‟Traditional people must guide our tribal leadership in a manner that reflects the integrity of our historical and cultural relationship with our relative,
the Buffalo.”

— Rosalie Little Thunder, Sicangu Lakota, Buffalo Field Campaign Co-Founder

I came to understand even more clearly the difference between my white Euro-American culture and Native American culture as our 2026 Tribal Buffalo Summit opened.

A large circular drum began to pound as many voices rose together to bring us into Place, into Community. Chief Arvol Looking Horse offered prayers for good hearts and stories of Buffalo Medicine. He told stories of Rosalie Little Thunder and Indian Peoples' relationship to Tatanka and the Land. He spoke in his language - in a Holy Way.

As Chief Arvol said in his opening prayer,

“Walk upon the Earth in a good manner. Be of a good mind…I want you to go back to your traditional medicine, the Buffalo. And you will be healthy.”

The first three hours of the Summit were spent in song and story and prayer. Very different from the recent Interagency Bison Management Plan meeting that had just taken place. Very different from the transactional and clinical style of conferences and board room meetings.

I was transported into the relational and the spiritual as the doorway into the Summit’s theme; Grow the Herds, and core components; Liberation, Rematriation, and Tribal Sovereignty Leadership.

The Summit began each morning at 7:30am with breakfast - traditional earth-based foods by Mariah Gladstone and IndigiKitchen. Throughout our time together, Mariah and her crew fed us well, nourishing our bodies, yes, but also our minds with clean food so that we could move into conversation with focus and clarity.

Food sovereignty was another emerging theme of the Summit. Many attendees spoke of the healing and love that come to their families and communities from eating bison. This is hard for many white bison advocates to understand. Buffalo hold profound significance for the Tribes represented at the Summit. Bison are integral to Tribal Lifeways, ceremonies, food systems, and community well-being.

I heard many stories about Native Youth eating bison meat for the first time. Holding and smelling Buffalo fur. Being wrapped in a Buffalo hide. Some were unsure at first to eat bison meat. It was unknown to them. That is what our white Euro-American ancestors attempted to do; erase the powerful relationship and kinship between bison and Indigenous People.

But that is impossible.

As Rosalie put it,

“We and the Buffalo share a common history that we dare not forget…an inseparable destiny.”

And Native People have never forgotten their Relatives, the Buffalo.

Listening to Matriarch Paula Looking Horse

Listening to Matriarch Paula Looking Horse

Before going to the Summit, I pulled a medicine card, a teaching really, from a deck created by a Native American traditionalist. I drew “Talking Stick - Viewpoints and Options”. The teaching encouraged me to listen, to be quiet and hear all the stories and ways and hearts.

Those of us who attended from Buffalo Field Campaign, listened to our Native friends in attendance. They spoke of following the Way of the Buffalo as the approach to broader management…and even as the approach to forgiveness, letting go and walking on in integrity and wholeness.

Rez Cafes

Over the coming months, BFC, under the guidance of Dallas Gudgell, Yankton Dakota and Board Vice President, Co-Director & Tribal Programs Lead, will digest and assimilate the shared dialogue from TBS 2026. We will take the ideas from our breakout groups or “Rez Cafes” and synthesize them into a working plan for next steps in the Liberation of wild bison from the confines of Yellowstone National Park and Rematriation onto the Land. We will continue to nourish these relationships. And, we will be in the field, with the Buffalo, as the IBMP plans to decrease the herd size yet again by 25%.

Join Us.
Stand with Us.
Be a Voice for and a Relative to the Buffalo.
Bison Back = Land Back = Healthy People = A Sustainable Future

For the Buffalo,

Justine Sanchez
BFC Board President & Co-Director