$10,000 Matching Grant Grant Campaign in February
Please consider donating during this special fundraiser in honor of BFC co-founder Rosalie Little Thunder. Funds raised will be used to support Native outreach efforts, other Native-focused programs, as well as the 2nd Annual Rosalie Little Thunder Memorial walk, which you can read about below.
We are more than half way to meeting our goal of raising the money we need to receive a matching grant of $10,000 in honor of Lakota elder Rosalie Little Thunder, one of our beloved co-founders. Thank you so much for bringing us this far. We still need your help to reach our goal, and, as always we have strong faith in you, our cherished supporters, that this goal will be met. Thank you!
2ND ANNUAL ROSALIE LITTLE THUNDER MEMORIAL WALK
Walking through Yellowstone on the 2nd Annual Rosalie Little Thunder Memorial Walk. Photo by Max Wilbert, Deep Green Resistance.
On February 13, 2019, as part of our Week of Action, Buffalo Field Campaign and other wild bison supporters arrived in Gardiner, Montana, on the northern edge of Yellowstone National Park, to conduct the 2nd Annual Rosalie Little Thunder Memorial Walk. This annual walk is, in part, to honor the sacrifice that Rosalie made in 1998, when she walked 500 miles -- from Pine Ridge, South Dakota to Gardiner, Montana -- carrying a Sacred Buffalo Bundle and praying to end the slaughter of her realatives, the buffalo. We also walk to pray for the thousands of buffalo who continue to be captured and shipped to slaughter from Yellowstone National Park's Stephens Creek buffalo trap, and who have are gunned down by hunters just outside Yellowstone's boundary at Beattie Gulch.
They survived the Ice Age, but can they survive the U.S. Government? Photo by Max Wilbert, Deep Green Resistance.
We began our walk at the Gallatin National Forest Gardiner Ranger District Office, where we gathered together, shared some delicious food, communicated our intentions for the walk, and then set on our way. Banners and signs in hand, we walked through the town of Gardiner, into Yellowstone, passing the Roossevelt Arch, and on throug Old Yellowstone Trail, where we would pass by Yellowstone's trap and end our 7-mile walk at the Beattie Gulch trailhead. Walkers braved strong winds and blowing snow, but kept strong by holding Rosalie close to our hearts and reminding ourselves of the sacrifice she made, and also the sacrifice the buffalo make every time they walk towards Montana.
Walkers gather on top of a hill in the Park, overlooking Yellowstone's Stephens Creek buffalo trap. People took time to reflect and share words before continuing on. Photo by Stephany Seay, Buffalo Field Campaign.
As we walked, the winds picked up and died down. Passers by showed their support for our work to help the buffalo. Elk and pronghorn made appearances, and a bald eagle flew over us. Absent, though, were the mighty buffalo. It's been a bitttersweet winter without their presence, we miss their powerful company but are grateful that they are keeping themselves safe from the trap and hunters. With support vehicles in front and behind us, we pressed on, ending our Walk at Beattie Gulch where we gathered in a circle, burned sage, and held a candlelight vigil. Beautiful, inspiring, and humbling words were spoken about the feeling of family, the teachings of the buffalo, the honor to work with Buffalo Field campaign and be a real part of the buffalos' lives, and how Rosalie has touched each and every one of us -- even those who have never met her. In her work, in our prayers, in this walk -- and in the buffalo who remai -- Rosalie is still here, her legacy strong and continuing to bring people together to help defend the last wild buffalo.
Thank you all so much for being with us for the buffalo and allowing us to be here, standing in their defense and creating positive, lasting change for these gentle giants who will once again roam all the lands that are their birthright. Please consider helping us continue this work -- in particular strengthening our Native outreach efforts -- by contributing to the Rosalie LIttle Thunder $10,000 matching grant today. Thank you!
"Remind yourself every morning, every morning, every morning: 'I'm going to do something. I've made a commitment.' Not for yourself, but beyond yourself. You belong to the collective. Don't go wandering off, or you wil perish." ~ Rosalie Little Thunder (9/18/1949 - 8/9/2014), co-founder of Buffalo Field Campaign. Rosalie was a member of the Sicangu Lakota Oyate; Burnt Thigh Band, of the Little Thunder Tiospaye and the Rosebud Sioux Tribe.
