"Grow the Herds"

Partnering for Buffalo Rematriation & Indigenous Stewardship

The 2026 Tribal Buffalo Summit is hosted by the Buffalo Field Campaign and co-sponsored by Nimíipuu Protecting the Environment and Wyoming Outdoor Council’s Tribal Conservation Program. The summit will bring together Tribal leaders, wildlife experts, and elders to discuss and create a unified, Tribal-led vision of holistic stewardship for Buffalo rematriation and restoration. This vision will center Tribal leadership and support Buffalo abundance, ecological health, treaty purposes, and the critical role of strengthening herds on Indian lands (as well as federal, state, and private conservation herds).

The Yellowstone Buffalo herds now number over 5,000 strong. Climate warming appears to be affecting or changing historic migration patterns. The current population size and migration changes present an opportunity for the Yellowstone Herds to grow exponentially and begin to restore their ancestral territorial range. Migratory access to millions of acres of available habitat outside the Park in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem could promote climate resilience for this wild herd. 

The primary obstacle to the growth and flourishing of the Yellowstone herds is the Interagency Bison Management Plan (IBMP), under the U.S. federal government and the State of Montana, which keeps herd sizes artificially low, creating scarcity. This scarcity is not ecological, but political. For decades, the IBMP has created and reinforced this scarcity through heavy handed population control with capture for slaughter as the primary control tool. As such, alternative solutions are needed at this critical time.

We hope you will join us as a participant in, or supporter of, the sacred work of the 2026 Tribal Buffalo Summit.

*Summit is by invitation only

Questions about the Summit?

Contact J. Dallas Gudgell, Dakota, BFC Vice President
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Donate to Support the Tribal Buffalo Summit

All donations go to supporting the 2026 Tribal Buffalo Summit. All monies allocated towards cost of venue, lodging, food, and honorariums (travel, per diem, etc).