Restoring Buffalo, Revitalizing Community

May 29, 2026

Restoring Buffalo, Revitalizing Community 

This week, First Nations was honored to accompany staff from the Freeman Foundation on a visit to the Blackfeet Nation Buffalo Program in Browning, Montana. The visit provided an opportunity to connect with tribal buffalo staff about their efforts to restore free-ranging buffalo across the Blackfeet Reservation – work that is featured in the PBS documentary Bring Them Home and in a soon-to-be-released short documentary called IINNIIWA. Buffalo, a culturally relevant species, is critical for sustaining Native cultures and lifeways, grassland health, and community wellbeing.

The Blackfeet Nation Buffalo Program is supported through the Stewarding Native Lands’ American Buffalo Restoration on Tribal Lands in Montana and Wyoming project.

While in Browning, First Nations’ Jacque Demko (Three Affiliated Tribes) also visited Blackfeet Community College to learn more about their meat-processing and Piikani studies certificates. Blackfeet Community College President Hall shared how the college is the cultural heart of the Blackfeet Nation.

Blackfeet Community College is supported through First Nations’ Stewarding Native Lands Climate focus.

Siksiksimasiituk to our gracious hosts of these amazing visits.

Pictured (left to right) are Latonna Spotted Eagle (Blackfeet), Graeme Freeman, Nancy Freeman, Mike Roberts (Tlingit), Jacque Demko (Three Affiliated Tribes), and Ervin Carlson (Blackfeet).