Their dark eyes glint beneath heavy brows, breath rising in clouds against the dawn. Each hoof step on the prairie is both ancient and new as the ever-evolving story of the bison unfolds.
The bison—Bison bison—are North America’s great survivors, the largest land mammals on the continent today. Once numbering in the tens of millions, they roamed from Alaska to Mexico, shaping entire ecosystems with their grazing patterns. Their wallows created microhabitats for wildflowers, insects, and birds, while their hooves churned the soil, spreading seeds and rejuvenating the grasslands.
But the story of the bison stretches far deeper into time. Their lineage reaches back more than two million years. Fossils of ancestral species such as Bison priscus, the steppe bison are found across the Pleistocene strata of North America, Europe, and Asia.
In places like Natural Trap Cave in Wyoming, Rancho La Brea in California, and the Old Crow Basin in Yukon, their bones tell stories of migration, climate change, and resilience.
When the last Ice Age faded, Bison antiquus evolved into the modern plains and wood bison we know today.
For thousands of years, Indigenous Peoples have lived in relationship with these animals—honouring them as a source of food, clothing, tools, and shelter—and as sacred relatives.
For many Plains Nations, the bison are central to Creation stories and cultural teachings, symbolizing abundance, respect, and balance with the natural world.
Every part of the animal is used, and ceremonies of gratitude ensure the cycle of life continues in harmony.
Bison are once again returning to their ancestral lands. Through restoration projects and conservation efforts across North America, herds now graze protected grasslands and reserves.
Restoration Projects in North America
In Canada, my home, we have both caribou and Bison Restoration Projects ongoing:Poundmaker Cree Nation (Saskatchewan)
Poundmaker Cree Nation reintroduced plains bison (Bison bison bison) to their traditional territory in 2019.
The herd represents both cultural renewal and food sovereignty, reconnecting community members to traditional practices and ceremonies involving the buffalo.
Tsuut’ina Nation (Alberta)
The Tsuut’ina Nation has long maintained a strong relationship with bison, working to conserve prairie grasslands and re-establish herds that support ecological balance and cultural revitalization. Their herd is used for both ceremonial and educational purposes.
Łutsel K’e Dene First Nation (Northwest Territories)
Łutsel K’e Dene Guardians work alongside Parks Canada to protect the Atsabya tué, or wood bison, Bison bison athabascae, populations within and around Thaidene Nëné National Park Reserve—an Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area (IPCA).
Piikani Nation & Kainai (Blood Tribe), Blackfoot Confederacy (Alberta)
Members of the Blackfoot Confederacy are deeply involved in the Iinnii Initiative, an international partnership to restore iinnii (bison) to their ancestral range on both sides of the US–Canada border. Their work reconnects land, language, ceremony, and ecological stewardship.
Saulteau and West Moberly First Nations (British Columbia)
These Nations co-lead the Klinse-Za Caribou and Bison Restoration initiatives in the Peace Region. Their conservation leadership helped bring the local wood bison population back from near extinction through habitat protection and collaborative management.
Our neighbours to the south in Montana, South Dakota and Wyoming are making considerable restoration efforts. To all who are doing this important work, I raise my hands in thanks.
