Buffalo are a key species for the environment and Indigenous communities. The Tanka Fund is an Indigenous led-nonprofit organization based in South Dakota that works with Indigenous ranchers across the country to return buffalo to their lands.
Our Living Lands Producer Daniel Spaulding spoke with Dawn Sherman, the executive director of the Tanka Fund and a member of the Lakota, Shawnee, and Delaware tribes about the importance of returning buffalo to Indigenous land.
“By returning the buffalo, you revitalize the culture, right?” Sherman said. “So bringing that back brings all of that connection back that we had with the buffalo, and that's that's our role. We're stewards to the buffalo who are the voiceless and giving them the voice."
