“I humbly ask all nations to respect our way of life, because in our prophecies, if there is no buffalo, then life as we know it will cease to exist” (LaDuke, All Our Relations).
Chief Arvol Looking Horse (LaDuke, All Our Relations)
By the early 1900’s, poaching and commercial hunting in Yellowstone National Park reduced the park’s Bison population from thousands to dozens. Bison were poised to disappear from lands they had inhabited since prehistoric times.
As a result of protections from the US Army and new bison brought from outside the park, the bison population was saved. Yet, by the middle of the century, the bison were facing a new enemy. This time it came in the form of cattle ranchers and the Department of Livestock in neighboring Montana. Due to concerns regarding brucellosis, a communicable disease carried by bison, any bison found outside of the park’s limits or near commercial cattle grazing areas were slaughtered.
The bison population in Yellowstone was once again being decimated and Native groups and environmentalists feared that this time they might not be saved. The resulting legal and political battles over the management of Yellowstone’s Bison are still being fought today. At stake is not only the survival of a species, but the survival of several Native cultures that center around a strong relationship with it.
