Protecting Yellowstone’s Wild Bison Herds from Slaughter: The Buffalo Field Campaign

The Buffalo Field Campaign has worked for decades restoring rights to the wild Bison of Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming to live and freely migrate in and outside of Yellowstone National Park in their rightful territory. Carrie Freeman's radio guests Mike Mease and Dallas Gudgell are from the nonprofit Buffalo Field Campaign and we discuss their achievements since the 1990s. In this 25-minute podcast recorded late July 2023, they explain why the bison are at risk of being killed by hunters and ranchers when they leave Yellowstone National Park and how Montana's wildlife policies have been hostile to this threatened and recovering species (treating the species as 'livestock' instead of wildlife). Buffalo Field Campaign volunteers work annually to document and protect the bison in the field (they invite you to join them). Dallas explains the bison's key role in local First Nations' cultural identity and how a coalition of dozens of tribes are meeting in November 2023 to discuss a path to more unified Tribal stewardship over the Yellowstone bison as part of reparations and a path for true protection and recovery of the wild bison herds.  

The Buffalo Field Campaign is the only group working both in the field and in the policy arenas to stop the harassment and slaughter of America’s last wild buffalo. Formalized as a nonprofit in 1997, they also protect the natural habitat of wild free-roaming bison and other native wildlife, and stand with First Nations to honor the sacredness of wild buffalo. The primary goal of the Buffalo Field Campaign is to create permanent year-round protection for bison and the ecosystem they depend on—including respect for the migratory needs of this long-exploited and clearly endangered species. Their website full of info, photos, and action items is BuffaloFieldCampaign.org.

Photo taken by host Carrie Freeman of the bison herd in Yellowstone (during her visit in 2017).

In Tune to Nature is a long-time weekly show airing on Wednesdays from 6:30-7pm EST on Atlanta indie station WRFG (Radio Free Georgia) 89.3FM hosted by Carrie Freeman or Melody Paris. Please consider donating to support this 50-year old independent, non-commercial, progressive Atlanta radio station at https://wrfg.org/  

Remember to take care of yourself and others, including other species, like the bison, with whom we share the planet.