Eastern Shoshone Tribe celebrates return of buffalo

WIND RIVER INDIAN RESERVATION, Wyo. — The men stood by the edge of the corral to mark the release of the first buffalo to run on the Wind River Indian Reservation in decades.

The sound of their drums mixed with their voices lifted in song and the 10 buffalo shifted nervously before finally they bolted and ran out onto the grassy plain.

The buffaloes’ first free steps on the reservation on Thursday marked a homecoming that’s been decades in the making for members of the Eastern Shoshone Tribe.

Leslie Shakespeare, a member of the Eastern Shoshone Business Council, the tribe’s governing body, watched the buffalo move through the tall, parched yellow grass. “It’s very surreal, just seeing them released and seeing them run across the field here,” he said. “Seeing everybody’s emotions — a lot of people are real emotional.”

It’s been more than a century since buffalo wandered here, tribal members say. The federal government oversaw the extermination of enormous herds of buffalo in the late 1800s.

Jason Baldes, coordinator of the buffalo restoration effort for the Eastern Shoshone, said in a recent interview that the federal government encouraged the wanton slaughter of the buffalo after the cavalry’s defeat in 1876 at the Battle of Little Bighorn.

The 10 buffalo released Thursday are from a genetically pure strain the federal government maintains on a refuge in Iowa. The National Wildlife Federation and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have worked with the Eastern Shoshone on the restoration project.

Baldes said he hopes to see the buffalo released on Thursday ultimately lead to a herd of at least 1,000 animals.