The Northern Tribes Buffalo Treaty signed at Browning, Montana in Blackfeet territory is a sign of hope and progress, according to Banff conservationist and bison champion Harvey Locke; not the sort of progress that destroyed vast herds of bison in the 19th century, but progress towards an increasingly powerful call to fulfill our moral obligation to bison and return them to their home on the Great Plains of North America.
Signed by representatives of 11 Aboriginal groups located on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border, the treaty commits the signatories, including the Siksika (Blackfoot), Tsuu T’ina (Sarcee), Kainai (Blood) and Piikani (Peigan) of Alberta, to put forth a united voice calling to restore wild plains bison to tribal lands – a collective total of 2.5 million hectares of grassland and prairie habitats north and south of the border – while re-affirming cultural ties to an animal that sustained the first people of North America for thousands of years.
It offers another opportunity, this time led by Aboriginal people, to right what Locke, who attended the Sept. 23 signing, referred to as a colossal wrong.
“For people of European descent, the plains bison represents the colossal failed relationship with our new home, ecologically, and it represents an opportunity to redeem the mistakes of the 20th century by positive action at the beginning of the 21st century,” he said Tuesday (Sept. 30).
Bison once roamed the Great Plains from Canada through the U.S. interior right into northern Mexico in the tens of millions, but by the early 1900s, a century of slaughter had reduced the herds to about 1,100 individuals.
“For plains Aboriginal people, the bison represents a member of the family. It represents the centre of material culture and it represents a profoundly important figure in their spiritual lives. So when I saw people of very different language groups and very different histories all gathered in the same large lodge, and to see it was the first time in 150 years to have gathered as people with some control over their own land and destiny, and to see that bison was the topic, I found it profoundly moving,” Locke said.
“Bison had the power to bring these people together, and they were truly together. We felt completely welcome the whole time and welcome in a way that was incredibly comfortable and when they asked us as partners in this to sign the treaty and acknowledged our work that was, man, I was tearing up.”
Bison expert Keith Aune of the Wildlife Conservation Society said the treaty, with its collective voice, would help ensure the success of other bison projects, such as an assessment of the potential of establishing an international bison herd that could roam freely across the U.S.-Canada border in Blackfoot/Blackfeet territory.
“There’s lots cooking here and what’s important about this is the tribes took the initiative to use the ancient practice of treaty to establish a commitment to one another and establish an alliance to help each other in order to achieve their missions and dreams for the return of bison,” said Aune.
The treaty comes at a time when mainstream society is finally beginning to consider bison as something more than livestock, a relic or a romanticized icon of a lost age and that we are, in fact, prepared to honour bison for all they are.
Aune said that Western science now understands that bison are ecosystem engineers and that the Great Plains cannot be healthy or whole without bison. Coupled with that, the Western mindset is now able to acknowledge the deep relationship between Aboriginal people and bison.
“It’s sad in the respect that the species is the one species that inspired the conservation movement. It was the demise of buffalo that brought attention to the fact that we needed to save the last of wildlife and wild places. The patriarchs of conservation began to do that at the turn of the 1900s and took that upon themselves in what we call the first recovery of bison,” Aune said.
The first recovery of bison stalled in the 1920s and ’30s when the fathers of conservation believed their job was done. They had, after all, saved bison from extinction and bison were thriving in the only model they had to work from, which was the agricultural mode, Aune said.
“They put bison into some places and managed them as livestock and that was all very successful and they did save a representation of the species, but what it didn’t do was restore the cultural connection or reconnect people to the animal and it didn’t allow the animal to function in an ecological way. Its ecological function wasn’t emphasized,” he said.
Along with that came an emphasis on other species, namely elk, deer, grizzly bear and wolves. Bison, Aune said, were the forgotten species.
“They just got left out and we’re coming back to it. We’re seeing certain consequences of not having their bioengineering effect on the land, so we’re getting back to some things that are important.”
“There is that sense of the holistic worldview that comes to them more naturally. That it is an alliance that allies to now, our modern understanding of ecosystem, that ecological function and roles of different species and that the goal is to manage a species to be on the land with relationships between land and animal, animal to animal and animal to human that are important,” said Aune.
The treaty recognizes this by using an ancient practice in a modern context and comes at a time when many Aboriginal groups on both sides of the border are working to restore language, culture and customs. Restoring bison is an important part of this work, Aune said.
Both Locke and Aune agreed the treaty is not a move to turn the clock back, but instead one that helps us – both Aboriginal and non-aboriginal people – understand how we as modern humans can live with wild bison and the benefits of doing so.
“This is about restoring a connection that fits within the modern context that we can adapt to this modern world and do it in a way that fits with what we would have on the land,” said Aune.
“It is our hope that this grows to the other tribes in Canada and the U.S. as they consider this model and maybe it will grow from a moment of yesterday to a movement for bison.”
