If She Can Do It, You Can Too

The Lakota people and buffalo have co-existed since the creation. I had an opportunity to ask some Oglala Lakota women to talk about their connection to the buffalo today (see the video). According to Doris, one creation story tells that the Lakota people came from the Wind Cave of Black Hills at Wind Cave National Park in South Dakota. Iktomi, the tricker who shaped like a spider, tricked some people to come out of the cave. When people came out of the cave, they had nothing to live on. So, the creator gave people buffalo so that they can survive. Doris shared another creation story which also involves buffalo. The Lakota people believe that their ancestors followed the buffalo migration pattern and always came to the Buffalo Slide, an area in the Stronghold area of the Badlands National Park during the hunting season. The buffalo is a symbol of survival, life and everything for the Lakota people.

In the late 1800s, the US government promoted buffalo hunting primarily to weaken the North American Indian population by removing their main food source and to pressure them onto the reservations. As the great herds began to wane, proposals to protect the buffalo were discussed. Yet these proposals were discouraged since it was recognized that the Plains Native Americans, often at war with the United States, depended on buffalo for their way of life. By 1884, the Buffalo was close to extinction.

In order to restore the land, the population of buffalo and the way of Lakota people’s life, Lakota land owners association and environmental organizations have been focusing on reintroducing buffalo and restoring the land in the Stronghold area of the Badlands National Park. Between 2003 and 2006, Doris became a part of that effort through Great Plains Restoration Council, engaging youth in restoration projects in the area. It has been a long process since there are many challenges to overcome: negotiating the land with cattle ranchers, raising fund to put up a fence and gaining support from the tribal government.

And yet, there are so many benefits to the Lakota people if the buffalo is reintroduced in the Stronghold area. Doris thinks that it will promote revitalizing the Lakota people’s connection to their culture, improving health by eating traditionally, more educational and job opportunities, and restoring the land from over-grazing by cattle. “Another important benefit is that I think bringing buffalo will help young people with their identity loss that leads to suicide. Here in Pine Ridge Reservation, suicide rate is high because of loss of identity, language and way of life. Our family survived a suicide attempt which helped me realized that something has to be done to bring the buffalo back. There are so many reasons for it [why youth commit suicide]. But what they have in common is that they don’t have a hope. So, now we want to help bring buffalo back to give hope to our youth,” said Doris.

She and other Lakota people have been working on buffalo reintroduction by being involved with the Badlands National Park’s Stronghold area general management plan. In my next blog, I will discuss the plan and how you can also be a part of the decision making process to support their effort to bring back buffalo and their way of life. Stay tuned!