Dan Brister, Buffalo Field Campaign

Dan Brister has been working with the Buffalo Field Campaign since December of 1997. He alternates winters on the Yellowstone boundary with falls in Missoula, Mont., where he is earning an MS in environmental studies. Dan can be contacted at dan@wildrockies.org.

Last night, we showed our video, Buffalo Bull, to students at the University of Montana. I spent the night at the headquarters of one of the groups that sponsored the showing, Cold Mountain, Cold Rivers (CMCR). Without CMCR, there would be no Buffalo Field Campaign.

CMCR has produced dozens of video documentaries on a wide array of environmental issues. The group's videographers have been documenting the slaughter of Yellowstone's buffalo since 1990. Mike Mease, one of BFC's co-founders, was working with CMCR during the winter of 1996-97, when 1,083 bison were slaughtered, the bloodiest year for the buffalo since the 19th century.

Mease sent footage of the carnage to members of the Lakota tribe in South Dakota. Rosalie Little Thunder, a traditional Lakota elder, was outraged at the images of the Montana Department of Livestock's disrespectful treatment of the sacred buffalo. Little Thunder and other tribal members organized a Day of Prayer for the Buffalo, which was held in March of 1997.

The sanctity of the ceremony, attended by spiritual leaders from various tribes, was shattered by the violence of rifle fire, as the DOL gunned down 14 buffalo just a few miles away.

Little Thunder left the ceremony to investigate the shots, and found DOL agents standing over the slain bison. Wishing to pay the animals respect and send them into the next world properly, she approached the carcasses and began to pray. Rosalie was arrested for criminal trespass.

To Little Thunder and other tribal members present, the fact that the DOL chose to shoot during the prayer ceremony was no coincidence. "They shot the buffalo because we were at that place on that day at that time," she said.

After her release, Little Thunder and Mease decided to form a group that would maintain constant vigilance on the frontlines, performing nonviolent direct action and documenting every move made against the buffalo. The Buffalo Field Campaign has grown out of this vision. Little Thunder has since left the organization to focus on tribal organizing around the buffalo, demanding that Native Americans be given a voice in management decisions affecting the herd. The BFC remains committed to helping ensure the Native perspective is honored.

The following story was told to me by Scott Frazier, a Santee/Crow who advises us on spiritual matters concerning the buffalo and Indian peoples. It illustrates the genesis of the sacred human/buffalo relationship and the original sacrifice the buffalo made for the humans.

The story begins after the world was formed but the people live in the world. The buffaloes were sacred and we tended them. We fed them a food that was like clouds. The life we had was sacred but some of the people wanted to see what lay outside the tunnel to the surface. One of those who decided to go up the tunnel was named To ka hey, "the first one." He went to the surface to look around. He came back with wonderful stories. The people were curious but decided not to let on that they were going to the surface. Seven families left. Soon the buffaloes realized what had happened. They went to the surface. What they saw made them sad: the people had nothing to eat, they were cold, without shelter. The buffaloes decided that though the people had been foolish, they would go to the surface to help the people. The buffaloes knew that if they went to the surface they could not return to the life they knew within the earth. The buffaloes gave up their life within the earth so that the people could have food, clothing, and shelter. What they did was holy.

One of the greatest travesties concerning the current slaughter is the absence of Native Americans from decisions affecting the buffalo. The influence of the cattle baron is heard loud and clear, while the Native voice falls on deaf ears. To the Western cattle rancher, the cow represents an economic interest and way of life that are barely a hundred years old. To Native Americans, the buffalo represents the essence of their social, cultural, and spiritual identity going back thousands of years. That the tribes have been absent from the table while the ranchers and politicians decide the fate of the buffalo reflects both the lack of wisdom and the utter disrespect of those in charge.