The Bison Rehoming Project has the potential to transform the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation by 2035! Empowering Tribal members to economically sustain their families and communities while simultaneously creating a trained workforce in the highly specialized field of animal husbandry. This project can ensure that traditional knowledge and values are passed down to future leaders who learn to advocate for the preservation of Lakota lifeways, culture, land and nutrition.

Expected impacts from full implementation of this project include:

+ Food Sovereignty: Empowering the Lakota People to address issues of hunger and health by cultivating their own healthy, fresh foods.

+ Employment and job training: While earning wages through their engagement with this project, Tribal members and Native Gen7 youth also gain valuable skills and experience that they can apply throughout their lives.

+ Cultural Identity: Establishing a living connection for the Lakota People to their origin story through access to a healthy bison herd.

+ Youth Empowerment and Leadership: Providing our Gen7 youth with mentoring and formal training through a partnership with CSU, to gain hands-on experience and expertise in bison herd management.

+ Education: Connecting Tribal schools with access to the herd. The local schools could potentially create and implement a multi-disciplinary curriculum around the herd which integrates the arts, history, science, math, and cultural significance of the bison.

Establishing this herd holds the promise of a future where Lakota culture thrives, interconnected with the land and flourishing economically for generations to come!

Bison Rehoming Project

Transformational Change Through Traditional Foodways

Team Members