The Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes in Oklahoma, in partnership with Collaborative Earth and Mad Agriculture, are working to restore native grasslands and supporting tribal food sovereignty through regenerative bison grazing. The initiative—the Cheyenne and Arapaho Bison Project—aims to integrate Indigenous knowledge, environmental science, and market innovation to develop a replicable management model for other producers.

Collaborative Earth’s work with the tribes began three years ago. “We wanted to bring together the tribes’ buffalo project with leading ecologists to study how buffalo management practices affect the prairie ecosystem and the climate,” Aaron Hirsh, the Organizational Lead at Collaborative Earth, tells Food Tank. “We devised a plan to try to regenerate the prairie around buffalo reintroduction, while documenting the effects very rigorously.”

Bison are a keystone species that have long been central to the culture, spirituality and economy of the Plains Indigenous people.

“The Cheyenne and Arapaho People’s relationship with the buffalo is a sacred relationship, sacred honoring during annual Cheyenne ceremonies and Arapaho Ceremonies,” Gordon Yellowman, the Tribal Historian in the Department of Language and Culture for the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes, tells Food Tank. “Our sacred relationship honors the Past, Present and Future (prosperity) [and] this sacred relationship is much deeper than buffalo ranching operations.”

But Westward expansion and American military operations nearly drove buffalo to extinction, reducing an estimated 30 million animals to a few hundred animals by 1866, according to the Department of the Interior. The World Wildlife Fund reports that the bison population has rebounded to nearly half a million, largely guided by the work of Native Nations.

The Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes have long managed a bison herd for cultural and food purposes. But over time, overgrazing and parasites increasingly plagued the herd as their grazing area diminished, according to Mad Agriculture. The project will redevelop nearly 20,000 acres of land and will focus on improving grazing practices to support overall land health.

Read the full article about regenerative bison grazing by Sara Sherburne at Food Tank.