With honey lavender lattes in hand, two Lakȟóta wíŋyaŋ sat down to delve into the complexities of Buffalo restoration amidst a cattle industry on reservations in South Dakota.
As a young girl, I saw the Buffalo within the pages of Paul Goble books, whilst spread across the satisfyingly old wooden floors of Prairie Edge, a Lakota trading post, located in Rapid City, South Dakota. Although the Buffalo were an illustration on a thick matte page, I felt a connection that I couldn’t understand at the time. I had been spoken to about the significance of the Buffalo, but it led me to question as to why there were not more of them. This was my first memory of being told of the significance of our Pte Oyate.
Little did I know, that around this same moment in time, there was a Lakȟóta girl on the Cheyenne River Reservation upstate, who years later would have a monumental impact on awakening the obligation to the Buffalo in my own spirit. Elsie DuBray is a fierce advocate for Buffalo amongst the Lakȟóta people, who has had a life-long connection to them through being raised on a Buffalo ranch alongside her family in Cheyenne River, South Dakota. I owe much of my passion for this to being lit and nurtured through her continuous work and hope in restoring the relationship between the Lakȟóta people and the Pte Oyate.
Growing up on a Buffalo Ranch, it was here that she learned from and interacted with the sacred relatives - tȟatȟáŋka. Elsie’s first introduction to food sovereignty was in this corner of the world, where she has since weaved her passion into her academic career at Stanford University. DuBray graduated from Stanford University in the spring of 2023 with a B.A. in Human Biology and is now pursuing a master’s at Stanford.
The piercing land of the Cheyenne River Reservation holds childhood nostalgia that DuBray describes as foundational of who she is today. The rolling hills are scattered with scrub oaks, chokecherry bushes, juneberry bushes, and wild plum trees, where DuBray has known kinship.
Elsie was around the age of ten, when her and her misúŋ (younger brother) raised an orphan Buffalo calf. DuBray would like to preface that this is not how the Lakota usually interact with the Buffalo, nor is she encouraging this specific type of relationship to them. This is her own unique experience – hence one should not attempt to pet the Buffalo.
On a sunny evening in the spring, where the air is fresh from a light rain. She lays on the damp earth with the Buffalo calf, named Louie, where she glided her hand along the curly brown coat of the calf. The rays of warmth provided a lulling blanket that left the calf sleeping on her lap. When Elsie attempted to stand, he sprawled his little legs out urging her to stay there in that moment. In a way, Elsie has since remained in this memory, reflecting on how it shaped her view of the bond between self and Buffalo.
“To be loved by one of those Buffalo myself was something that I will never forget the feeling of.”
In being able to form a friendship with this Buffalo calf, Elsie’s appreciation deepened for the social and emotional layers that the Buffalo are. “They're not just these creatures roaming around on the plains, they have a very complex social structure and organization.”
“I’ve heard stories my dad has told of the ceremonies that they hold for themselves; he's been able to witness the ways in which they communicate.”
Growing up on a cattle and horse ranch, I shared my own experience with raising a calf – an orphan from a cattle herd. His name was Hope and to this day is still on my Até’s ranch. As a young girl I would nurture him and through this act was first able to understand the kinship we have to our animal relatives.
“I used to take him on walks miles and miles down the country roads. He wore earmuffs. We both enjoyed these strolls.” I fondly reflected. “I understand that connection – but in a different way.”
“I obviously don't have the same experience with you as buffalo but in being Lakȟóta, we have that innate connection to them. We're born with it and our spirits yearn for it constantly. Your stance is so important and I’m so thankful that you exist Elsie.”
This leads to the overarching critique of modern-day Buffalo reintroduction: the cattle dilemma. It is not my intention to make this a discussion of which must go – more so an envisionment of what is possible for the Lakota people in tribal sovereignty, food sovereignty, ecological conservation, and cultural upkeeping, and where to productively go from where we stand today.
DuBray understands that there's a socio-political history that has led reservations to the moment that they’re at now, the past several decades, and the past couple centuries of cattle ranching in our communities.
“Cattle are not in our creation story.” - DuBray
These words, when I first heard them, rattled me to my core. I cannot say that it was in a negative way, but rather a powerful one which addresses how colonialism is not bound to a certain race. DuBray states that the existence of cattle brought by Europeans has formed a centuries deep pride in association with them over Buffalo. It is difficult to combat pride, especially when cattle ranching has been used as a mechanism to sustain through the economic burdens of reservation life and assimilation. In fact, cattle have been one way that the Lakȟóta people have attempted to assimilate to survive colonial food systems, embracing a lifestyle that could still be associated with their culture. DuBray delves into this history deeply in her thesis, “Tatanka Awicagli na Mahpiya Ile Win: An Intergenerational Story of Buffalo Restoration and Lakota Futures.”
“In the very privileged experience that I've had, where I've gotten to grow up with Buffalo my whole life, it's really easy to be critical about cattle ranches and to think everyone should have Buffalo.”
DuBray goes on to reveal that her recent years she has developed a compassion towards this history and the physical manifestations it takes today, such as cattle ranching. For her, a lot of things began to click when she learned of how cattle ranching came to be on our reservations.
“As a little girl that's what I thought before I realized that it's not accessible to be a Buffalo rancher in a lot of ways: financially, land wise, and politically.
There is a heavy incentivization within reservations in South Dakota to promote cattle ranching over Buffalo ranching. In DuBray’s opinion, our tribal governments could make a monumental impact on the fight for sovereignty if they were to address this stigma. In my opinion, we must not run from the truth that Buffalo are still associated with the sovereignty of the Lakȟóta, which is why many do not want them to return. There is strength in numbers.
It is highly critical to takeaway that we are not calling for the eradication of cattle nor are we asking for cattle ranchers to sell them immediately and drop their lifestyle. However, DuBray will, until her final breath, call for a mindset shift. I personally, have had monumental revelations with my own mindset and being firm in what it means to be Lakȟóta.
“I urge that we do not continue to prioritize the extractive, land violence, body violence, economic violence, and cultural violence that the cattle industry is.”
We go on to discuss that those of us who had an independent experience within cattle ranching are not perpetuating harm. This is not a shame narrative we are trying to put forth. I can particularly speak to this as someone who grew up on a cattle ranch for her entire life. My experience is my own and I can still honor this lifestyle while calling for a change that will positively impact my people.
DuBray offers, “For our people to be able to continue to live on our homelands, to live in some sort of way that is connected to land, that is connected to something bigger than ourselves, that is connected to other beings, we had cattle. There was a lot of intentionality that went behind how we tried to relate to cattle in the absence of Buffalo, but there are ways that that can never be the same.”
Looking forward, a deep understanding needs to transpire for Buffalo restoration on our reservations in specific. There isn’t a hybrid system that can replace that positionality of the Buffalo in Lakȟóta culture and way of being. There is a distinct relationship to the Buffalo, that cattle cannot be morphed to resemble, and we shouldn’t attempt to do so. It really is a straightforward as Elsie puts it, “Cattle are not in our creation story.”
“There's no way to change the very origin of our creation of who we are. And that relationship because we are one and the same. And for that reason, cattle can never be Buffalo and will never be part of the solution in the way that Buffalo can be, that I believe Buffalo can be for our communities.”
At this current time, it is not realistic for everyone to own and operate Buffalo ranches.
DuBray urges that we must question where the perspective of pro-cattle comes from, which is colonialism. To which it is no moral failing of our own, but a complex history of indoctrination. Our people did what they needed to do to survive, but we are entering an era of sovereignty that hasn’t been experienced since pre-colonialism. We have the liberation to reflect on what our people need now to heal.
“To me, what Buffalo have the opportunity to do for us and what they have always done for us is an opportunity to heal.” DuBray states, emphasizing that healing is what all parties need.
“I'm not interested in how we can restrict or how we can take away or how we can criticize cattle. I'm interested in how we can elevate, encourage, and empower our communities and make space for ideologies surrounding Buffalo reclamation and revitalization.”
When we as a people start prioritizing the positive aspects that are to come with communityoriented action, we will no longer have to hyper-fixate on the current tensions. Wówauŋšila towards one another, even if we come from different upbringings, class dynamics, perspectives, and beliefs is progressive progress. Compassion – wówauŋšila is one of our sacred values as Lakȟóta people, and after Elsie and I’s open conversation, I believe that now more than ever we need to enact in on a communal level. DuBray mentions that in the Lakota language, there’s different Lakȟóta words for, to know and to understand, both used in different ways. People can know about the significance of Buffalo, but until they understand we will continue the same cycle.
DuBray and I lastly discussed how each of us are born with a gift that we are obligated to use for the betterment of our community. Elsie feels as though her experience with the tȟatȟáŋka, she is serving her community on advocating for this mindset shift towards Buffalo restoration. “I'm using my gifts in a way that is my responsibility to my people. And that's why people hear me.”
Philámayayapi for reading this with an open heart.
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