National Bison Month
Event Schedule
Throughout November, join bison supporters in celebrating these magnificent animals and building the movement to restore this icon. Check out the event schedule below and stay tuned as we post more links in the coming days.
National Bison Day
November 7
Celebrate the annual commemoration of this icon. Share the Buffalo Way with this social media toolkit.
Bison Circle
November 10 at 11 am ET
Featuring Jimmy Santiago Baca. Six poets read buffalo pieces. Click the photo for more info.
Poetry Pachanga
November 11 at 11 am ET
Following up on the Buffalo Circle, and led by Jimmy Santiago Baca, 15 poets will share their work. Click the photo for more info.
Bison Conservation Initiative (BCI)
November 17 at 1 p.m. ET
The Department of Interior’s BCI is a 10-year roadmap to advance collaborative bison conservation. With agency leaders from the US & Canada, we will discuss efforts to restore bison, and the BCI potential to promote the ecological and cultural restoration of bison. Produced with support from the Hurleyville Performing Arts Centre. Click the photo for more info.
Not All Scientists Wear Lab Coats
November 19 at 5:30 pm ET
Cristina Mormorunni, Regional Director of the WCS Rocky Mountain Program, will discuss how bison conservation is a path to social transformation and healing. Click the photo for more info.
Voices of the Buffalo Way
November 30 at 1 p.m. ET
Join us in hearing the voices of bison advocates and gain fluency in the language of the Buffalo Way—relationship, respect, reciprocity, rewilding, rematriation, and reconciliation. Produced with support from the Hurleyville Performing Arts Centre. Click the photo for more info.
Face the Wind
Buffalo Voice: Mark Ruffalo
Thank you David Yarrow, Riverhead LLC, Alec Brown & BC Smith
Take Action
We invite you to lend your voice to foundational efforts underway in the United States to bring about the ecological and cultural restoration of wild bison and establish wild, wide-ranging herds that have the freedom to roam across North America, as they once did.
The Department of Interior (DOI) has demonstrated visionary leadership in the launch of its 2020 Bison Conservation Initiative (BCI). Please thank Secretary Bernhardt and the DOI Bison Working Group for their collaborative conservation leadership. Urge the Secretary to fully resource and implement the BCI.
We have a plan. Now we must take action to change the world.
Watch the Bison Month Poetry Events
Poetry Pachanga
Poetry Circle
In the News
My Relatives, the Buffalo Nation
By Joseph Gazing Wolf on WCS Wild View
To North America's native communities, relatives are those whose "movement through life and space complements yours in a natural dance that gives meaning to both your existences." The bison, he says, is one such relative.
The Buffalo Way
By Cristina Mormorunni at Medium
In crisis we also opportunities to turn into the storm, rather than away from it, and Face the Wind as we work to create the future that we want and need.
NM Helps Shape Bison Conservation
Joseph Talachy, Roger Fragua, and Cristina Mormorunni for the Albuquerque Journal
"A species’ extinction or designating a national monument were huge triumphs in their time, but are no longer bold enough today."
Bison is a Unifying Icon
John F. Calvelli on Medium
No other native species tells America’s story better than the bison—a symbol of strength and Native American culture.
Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes Gift Bison to the Bronx Zoo
By WCS Newsroom
The seven female and one male bison were from the Yellowstone National Park bloodline, which are among the few pure herds remaining.
Pure Bred Bison Born at the Bronx Zoo
By WCS Newsroom
The calves, born to a herd of 7 females and 1 male that arrived at the zoo from Ft. Peck, Montana, helped the zoo further bison conservation efforts.
A Historic Return of Bison to "Buffalo People"
Harry Barnes & Keith Aune for National Geographic
April 4, 2016, will long be remembered by the Blackfeet Nation, as close to 90 bison calves arrived at the Blackfeet Bison Ranch.
From Animal Planet's THE ZOO
This new baby bison was one of the first few purebred bison born at the Bronx Zoo, as we work to establish a herd with no domestic cattle genes.
We Need Your Help
Together, we can seize the opportunity to restore bison, an iconic keystone species, to its ancestral habitat. Your support in this time of great challenges and uncertainty is deeply appreciated
Voices
As we look to shape the future of bison in North America, we must engage a diverse set of voices.
Let’s Face the Wind Together
Buffalo is life and the Buffalo Way embodies the values necessary to sustain all life on Earth.
We are living through some of the most heart-breaking and chaotic times in human history. Like Buffalo, we need to Face the Wind during stormy times, rather than turn from it.
Join the Wildlife Conservation Society and our partners in reclaiming the Buffalo Way. We work to embody the language and culture of the Buffalo Way: Relationship. Respect. Reciprocity. Resilience. Reconnection. Rematriation. Reconciliation.
We invite you to tell us – how do you plan to turn and face the wind? How will you follow the Buffalo Way and work to protect all life? Share on social media with #FaceTheWind.
Now is the time to act. Let’s turn and face the wind TOGETHER like Buffalo, and cleave a new path to a just, equitable, and wild future for all of humanity and the wild beings who share our home planet.
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