Restoring Buffalo to the Dakota Plains 1

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Article: Restoring Buffalo to the Dakota Plains:

This article is based on the author's anthropological doctoral research on Lakota Sioux environmental activism at the University of Oxford and upon 12 months of interviews and research in South Dakota between 1998 and 1999.

Bound by Kinship and Destiny

"We told them that the supernatural powers, Taku Wakan, had given to the Lakotas the buffalo for food and clothing. We told them that where the buffalo ranged, that was our country. We told them that the country of the buffalo was the country of the Lakotas. We told them that the buffalo must have their country and the Lakotas must have the buffalo" - Red Cloud (cited in Walker 1980: 138-139).¹

"A long time ago the buffalo came to the Lakota people and said, 'If you pray with this pipe, then we will always be here for you.' And told us how to pray with this pipe, then left this pipe and walked away, and laid down in the grass and became a white buffalo, and left. Since that time it's felt by the people - Lakota people - that the buffalo has taught us all of his ceremonies" - Oglala Lakota activist (1998).

The history of the Lakota and the history of the buffalo have been inextricably linked for hundreds, if not thousands of years. The buffalo-hunting culture of the Lakota flourished during the 18th and 19th centuries. The buffalo, or more strictly speaking, the Plains bison, played vital roles in the lives of the people, and still today they are endowed with special, wakan, significance. The animal nourished the Lakota physically, emotionally and spiritually. But by the late 1800s, the very species that had once numbered in the millions, was reduced to a few hundred.

Yet the relationship endures. From the time of creation through the decimation efforts of both by the US government, to today's efforts of the Lakota to restore both buffalo and Lakota traditions to the prairies, the lives of the buffalo and the Lakota are still intertwined.

In this article, we shall look the evolution and continuity of this special relationship through the following: a study of Lakota origins in the Pte Nation; an exploration of the mythological and historical record; and a look at current Lakota efforts to restore buffalo to the prairie. We shall observe how Lakota life still derives much of its significance from the status of the buffalo. Ultimately, we shall see how interwoven are the practices of buffalo restoration and land management and how, in turn, these practices flow from particular cultural values.

Notes::

1 - James R. Walker. 1980. Lakota Belief & Ritual. edited by Raymond J. DeMallie and Elaine A. Jahner. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.