“Once nearly extinct, bison are now climate heroes
Indigenous tribes are leading the effort to bring back the bison — a victory not only for the sake of biodiversity, but for the entire ecosystem they nurture
Once bordering on extinction, bison now serve as a great provider for their ecosystems, standing as an example of the ways in which animal conservation and ecological protection can work in tandem.
“Buffalo is the original climate regulator,” said Troy Heinert, a member of the Sicangu Lakota (Rosebud Sioux) tribe and executive director of the InterTribal Buffalo Council, a coalition working to restore the animal on tribal lands. “Just by how they use the grass, how they graze, how their hoofs are designed, the way they move. They did this job for us when we allowed them to be buffalo…”
Tribes are leading the effort to bring back the bison, Heinert says, which in turn allows for the return of other native grasses, animals and insects — all of which will “help fight this changing climate…”
Indigenous peoples have been integral to this effort from the start, both by managing herds and by introducing legislation to protect and expand bison territory. In the past few decades, tribal herd numbers have soared: The InterTribal Buffalo Council, which began as a modest coalition of fewer than 10 tribes in the early 1990s, will soon count 76 tribes across 20 states from New York to Hawaii among its members, managing a total of more than 20,000 animals across 32 million acres.
The return of the bison is a victory not only for the sake of biodiversity but for the entire ecosystem in which they live. As a keystone species, the bison sustain their environment from the top down.
The southern plains are especially vulnerable to climate change, where periods of extreme drought and flooding have cropped up more frequently in recent years. There is example after example of how the bison serve a crucial role in their imperiled environment: Their hoofs push seeds deep into the ground and aerate the soil. Small birds often fly around bison’s ankles because their heavy footfall kicks up insects that the birds can feed on. The brown-headed cowbird often rides on the back of bison, plucking parasites off its skin. Even bison’s dung — which contains high levels of nitrogen, a vital nutrient for plant growth — fertilizes the soil as they graze …
Still, many experts in the bison world are hopeful for the future. The ongoing restoration of this animal is a rare success story in nature conservancy. To go from a few-hundred bison to several- hundred-thousand nationwide in little more than a century is astounding. This triumph has in turn brought about the resurgence of local flora and fauna in the regions in which bison are found, including native grasses and rare insects…
Looking toward the future of bison in our changing climate requires looking back, because restoring bison is not just about saving the animals — it’s about making efforts to return their environments to a time when the ecosystem regulated itself. A time when bison were not a symbol, but a part of a richly biodiverse landscape.
‘If we continue to view buffalo as a commodity, we’re not going to reach that ultimate goal of restoring and healing our lands.’ “
