history of buffalo bridge

buffalo bridge was started by harmony cronin of 'gathering ways' 13 years ago with the primary goal of assisting tribal hunters with the annual buffalo hunt. this is a time of great importance - and stress - for the hunters, and the crew of buffalo bridge is there to support in any way they can. be it with transporting the harvest, skinning, quartering, or any other processing they need. sometimes the hunters need it, sometimes they don't, and that's fine. it is all done for free, with no expectation of any kind of repayment.

native tribes only regained their right to hunt buffalo in 2005, after nearly 200 years of the western expansion, boarding schools, and the almost eradication of the buffalo. this is only after providing evidence of treaty law that demonstrates this right to hunt buffalo. some of these treaty laws read, word for word, "as long as grass grows and water flows in the rivers, we may hunt buffalo". only a handful of tribes are currently recognized as having treaty law to hunt, and many others are still trying to plead their cases.

the way the hunt works is as follows. every year, the buffalo migrate from the boundaries of yellowstone national park, to outside of the park. immediately as they are exiting the boundary of the park, the state has what is referred to as "the trap". the trap is a large corral where the buffalo are lured in with hay, and subsequently either shipped off to slaughter, or a couple are sent to tribes outside of the state to begin new herds. if the buffalo walk past the trap, they will walk through what is called "the killing fields". the killing field is a stretch of less than a quarter of a mile, where tribal hunters are legally allowed to hunt the buffalo. yes, less than a quarter of a mile.

this poses a lot of issues. for starters, sometimes the hunters don't even get any buffalo because they all end up in the trap. as far as the killing fields, since it is such a small area they have allotted to hunt on, there have been situations where a hunter shoots a buffalo and it runs off past the boundary. the hunter loses their kill, because they aren't allowed to pursue the buffalo once it leaves the boundary of the killing fields. now they need to call game wardens to put the animal down if it's hurt beyond survival.

the state of montana claims that the maximum carrying capacity of buffalo for yellowstone national park is 2,000. right now, the population is around 5,000. they claim that they want tribal hunts to be the main way of culling the population, but if that were the case they would either do away with the trap entirely, or move it past the killing field so hunters get first dibs. as well as this, the carrying capacity of buffalo in yellowstone hasn't been reassessed in 40 years, so it's not an accurate figure in how much it can sustainably hold. this should also be taken into account when looking at the state of the landscape. it's been absolutely decimated by hay and cattle farming, and buffalo play such a huge part in the ecosystem. they sow their own food with their droppings, pushing it into the ground as fertilizer. their wallows create little oases in the plains, which give a home to a host of other animals. one could argue yellowstone might need MORE buffalo to help in restoring the native flora of the plains.

another issue that buffalo bridge works to resolve is the gut piles after the processing of buffalo. locals claim it draws bears into town, and is just unsightly to see. in all of buffalo bridge's 13 years camping out around the killing fields, not once have they encountered a bear. but, they still work to remove the gut piles from view, which hopefully eases tensions around locals and the tribal hunt.

buffalo bridge aims to remain as neutral as possible in the whole climate surrounding the buffalo. they work with the forest service, locals who own land across from the killing fields, tribal hunters, game wardens, and anyone else who cares to listen. the work they do is so impactful and truly something that needs more attention and appreciation. all of this work is done with so much reverence and respect for the land, the people, the buffalo. a whole community coming together to take part and learn in something that sustained so many people for thousands of years. it was an honor being a part of it and learning from so many amazing people, and is an experience i will hold dear for the rest of my life.