Participants will increase their awareness and understanding of the importance of the national mammal, the American bison to indigenous cultures (from the end of the Ice Age to contemporary time), ecosystems of the northern plains, and modern efforts to reintroduce and conserve Buffalo herds in North America. Through lectures, documentary film, interaction with professional environmental and ecological scientists, field experience at the site of the last wild bison hunt, enjoying bison meals, and interacting with Native American cultural experts, as well as farming/ranching, and Land Management professionals participants will become more knowledgeable and able to communicate with their students in the classroom about historical, cultural, and ecological aspects of the American bison.
In the North Dakota Heritage Center & State Museum. Skeletons of Bison latifrons and Bison antiquus are exhibited and will be featured in tours and short programs from presenters, museum interpreters will be escorting attendees through several exhibits that showcase a rich Native American and buffalo history. Clothing examples, artifacts, displays and hands-on opportunities will highlight the visit. Videos and audio utilized in these exhibits will help participants appreciate the environment and lives of Plains tribes and the value the bison has on us all.
Elder Jon Eagle Sr. is the Tribal Historic Preservation Officer- Standing Rock Sioux Tribe will present oral historical documentation of Bison Origins
Dan Flores will highlight segments of his book American Serengeti that detail "Why Bison Matter?"
Dr. Duane Froese, Canada Research Chair in Northern Environmental Change, studies environmental change in northern Canada and Alaska, will make sense of bison arrival in North America.
Dakota Goodhouse, an enrolled member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, and Native American Studies instructor at United Tribes Technical College will connect primary sources including winter counts, cultural, historical and geographical knowledge to the emergence of bison and the significance of White Buffalo Calf woman, jumps, and the Buffalo Society to the Lakota.
The afternoon of the first day will include panel discussions by experts including Andrew C. Isenberg, Hall Distinguished Professor of American History, University of Kansas, who specializes in Environmental History, North American West, Borderlands, and Native Americans. Dr. Isenberg in his book The Destruction of the Bison,“ clarifies the encounter between the Old and New Worlds that led to the destruction of the bison and how it appears to be a simple matter: Indian and Euroamerican hunters pushed the species to the brink of extinction for
commercial profit. In the nineteenth century, they slaughtered millions of bison and brought to market the animals’ hides, meat, tongues, and bones. Like other environmental catastrophes in the American West . . . the destruction of the bison was, in part, the result of the unsustainable exploitation of natural resources.”
While others help learners recognize that the destruction was not complete. Panel discussion on the Department of Interior's Long-Term Initiative to Conserve the American Bison to tribal and federal lands and in the issues, positive and negative, of restoring bison to the West.
The final discussion of the day, the healthy benefits of the return of the bison to Indian communities will be led by Donald Warne, MD, MPH is the Associate Dean of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion as well as the Director of the Indians Into Medicine (INMED) and Master of Public Health Programs, and Professor of Family and Community Medicine at the School of Medicine and Health Sciences at the University of North Dakota. Dr. Warne is a member of the Oglala Lakota tribe from Pine Ridge, SD and comes from a long line of traditional healers and medicine men. He received his MD from Stanford University School of Medicine and his MPH from Harvard School of Public Health.
Part of the evening program will be the screening of the documentary film, Bring Them Home, and Short Fiction Film: Iniskim, with introduction and Q&A by filmmaker Daniel Glick and Blackfeet Tribal Member Ervin Carlson. The documentary is an intimate look at the only indigenous tribal-led buffalo drive in North America. Bring Them Home follows members of the Blackfeet Nation as they experience the power of the American bison while driving their herd through rough terrain and hostile weather to their winter pasture – a rare ritual of stewardship that brings hope for a modern-day cultural rebirth. The second film, Iniskim, is a short fiction film
about a young woman's experience on the drive and how it begins to heal her. It was nominated for 3 Emmys and won one.
some bison elements in the 8th grade North Dakota Studies materials, People Living on the Land
Evaluation and Evidence of Learning and Application: *
A composition describing how the experience, knowledge gained, insights into indigenous thought and expression can impact the lessons, programs, interactions with students. What concepts surprised you? How will you utilize materials? and what will you change what you present in your classroom?