Tragic History

Overview- Dry lands and droughts forced buffalo and native people to the same scarce land; the first real buffalo outbreak. Then, when colonists came they saw an opportunity to damage Indian and buffalo populations.

• Major population depletions occurred from 1867-1884
• The most buffalo killed in a single year ranged from four to five million
• By 1884 the population neared 0, the only remains were bones which were ultimately turned into fertilizer the settlers used bought and sold. 

Indians and colonists wars​- During the Indian wars in the late 1800’s, colonists quickly came to the realization of the symbolic relationship between buffalo and the native Americans. The buffalo opposed a threat due to there resource availability revolving native Americans, you get rid of the buffalo, then you get rid of the Indians. 

• Military commanders were given a full license to kill buffalo for war efforts
• from 1830-1885, soldiers and hunters killed more than 40 million buffalo

​​Military commanders were given a full license to kill buffalo for war efforts, and from 1830-1885, soldiers and hunters killed more than 40 million buffalo U.S. officials actively encouraged extermination of buffalo as a military tactic to break Indigenous resistance and force assimilation.

• Buffalo hunters were paid by the hide—not the meat—leading to fields littered with rotting carcasses.
  
  
• Trains were used for “sport shooting” buffalo from the windows, leaving trails of dead animals across the plains.
  
  
• Indigenous people described watching buffalo die as watching “the end of the world.” The mass slaughter represented a cultural erasure—as buffalo vanished, so did language, ceremonies, and traditional lifeways tied to them.
  
  
• Survivors remember the trauma not just in numbers but in the silence that followed—the absence of thunderous herds that once shaped the land. The destruction of buffalo herds was a turning point in colonial domination, signaling the collapse of the Plains Nations’ independence.
  
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Present Stats

Overview – After nearing extinction, the American buffalo is now a renewal destination. Through heavy support from tribal communities, government agencies, and environmental groups, population numbers are slowly being restored and protected.

• Present day, nearly 20,000 bison roam freely across the plains in herds, with over 500,000 buffalo in controlled herds across North America.
  
  
• Numerous tribes have joined the InterTribal Buffalo Council, which helps return bison to Native lands for cultural and recreational purposes.
  
  
• Yellowstone remains home to the largest wild bison population, which now soars over 5,000, with the Buffalo population surfacing around 5,400. 
  
  

Conservation impact – Buffalo and bison are being reintroduced and adapted to grasslands to help restore our natural environment, control the population of invasive species, and increase biodiversity.

• Federal initiatives and wildlife nonprofits continue to expand population diversity by protecting pure-bred bison from extinction or reduced population efforts.
  
  

Buffalo and bison reintroduction is also a symbol of healing and resilience for Indigenous communities working to reconnect with their heritage, as well as the communities harmed from the initial removal of this sacred bond years ago. 

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