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At Long Last, The American Buffalo Has Come Home
A conservation effort has returned bison to Blackfeet Nation tribal lands more than a century after the animal was nearly slaughtered to extinction.
— Photographs By Louise Johns | By Lailani Upham | Sunday July 09, 2023
“Nititawahsi” is the Blackfeet name for our land—the land where the iinnii (buffalo) live. Our people are Niitawahsin-nanni: the people of the land where the iinnii live.
As colonizers moved west, millions of buffalo were killed and brought to the edge of extinction. Millions more Native peoples were murdered, displaced, and forced to assimilate. By the end of the 19th century, only 300 buffalo were left in the wild and Native populations dropped to less than 300,000.
Now, after more than 150 years, iinnii have finally returned to their homeland, the Amskapi Pikuni (Blackfeet Nation) tribal lands, to roam free.
Forty-nine buffalo run out of their temporary enclosure towards Chief Mountain on the Blackfeet Reservation. The rest of the herd (about 70 buffalo) will join them at the end of the summer. Chief Mountain is not only prime buffalo habitat, but also a sacred place for Native people in both the U.S. and Canada.
“I can’t hardly describe the feeling that I have. I have this jittery feeling, goosebumps,” says Ervin Carlson, director of the Blackfeet Nation Buffalo Program. “It just feels so good to finally see them here in this place where we want them to be.”
On June 26, 49 iinnii were released into the wild at the base of our sacred Ninaistako (Chief Mountain), a Strong Miistaaki (Mountain) that stands tall like the warbonnets of Blackfeet warriors. This miistaaki towers along the border of the Blackfeet Nation, Glacier National Park in Montana, and Waterton National Park in Canada.
Our people, the Siksikaitsitapi (Blackfoot Confederacy) always believed the land we came from was a gift of the Creator, Ihtsi-pai-tapi-yopa. Our stories tell us that iinnii was created as a gift for our people as our life source. The iinnii were and still are our staff of life.
The iinnii coming back and being free on Blackfoot lands again is the beginning of reconciliation, says Cristina Mormorunni, director of Indigenous Led, the organization that leads cultural restoration and conservation of buffalo on Blackfoot lands. “This is the beginning of the truth being told about what happened, and they’re the best ambassadors,” she says.
Helen Augare, a Blackfeet knowledge keeper and director of the Blackfeet Community College Native Science Field Center, has been an integral voice in the return of buffalo to Chief Mountain for the past 15 years.
Now that the buffalo are free, she says “there’s so much still to reconnect to and learn from them.”
“What does that future look like and what [do] our children and grandchildren need to know to be able to help iinnii live a full and prosperous life with us again?” Augare says. “It entailed everything from healthy people, healthy land, healthy water, and most of all healthy relationships. That in itself requires a lot of healing, growth.”
Buffalo are corralled and sorted (calves from adults, and males from females) at the tribal-owned Buffalo Spirit Hills Ranch on June 25, 2023. The herd, originally from Canada’s Elk Island National Park, have been living on the ranch since 2016. The herd descends from the last remaining wild buffalo before they were nearly extirpated.
Blackfeet tribal member Wyett Wippert takes a photo of his daughter, Ruby, in front of the buffalo in their soft release pen at Chief Mountain. “We put so much of our hearts into getting them here,” he says. “It’s a very good feeling knowing that they are under Chief Mountain. People know what they’re going to be doing for their environment and for us as Blackfeet people.” The buffalo are held here for several hours to settle into their surroundings before being released into the wild.
Racine, Monroe, and director Ervin Carlson of the Blackfeet Buffalo Program, on June 25, 2023, after a long day of preparing buffalo to be released at Chief Mountain. “It’s a lot of work to get these animals to this point… they are wild buffalo,” Racine says. “Nobody can do it by themselves. It’s a real honor to be able to have the Iinnii here and to be doing this.”
Blackfeet tribal members Wyett Wippert and Christen Falcon work together to stretch their bison hide onto their handmade wooden frame, the first step in tanning the hide by hand at their home in East Glacier, Montana. on April 9, 2023.
“Bison are a keystone species, they are ecosystem drivers and engineers. They were here for thousands of years,” says Brandon Kittson, wildlife biologist for Blackfeet Fish and Wildlife. “Now having them back on this landscape is a good thing. It’s going to help revitalize some systems and help drive diversity among the different vegetation and communities found in this area.”
Children collect and examine clumps of buffalo fur from the corral at Buffalo Spirit Hills Ranch on June 25, 2023. The fur is integral to the health of the grassland ecosystem, as certain species of birds use it to line and insulate their nests.
— Photojournalist Louise Johns is a National Geographic Explorer. Her National Geographic Society-funded Project, "Buffalo Renaissance," is about Native American efforts to restore Bison to build cultural resiliency and ecological integrity.
#The National Geographic#American Buffalo#Photojournalist#Louise Johns#Buffalo Renaissance#Amskapi Pikuni (Blackfeet Nation)#Niitawahsin-Nanni#Chief Mountain#Ninaistako (Chief Mountain)#Glacier National Park in Montana#Waterton National Park in Canada#The Siksikaitsitapi (Blackfoot Confederacy)#Cristina Mormorunni#Helen Augare#Montana USA 🇺🇸#Canada 🇨🇦#Brandon Kittson Wildlife Biologist#National Geographic Explorer
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Chief Mountain Hidden in Clouds by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: From a roadside pullout along Chef Mountain Highway in Montana just outside of Glacier National Park. The view is looking to the west-southeast across some prairies with rolling hillsides and forest leading up to the mountain. My thought on composing this image was to capture a leveled-on view and center the mountain, even though hidden in clouds, in the image center. I later worked with control points in DxO PhotoLab 6 and then made some adjustments to bring out the contrast, saturation and brightness I wanted for the final image.
#Alberta and Glacier National Park#Azimuth 252#Central Montana Rocky Mountains#Chief Mountain#Crusher Hill#Day 7#DxO PhotoLab 6 Edited#Evergreen Trees#Evergreens#Forest#Forest Landscape#Glacier National Park#Glacier National Park Ranges#Hillside of Trees#Landscape#Landscape - Scenery#Lewis Range#Looking WSW#Mostly Cloudy#Mountain Peak#Mountains#Mountains in Distance#Mountains off in Distance#Mountainside#Nature#Nikon D850#No People#Northern Lewis Range#Outside#Overcast
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#squamish#landscape#canada#british columbia#the chief#chief mountain#chief#mountain#hill#clouds#nature#sunlight#plant#sky#tree#sun#people
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Denizens of Spring
[Sun Wukong & The Destined One]
#sigh…. in another life wukong can baby all of his younger monkeys forever#i think mandrill chief gave him little expeditions around the mountain when he was a baby monkey#and wukong does it for all the newborn cubs that he can#touring for all of the best peach and mango plants#ye ye wukong would be the most spoiling grandpa#ye ye sun !!! ye ye kong#he gets a bit :( if there’s no monkey born one year bc who will grasp onto his fur as he walks around#jttw#journey to the west#sun wukong#destined one#black myth wukong#monkeys#artists on tumblr#digital illustration#digital art#m1nsur0#i always forget the mandarin for grandpa lol i’m cantonese/hakka malay chinese
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#sematary grave man#haunted mound#chief keef#true religion#buckshot#sematary#hauntaholics#ghost mountain#2000s emo#2000s nostalgia
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dead on my feet
#buckshot#haunted mound#ghost mountain#hauntaholics#sematary#halloween#witch house#chief keef#hackle down on em#nazgul
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did a study of local cuisine in gamer culture, as well as the folklore hero, Master Chief, from the epic of Halo
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Me n who?
#buckshot#chief keef#ghost mountain#hackle#hackle down on em#hauntaholics#sematary#sematary grave man#witch house#true religion
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this is a fucking real heart
#horsetownbandits#e5c4pe#haunted mound#sematary#lifelover#chief keef#s4lem#hauntaholics#glo gang#ghost mountain
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#hauntaholics#haunted mound#ghost mountain#underground#sematary#american gothic#goth#buckshot#chief keef#preshboyswag#dopesick#hackle#hackle down on em#sematary grave man#true religion#rare
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#haunted mound#sematary#ghost mountain#black metal#dsbm#grunge#chief keef#true religion#dark night of the scarecrow
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this is REL Haunted Mound Records😈😈😈👻👻☠☠☠
#nazgul#sematary#haunted mound#true religion#nevada#chief keef#ghost mountain#buckshot#hackle#sematary grave man
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Ridges and Peaks of the Northern Lewis Range (Waterton Lakes National Park) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: A view looking to the south from the Waterton Park Front. The setting is looking across farmland and prairies leading up to the ridges and peaks in and around Waterton Lakes National Park. The sign at this location notes the following peaks and mountains with this view: Chief Mountain, Gable Mountain, Sofa Mountain, Kaina Mountain, Miche Wabun Peak, Mount Cleveland, and Vimy Peak.
#Alberta and Glacier National Park#Azimuth 172#Blue Skies with Clouds#Canadian Rockies#Central Montana Rocky Mountains#Chief Mountain#Cows#Day 6#DxO PhotoLab 6 Edited#Evergreen Trees#Evergreens#Farmland#Forest#Forest Landscape#Gable Mountain#Glacier National Park#Glacier National Park Ranges#Hillside of Trees#Kaina Mountain#Landscape#Landscape - Scenery#Lewis Range#Looking South#Miche Wabun Peak#Montana#Mount Cleveland#Mountain Peak#Mountains#Mountains in Distance#Mountains off in Distance
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coastal mountain town
Squamish, British Columbia
#Canada#British Columbia#film photography#35mm#analogue#photographers on tumblr#mountains#Stawamus Chief Mountain#cabin#cabincore#pnw aesthetic#pnw photography#pnw vibes#pacific northwest#pnwonderland#road trip#vancouver bc
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based and rare
#witch house#hauntaholics#buckshot#hackle#ghost mountain#hackle down on em#true religion#based#based god#chief keef#trueys
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