BLACKFEET INDIAN RESERVATION, MONTANA, AND BEYOND

To the Blackfeet people, or Niitsitapi, bison are known as iinnii, a word that suggests more than just wildlife—also relatives, teachers, providers. The tribe’s first iinnii were transferred from a Canadian national park a decade ago, descendants of a wild herd once captured in Blackfeet territory. The vision was not only to maintain a herd as a sacred resource, for meat and hides, but also to release a small number, helping restore a wild population.

It’s a plan few other tribes have the land to support, says Ervin Carlson, director of the Blackfeet Buffalo Program. The tribe also negotiated agreements permitting bison to range beyond reservation boundaries and into Glacier and Canada’s neighboring Waterton Lakes National Park. But upon their initial release in 2023, several animals quickly wandered onto private ranchlands, sparking ranchers’ concerns about competition with grazing cattle, so the free-roaming iinnii were rounded up and re-penned.

More: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/.../wonders-america...

Image: https://blackfeetbison.com/