto reservation lands, but none have restored free-roaming buffalo.

The two dozen or so buffalo released by Blackfeet leadership are direct descendants of animals captured from these same Blackfeet lands exactly 150 years ago. They initially were brought home to the Blackfeet Indian Reservation from Alberta, Canada, in 2016, after testing negative for tuberculosis, brucellosis and other diseases. Since that time, the Blackfeet Nation has been growing the captive herd in preparation for the release.

The Chief Mountain area is a rich habitat, where the Rocky Mountains meet the American Prairie, and is a sacred land known to Blackfeet as Miistaaksis – the Backbone of the World. Chief Mountain and the surrounding landscape provide a sanctuary for Blackfeet culture, a place to continue to practice their traditional ceremony and lifeways, and is the time-honored home of Iinniiwa, the Blackfeet term for bison.

This Chief Mountain area is a vast and relatively intact area of rolling foothills, aspen parklands and sweeping prairie owned mostly by the Confederated Blackfoot Tribes in the U.S. and Canada. These lands are critically important to the ecological integrity of the area and to the wildlife that roam across jurisdictional boundaries. They also are critically important to the cultural integrity and survival of Blackfeet lifeways. This landscape represents one of the few places where full cultural and ecological restoration of a grassland ecosystem and its components may be possible.

“The Blackfeet Nation holds reserved treaty rights throughout this Chief Mountain region, including in the lands now known as Glacier Park. Our People remain committed to the protection of this area, to the protection of our cultural lifeways, and to the protection of our treaty rights across these lands,” the Tribe said in a release.

The Blackfeet believe the return of iinniiwa will reconnect the Blackfeet people to nature and contribute positively to the realization of fundamental human rights and vibrant cultures.

“Actions to conserve nature, preserve our homeland and traditional practices, and manage natural and cultural resources, are closely related to the rights of our people to secure their livelihoods, enjoy healthy and productive environments, practice ancient traditions and live with dignity.

“The restoration of Iinniiwa will heal the grassland habitats; sustain the health of our people; deepen the relationship between our people and nature; connect our youth to successful lifeways; renew partnerships across our Blackfoot Confederacy; restore ancient knowledge; revitalize our culture and language; teach us sustainable living; and help us re-interpret the relationships of all creation,” the Tribe said.

On another note, the Tribe, in cooperation with the state and the Park Service is also doing an elk study of east side herds. The Park Service has also done songbird and plant studies on the east side in preparation for the event release of bison.

“Today, we are expressing our sovereignty, claiming our reserved rights, reversing this ecological deterioration, overturning this incalculable cultural loss, righting historic wrongs, and preparing a powerful path for a successful future – the path of the Iinniiwa and Blackfeet,” the Tribe said.