The buffalo return to Fort Peck Tribes restores culture, food, and learning in Montana.
The buffalo return to Fort Peck Tribes is now one of the country’s longest-running tribal herd programs. In February 2026, the Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes received 219 bison from Yellowstone National Park. That shipment is the largest since the partnership began in 2012.
It filled more than two semi-trucks, since each truck holds about 100 animals. The bison arrived at Turtle Mound Buffalo Ranch near Wolf Point, Montana. More than a dozen people waited in -13°F air.
Buffalo once shaped life across the northern Plains. An estimated 30 million to 60 million roamed North America before the Civil War. By the late 1800s, only a few hundred remained.
The last known hunt at Fort Peck took place around 1881. Buffalo then vanished from the area for almost 120 years. Program manager Robbie Magnan says buffalo and Native people were both pushed off their lands.
That gap is now closing. The buffalo return to Fort Peck Tribes began more than 30 years ago, when the tribes set aside 5,000 acres. They bought 100 bison from Fort Belknap.
Magnan says the goal was to reconnect culturally. Caring for large animals is costly, so the tribes built a business herd. Hunts and lotteries for public and tribal participants help pay for the program.
Tribal elders asked for a stronger cultural focus. In 2008, the tribes split the animals into two herds. The cultural herd supports ceremonies, tribal hunts, food sharing, and education.
The buffalo return to Fort Peck Tribes reflects a goal of cultural reconnection, with a business herd funded by hunts and lotteries and a separate cultural herd, created in 2008 at the request of tribal elders, supporting ceremonies, tribal hunts, food sharing, and education. Photo by Andrew Patrick on Pexels.
Yellowstone faced its own problem. Its bison herd grew, and some animals wandered outside the park. Park managers once sent many of them to slaughter.
The concern was brucellosis, a reproductive disease that can harm cattle. No case of bison passing it to cattle has ever been recorded. Still, the worry shaped park policy.
The InterTribal Buffalo Council pushed for a live alternative. Fort Peck, Yellowstone, federal agencies, and the State of Montana then built the Bison Conservation and Transfer Program. It moves disease-free bison from the park to tribal lands.
Rick Wallen, a former Yellowstone bison project leader, sees tribes as natural leaders. He says they have strong interest, deep cultural experience, and the authority to guide bison care outside the park.
Fort Peck handles the quarantine step. Animals stay in four pens on 320 acres for one year. Staff test them under federal and state rules, and Magnan reports no brucellosis cases in the program’s history.
The first delivery came in 2012, when 69 Yellowstone bison arrived during a spring snowstorm. Families from both tribes welcomed them. The arrival formally created the cultural herd.
Once animals clear quarantine, the council helps decide where they go next. The partnership has sent bison to more than two dozen tribes in 16 states. The buffalo return to Fort Peck Tribes now helps other nations rebuild their own herds.
Today Fort Peck cares for about 1,000 bison. The program follows state livestock rules and runs controlled hunts. It also reserves part of its herds for ceremonies and food security.
Classrooms feel the change too. Each year, the Buffalo Unity Project brings Poplar Middle School seventh graders to the ranch for a bison harvest. Students learn anatomy alongside tribal history and culture.
The Fort Peck Pté Group also drives learning. Formed in 2015, this group of mostly tribal women works with local schools on buffalo lessons. Member Suzanne Turnbull says the buffalo return to Fort Peck Tribes has brought pride and new economic opportunity.
The group is also developing a buffalo trail lined with story poles. Turnbull describes it as a prayer path where families can visit the cultural herd. Tribal resolutions, foundation grants, and a National Endowment for the Arts award help fund it.
The ecological payoff is clear. Conservation writers explain how bison grazing, seed spreading, and soil turning help grasslands recover. Turnbull sees the buffalo as a path back that also teaches people to care for all living things.
See also: European Bison Reintroduction Restores Wild Balance in Romania’s Mountains
Magnan hopes to grow the herd to 1,500 animals across 150,000 acres. The herd now stands at about 1,000. He wants the tribe to provide for itself again.
What can other communities learn? The buffalo return to Fort Peck Tribes shows that patience, partnership, and local leadership can solve hard problems. Wildlife, culture, and the local economy can grow together when the people closest to the land lead the work.
