Buffalo Bridge
Bridging cultures by keeping traditions alive in the Yellowstone wild buffalo hunt
About the buffalo
Less than 200 years ago, 60 million buffalo roamed the country. Their grazing patterns maintained the integrity of our native grasslands. They recycled nutrients back into the soil with every step, planting seeds, fertilizing and watering as the herds migrated over the prairies. Their wallows created much needed prairie lakes and ponds with precious freshwater ecosystems. They provided food and shelter for innumerable species, from frogs and lizards to antelope and beetles. The buffalo were one of the most important keystone species in the ecology of the plains, often referred to as "large scale ecological engineers."
How we help
Buffalo Bridge is a completely self-funded, zero profit camp that is dedicated to helping Tribal Buffalo hunters during the Yellowstone hunts, if and when they need it. Historically, tribes would have had many more members present to assist with the harvest of meat, hides, entrails, bones, skulls, and everything else in a buffalo. Now, with limited hunters and limited time frames, the Buffalo Bridge crew can offer physical labor to help with gutting, skinning, quartering and hauling buffalo harvests. We don’t expect anything in return. We are honored by this opportunity to learn about buffalo, buffalo cultures, ancestral skills relating to buffalo, as well as the underrated skills of connection and cooperation across cultures. We are there to offer our hands and our hearts.
Practicing our skills
Buffalo Bridge seeks to honor Buffalo Cultures by remembering the traditions of the Buffalo People who have been living with and hunting buffalo since time immemorial. We wish to celebrate the sophistication, ingenuity, and resilience of these Old Ways of living and being. We also recognize that these specific tribal traditions are not our own, and we think that it’s important to re-imagine our own ways of connecting with the land we now call home, inspired by our own ancestor’s relationships with megafauna. Often times, tribal families will gift us parts of their harvest that they will not be using, including heads, hides, organs, and offal. Through anthropological, ethnographical and archeological research, learning from world class masters, and using creativity, we have been blessed with a unique opportunity to practice traditional uses of every part of the animal. The sheer volume of buffalo parts that we have received gives us the ability to continue the deepening of our learnings, honing our techniques over many years.
