After Centuries Of Trauma, Montana’s Blackfeet Nation Is Bringing Back Bison: ‘it’s What We Need’

The Blackfeet Nation is simply a distant and rugged scenery connected nan windswept plains of bluish Montana. While rich | successful resources, nan distant location and guidance by nan national authorities person made nutrient entree a situation here.

Only 4 market stores service nan full reservation. Fresh, patient nutrient and nutrient options are often constricted astatine these stores, and prices are higher than successful neighboring communities, making entree difficult for low–income families. Instead, highly processed foods, rich | successful sugars, carbohydrates and fat dress up nan bulk of nan nutrient choices.

Meanwhile, incidents of preventable wellness issues specified arsenic diabetes, bosom illness and lung, colorectal and kidney cancers person been supra statewide averages for much than a decade. Rates of chronic unwellness present transcend some authorities and nationalist averages, and are precocious successful comparison pinch different tribal nations crossed nan country. In summation to nan wellness concerns, nan saturation of unhealthy, processed foods and pervasive nutrient insecurity mean losing touch pinch a taste practice based connected bison and nan scenery they inhabit.

Bison astatine nan Buffalo Spirit Ranch, 1 of 3 properties nan Blackfeet people owns arsenic portion of their bison program. They move their bison herd crossed nan 3 properties depending connected nan clip of year.

For nan Blackfeet, bison are arsenic overmuch a root of nutrient arsenic they are a portion of their taste identity. Before nan bison’s extermination, their movements crossed nan plains shaped nan Blackfeet measurement of life truthful overmuch that astir 200 years later, nan organization is still grappling pinch nan generational trauma resulting from nan abrupt nonaccomplishment of these animals from nan prairie.

Recognizing these problems, nan tribal government, a assortment of non-profits and dedicated organization members decided to return action. In 2016, nan Blackfeet Nation became 1 of nan first tribal governments to instrumentality a programme that would asseverate tribal guidance complete cultivation resources wrong nan reservation, pinch nan greater extremity of establishing nutrient sovereignty and tribal self-determination.

Known arsenic an cultivation assets guidance scheme (ARMP), nan programme created by nan Blackfeet was nan first successful nan federation to beryllium built astir taste practices, and centered connected nan 5 pillars of Blackfeet values: creating sustainable economical development, strengthening taste knowledge, expanding organizational development, investing successful nan Piikani group and promoting health, treatment and nutrition.

Kim Paul, Piikani Lodge Health Institute’s executive director, astatine nan spot precocious acquired by her organization.

Now, astir a decade aft implementation, nan organization has taken nan reins. While nan tribal authorities was capable to instrumentality nan ARMP, fulfilling immoderate of nan larger goals and objectives proved to beryllium a challenge. Seeing nan request to thief instrumentality immoderate of nan aspects of nan ARMP, respective food-oriented non-profits person germinated up.

One of these non-profits is nan Piikani Lodge Health Institute (PLHI), which was established to instrumentality immoderate of nan goals of nan ARMP. It was founded by Kim Paul, whose studies successful quality metabolic systems informed really she saw nan issues of obesity and illness wrong her community. She worked to find ways to brace occidental subject pinch accepted beliefs and practices to analyse really ancestral knowledge could connection solutions.

PLHI volunteers load lodgepoles onto a trailer.

Left: Royce Mad Plume and Reese Harwood, section unit astatine PLHI, hole to raise a lodge astatine nan PLHI property. This knot is simply a cardinal constituent of nan accepted Siksikaitsitapii (the “real people”, aliases “Blackfeet speaking people”) method of erecting a lodge. Right: Lower St Mary Lake, successful nan Blackfeet Nation.

Noticing that her organization was facing immoderate of nan highest rates of chronic diseases wrong tribal nations crossed nan country, she started to wonderment if astatine slightest immoderate of that mightiness beryllium rooted successful nan abrupt displacement distant from a accepted fare of meat, berries and fats, pinch group alternatively being made to trust connected highly processed, carbohydrate-heavy government-supplied commodity foods.

Under Paul’s direction, PLHI began to scheme and instrumentality a accepted foods study to analyse biomarker responses from switching to a fare that would person been disposable to nan Amskapi Piikani earlier colonization.

PLHI interns and section unit thief Reese Harwood link nan flaps while erecting a lodge astatine nan PLHI property.

Bison and various berries, specified arsenic chokecherry and serviceberry, dress up nan bulk of nan diet, on pinch chaotic onions, chaotic carrots and immoderate chaotic potatoes. Paired pinch a baseline study, nan PLHI task enrolled volunteers to participate successful a 100-day fare to spot really their bodies would respond to nan reintroduction of accepted foods. Initial responses person been promising, but owed to rising costs and backing cuts, nan strength of humor draws and laboratory analysis, nan study had to beryllium dialed back.

PLHI has conscionable received its last laboratory results, and are anticipating being capable to quantify and people nan results successful early 2026.

Joe LaPlant, Blackfeet bison programme section staff, raises a firearm to harvest a bison from their herd.

Bison crowd successful to protect a young bull aft it was changeable for harvest by fieldworker Joe LaPlant.

Bison humor connected Chazz Racine’s hands aft sidesplitting a bull connected nan Buffalo Spirit Ranch.

In summation to non-profits for illustration PLHI, Blackfeet Community College (BCC) has started providing students pinch nan devices and abstraction to research accepted practices paired pinch modern subject to thief to make nutrient sovereignty a reality connected nan Blackfeet reservation.

Through nan Blackfeet studies program, nan Native Science Field Center and nan US Department of Agriculture (USDA) hold office, students and module astatine BCC person been capable to use modern chair subject to validate nan stories of tribal elders and to research nan roles of plants and wildlife successful Blackfeet civilization arsenic sources of nutrient and medicine.

Bison astatine nan Buffalo Spirit Ranch.

Melissa Weatherwax, caput of organization improvement astatine BCC, has been capable to leverage nan college’s land-grant position to build nan beingness infrastructure needed to activity connected these projects. “My domiciled is to supply nan opportunity for nan group doing nan work, and to ask, really should I hole you to do what you request to do?” Weatherwax said.

As students began moving to merge food, civilization and community, nan assemblage expanded its footprint by acquiring 800 acres (325 hectares) of ranch onshore abutting their campus, and has since started building connected a bison- and cattle-processing facility. The installation will beryllium nan schoolroom for students to summation nan skills and knowledge to activity successful nan meat-processing industry.

Brandon Fish (left), USDA hold technician astatine Blackfeet Community College, useful pinch intern Andrew After Buffalo to transplant rootlike starts connected nan campus’s garden. Part of nan activity being done astatine nan BCC USDA hold is aimed astatine processing farming techniques that summation output successful nan short and often harsh increasing play here.

Left: A scarecrow fresh to beryllium deployed for nan increasing play astatine nan USDA hold plot astatine BCC. Right: Newly installed star panels astatine nan tract of a early greenhouse astatine nan BCC campus. Federal backing has been captious for infrastructure projects for illustration this.

It’s thing nan people hopes to yet grow connected to afloat understand what it intends to reconnect to a buffalo-based diet. Students from nan college’s agriculture hold programme person already been utilizing nan abstraction to create techniques to thief section gardeners and mini farmers summation their output successful a ambiance pinch an exceptionally short increasing season.

Land-grant backing from nan USDA has been consistent, but it’s ne'er been capable to afloat money nan sweeping activity astatine BCC. Private donations, and different national assistance funding, person played a ample portion successful bolstering nan programming.

This year, respective grants backing BCC person been cancelled by nan Trump administration. “With this administration, we’re decidedly challenged again, and you’re seeing humanities trauma resurfacing because of each these shifts successful funding,” said Helen Augere Carlson, nan Piikani studies section chair and Title III head astatine BCC. “You tin consciousness that each clip backing gets pulled aliases is questioned for Natives.”

Left: A young kid touches 1 of nan soul stomachs of a precocious harvested bison. The tummy was and is an important nutrient root for Blackfeet people. Right: Robin Johnson, caput of cultivation outreach astatine PLHI, astatine her ranch adjacent East Glacier, Montana.

Broken treaties and surgery promises are acquainted crossed Indian country. “You don’t get disconnected nan hook for breaking a treaty,” Carlson said. But, done these difficulties, nan ngo persists, Carlson said: “Education is truthful powerful. It’s what we need, to person this programming that heals us.”

Economic prosperity and financial information besides play a ample domiciled successful nan difficulties of restoring nutrient sovereignty to nan Blackfeet Nation, and ranching is cardinal to both.

Most beef produced location – from astir 60,000 animals per twelvemonth – ends up being sold connected nan nationalist commodity market. Four companies ain astir 80% of nan beef provender tons and processing operations successful nan country, making it difficult to support money generated from Blackfeet beef connected nan reservation.

Wheat stubble connected farmlands owned by a Hutterite colony adjacent Browning, Montana. Complications stemming from national guidance of preservation lands person fixed extracurricular groups specified arsenic nan Hutterites an advantage successful purchasing farmlands wrong nan reservation’s boundaries.

Robin Johnson, a cattle rancher who is besides caput of cultivation outreach astatine PLHI, has been keenly alert of these difficulties. After seeing nan marketplace go consolidated and really that affected her bottommost line, she began to scope retired to cattle buyers straight to trim retired nan middleman. But that’s not ever an action for smaller ranches. One solution nan organization is considering is simply a tribally owned processing facility. “It would wholly put nan rebar successful our nutrient strategy present astatine home,” Paul said. “We nutrient a batch of beef for America.”

Andrew After Buffalo loads a bison enarthrosis into a mobile processing trailer astatine BCC. BCC acquired this trailer arsenic portion of an inaugural to thief train tribal members to activity successful nan meat-processing industry.

A bison hide is fresh to beryllium preserved. Students successful nan Piikani connection programme astatine BCC learned astir humanities practices and nan taste value of bison during a position astatine nan assemblage successful June of 2025.

Treyace Yellow Owl holds a bison bosom extracurricular of nan bison and cattle processing installation presently nether building astatine BCC. The triangle style of nan bosom is salient successful Blackfeet designs.

Challenges persist, and location isn’t a elemental solution to overcoming nan hundreds of years of trauma and nan difficult realities of preservation life. But nan Blackfeet Nation has managed to activity proactively, and from a position of strength, to find long-term, sustainable solutions to problems stemming from nan disparities created by nan preservation system.

“Trauma, we’ve had truthful much, and it still continues, nan deficiency of jobs, nan deficiency of infrastructure, nan hopelessness,” Paul said, “but we want to move that astir here.”

A hawk flies past an aged location connected nan PLHI property.

Aaron Agosto is simply a freelance photographer based successful Bigfork, Montana. He has been photographing life successful nan American westbound since 2020