Yellowstone bison made a historic journey this past week.
For the first time, bison were transported from Indigenous people in the U.S. to Canada as part of the Yellowstone Bison Conservation Transfer Program.
Mosquito, Grizzly Bear’s Head, Lean Man First Nations in Saskatchewan received 11 bison from the Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes in Montana. These bison lived in Yellowstone National Park prior.
Chief Tanya Stone of Mosquito, Grizzly Bear’s Head, Lean Man First Nations said in a press release, “These buffalo are coming to us as a family group led by a matriarch. This beautiful gift is deeply meaningful as we collectively rebuild our relationship to them as they teach us perseverance, strength, and determination.”
Chamois Anderson with the nonprofit Defenders of Wildlife helped with the transportation and other logistics. She said the bison traveled on a 700-mile route from the Fort Peck Tribes in northeastern Montana to the tribal nation in Saskatchewan.
“Lots of singing, the whole community was yelling and happy and just, just absolute jubilation. It was really, really remarkable,” she said.
The three bulls, seven cows and one calf that were transferred first came to Fort Peck from Yellowstone National Park in 2014. The animals were disease free before going to Canada.
Robbie Magnan, the buffalo herd manager with the Fort Peck Tribes in Montana, said he’s been working with the United States Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and members of Canadian First Nations on plans to return bison to their homelands.
“ I'm hoping that was the first of many to come. There's other Native nations in Canada also interested, but we had to get through the first hoop,” he said.
The bison were sent as part of a buffalo treaty between tribal nations in the U.S. and Canada to restore bison to millions of acres of landscape.
Since 2018, the Bison Conservation Transfer Program has sent more than 400 bison to 26 tribes in 12 states.
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