Overview:
National Bison Day recognizes an animal central to Indigenous culture and survival, as Tribal Nations continue efforts to restore buffalo herds, revitalize traditional food systems and strengthen tribal sovereignty.
Today is National Bison Day in the United States, observed annually on the first Saturday in November. The day honors an animal deeply revered by Tribal Nations — one that has sustained Indigenous peoples for generations, providing nutritious food, clothing, tools and materials for ceremonial and cultural practices.
In 2016, the American bison was designated the national mammal of the United States. Before westward expansion and mass slaughter decimated their populations, an estimated 60 million bison roamed North America, with the largest herds concentrated across what is now the central United States.
For generations, Native Americans throughout the Great Plains and other bison territories depended on the buffalo for virtually every aspect of life. The animal provided sustenance, supported tribal economies and held profound cultural and spiritual significance.
But that relationship was violently disrupted. By 1889, commercial hunting and government-backed eradication efforts had brought bison to the brink of extinction. Their near disappearance devastated Indigenous communities, disrupted traditional ways of life and contributed to the degradation of grassland ecosystems.
Today, Tribal Nations are helping lead the effort to reverse that history. Through conservation, herd restoration and Indigenous food sovereignty programs, tribes are bringing buffalo back to their lands — restoring not only an animal but also cultural connections, traditional food systems and an important part of their sovereignty.
“The American bison is inextricably intertwined with Indigenous culture, grassland ecology and American history. While the overall recovery of bison over the last 130 years is a conservation success story, significant work remains to not only ensure that bison will remain a viable species but also to restore grassland ecosystems, strengthen rural economies dependent on grassland health and provide for the return of bison to Tribally owned and ancestral lands,” then-Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said in March 2023.
According to a report from Tribal Business News, the InterTribal Buffalo Council has transported more than 20,000 buffalo to Indian Country since its founding in 1992. As recently as 2024, approximately 25,000 buffalo lived on tribal lands, according to another Tribal Business News report.
Nationally, decades of conservation and restoration efforts have helped increase the number of wild bison in the United States from fewer than 500 to more than 15,000. The Interior Department currently manages approximately 11,000 bison in herds across 4.6 million acres of public lands in 12 states.
For Tribal Nations, however, the return of the buffalo represents far more than a conservation success. It is a restoration of relationships, traditions and food systems that were nearly destroyed. As buffalo return to tribal lands, they also help restore a measure of cultural continuity and Indigenous self-determination.
