Buffalo Field Campaign
North America's Last Wild Buffalo
Need Your Help Today!
Stephany Seay
Please raise your voice, join buffalo advocates on the front lines, tell your friends, and learn about all the ways you can help America's last wild buffalo: http://www.BuffaloFieldCampaign.org
Established in 1872, Yellowstone National Park - the first national park in the U.S. and across the world and recognized globally as a World Heritage Site - was created, in part, to protect the last remaining wild buffalo to survive the tragic U.S. sanctioned government slaughter of the 1800s. Located in what is now Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho, Yellowstone is home to incredible thermal features, such as Old Faithful, deep river gorges like the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, diverse plant communities, and a large variety of wildlife including grizzly bears, wolves, elk, and the last continuously wild population of American buffalo - the only buffalo that have continued to exist on their native habitat since prehistoric times. Yellowstone's boundaries, however, are man-made and do not reflect the needs of most wildlife, making Yellowstone an incomplete ecosystem. Many of the animals that utilize the lands within Yellowstone must leave the Park's boundaries to survive the seasons and their life cycles. Yellowstone National Park is celebrated the world over, as are t round Yellowstone, there are hardly any cattle that graze in the area at all, yet millions of U.S. tax dollars are spent every year to harm, harass and kill native wild buffalo to appease the unfounded fears and selfish interests of the livestock industry.
Wild buffalo are the only bovine native to North America, they are strong survivors and they are the rightful roamers of these vast lands. Cattle do not belong here on the buffalo's land. Native prairies and grasslands ecosystems need wild buffalo in order to be healthy. First Nations buffalo cultures also need wild buffalo in order to be strong. The return of wild buffalo throughout their native range is a highly positive thing, but the cattle industry and U.S. government are trying to prevent the integral restoration of wild American buffalo throughout the lands that have been their home for hundreds of thousands of years. There are others working to ensure their survival, striving for a world in which wild buffalo once again freely roam throughout their native range.
Buffalo Field Campaign (BFC) is one such friend of wild buffalo. BFC is "everyone, everywhere who cares about wild buffalo." We are a Montana-based group recognized throughout the world, and we are committed to ensuring a strong future for the American buffalo, one that respects their wild, migratory nature, their important ecological role, and their integral relationship to First Nations buffalo cultures. Co-founded by videographer/activist Mike Mease, and Lakota Elder Rosalie Little Thunder, BFC started in 1997 and is held together by a team of hardworking volunteers that oppose the harassment and slaughter of these last herds of free-roaming bison in the United States.
Since 2000 over 3,700 bison that have followed their natural migratory instincts have been senselessly killed by Yellowstone National Park, the State of Montana, and other government agencies. Montana's powerful cattle industry currently holds zero tolerance for wild bison, due to unfounded fears and deeply rooted prejudices.
BFC runs daily field patrols to monitor the migration of wild bison; we stand with the buffalo document all actions taken against these majestic, prehistoric animals by state and federal governments. BFC volunteers stand witness for the buffalo, using video and photography, as well as our intimate stories, to help tell their current story. We strive to build a strong advocacy that will create positive change for wild buffalo. BFC is the world's leading news source for the wild bison of Yellowstone, sharing our photos, footage and eye-witness stories with the media, politicians, decision-makers, scientists, and the public, to create awareness and build a strong advocacy for wild American buffalo. BFC is the only group working in the field, every day, in defense of the last continuously wild population of buffalo in America. In addition to our field presence, BFC uses our unique perspective and powerful media images to engage in many activities to help the buffalo including legislation to protect wild bison, efforts to recognize the American buffalo as an endangered species in the U.S., participation in the public process, litigation to stop harming wild buffalo, and education and outreach.
We aim to understand things from a wild buffalo's perspective and advocate on their behalf with what we learn from them. Wild buffalo challenge modern thought patters and force us to contemplate concepts of what it means to be wild and free. In our work to help defend America's last wild buffalo, we learn from them and, indeed, it is the buffalo who will in the end save us from ourselves.
To the buffalo, We Give thanks......
We give thanks that there are still wild buffalo walking the Earth. Buffalo that still follow their migratory instincts and still carry the integral wisdom of the ancients that does not bend or bow to human fences, boundaries, or prejudice. We give thanks for the wild buffalo's instincts to simply place one foot in front of the other and walk the land, regardless of government plans; a drive so deeply rooted in their time before time that man's shallow greed has not yet taken this from them. We give thanks that buffalo still roam, confounding certain humans' selfishly inflicted consequences. We give thanks for the last remaining buffalo that found shelter in Yellowstone's remote Pelican Valley barely 150 years ago; the twenty-three that were all that was left of tens of millions, who ensured the survival and wild integrity of their prehistoric kind. We give thanks that buffalo have biologically withstood diseases brought by invasive cattle, their blood building resistance to the dark gifts from these bovine invaders. We give thanks that it is still possible to look into the eyes of a wild buffalo and remember a time we forgot we once knew, and dream of its return. We give thanks that the land cries out for the return of wild buffalo, welcoming their homecoming when the hearts of humans open to the drumming of the buffalos' footsteps, and the land is again shared, healed and whole with the presence of wild buffalo.
We give thanks for the abundance of snow that has been falling, snow that brings the life giving waters when the sun waxes and the rivers run fast and deep through the veins of the mountains and out to the sea. Bittersweet this gift, as the buffalo will also flow with the deepening snow, and this is as it should be, and though we know harm awaits them, we celebrate their life force and give thanks that they continue in their wild ways despite the obstacles. We give thanks for the persistence, resistance, and endurance of wild buffalo.he wild American buffalo who live there; they are the last wild population in the world that has continuously roamed since prehistoric times and the last buffalo population to hold their identity as a wildlife species (the only buffalo without cattle genes). But instead of being protected and respected, these sacred buffalo are instead in grave and constant danger. Today they remain ecologically extinct throughout their native historic range. This migratory species, the largest land mammal in North America, once roamed nearly 70 million strong across most of the North American continent. Sadly, today, there are fewer than 4,500 wild buffalo left, all residing in and around Yellowstone National Park, making this population not
just a world treasure, but one in need of great protection.
Wild buffalo are a migratory species, meaning that they move across the landscape with the changing seasons, weather patterns, food availability, and other herd needs. Yellowstone provided sanctuary for them nearly 150 years ago, and they are indeed native to these lands and all that surrounds it, but Yellowstone is not the true heart of their home range. Yellowstone is located on a high plateau, making winters long and harsh with deep snow and freezing temperatures. Like other wildlife, bison must migrate to lower elevation in order to survive and to find suitable calving grounds. Currently, the last wild buffalo find these lower elevation lands within Montana, a state who's powerful cattle industry does not welcome buffalo, but aims to harm them. As unwise as allowing the fox to guard the hen house, so to speak, the interests of Montana's cattle industry currently dictates the lives of America's last wild buffalo. Cattle ranchers claim that they fear buffalo might transmit brucellosis to their livestock, but this fear is unfounded, and indeed unlikely to manifest, as there has never been a case of a wild buffalo giving brucellosis to cattle. Further, cattle are from Europe and Asia, they are not native to North America, and they brought this disease with them when they were brought to this country. There are other wildlife, such as elk and deer, that also carry brucellosis, but wild buffalo are the only animals treated so harshly. Though, beware, Montana's livestock interests are beginning to turn their sites upon elk as well! The truth is, the cattle industry benefits from the absence of wild buffalo - though the land greatly suffers. Ranchers do not want anything eating "their" grass but cattle. They want to control native ungulate populations like bison and elk in order to fatten their cattle. Ranchers fear the return of the buffalo; they would rather keep buffalo away and let their cattle eat the grass instead, no matter the multitude of costs.
We give thanks for those who hear the call of the wild buffalo. We are grateful for the volunteers who come from around the globe to defend the buffalo, joining us for the first time, or coming back again year after year. We give thanks for everyone everywhere who cares about wild buffalo and celebrates their wildness and takes action for their right to roam. We give thanks to all of you who make it possible for us to be here standing with the last wild buffalo, bearing witness, sharing their story. We give thanks for the realization that long-term perseverance and passion-turned-action will bring the necessary change we all seek. We give thanks that the status quo that harms the buffalo and the land is an unsustainable and temporary thing in the grand theater of life on earth. We give thanks that there is still time to act, though the time is short, and act we must. We give thanks for the elders who guide us with experience and wisdom and for the flame of passion that burns within the hearts and minds of the youth; for the combined energy and power we hold in our hands to save us from ourselves, and learn to be more like the buffalo. We give thanks for the lessons the buffalo teach us about family, solidarity, fearlessness, abundance, resolve, gentle strength, coexistence, following our instincts without compromise, non-violence and the simplicity of the solutions right before our eyes. We give thanks for the hope and vision of a life for buffalo in which they thrive within their inherent wildness, for a world in
which buffalo and all other native wildlife are given precedence on public land, and that buffalo herds will remain as a self-regulating sustainable population, and a viable genetic source for their future
evolutionary potential.
We give thanks ~ everyday ~ for the wild buffalo that remain and for each and every one of you who cares about buffalo and makes the work of Buffalo Field Campaign possible.
Learn more and help keep BFC on the front lines at: http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org
Media & Outreach
Buffalo Field Campaign
P.O. Box 957
West Yellowstone, MT 59758
406-646-0070
bfc-media@wildrockies.org
http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org
Stay informed! Get our weekly email Updates from the Field:
Send your email address to bfc-media@wildrockies.org
> * View BFC Video Footage:
http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org
> * Why are they killing the last wild buffalo?
http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org/issueinbrief.html
> * Buffalo Field Campaign Blog
http://www.blog.buffalofieldcampaign.org
> * Protect Horse Butte for Wild Buffalo!
http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org/legal/horsebutte.html
> * BOYCOTT BEEF! It's what's killing wild buffalo
http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org/actnow/boycott.html
> * Speak Out! Contact politicians and involved agencies today:
http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org/actnow/politicians.html
> * Write a Letter to the Editor of key newspapers:
http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org/actnow/lte.html
> * BFC Wish List
http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org/aboutus/wishlist.html
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