Life is a constant learning experience, and Buffalo Field Campaign is the perfect embodiment of that principle.

Upon arriving at the Bozeman-Yellowstone Airport, I had no idea what to expect of Buffalo Field Campaign- what would my life be like for the next month? What kinds of people was I going to be surrounded with? Would I enjoy my time there? I was soon to find out that all of my anxieties were completely unfounded.

The scenery and the landscape were absolutely stunning and breathtaking, but the people were even more beautiful. As soon as I arrived at Buffalo Field Campaign headquarters, I was greeted by one of the most good-hearted, well-intentioned, and passionate people I have ever met-Mike Mease. Mike has spent his entire adult life fighting to make the world a better place. I say this from the bottom of my heart!

He wasn’t the only beautiful person I was to encounter at Buffalo Field Campaign. During my time at Buffalo Field Campaign, I met and befriended so many different truly good-hearted people, all with their own projects and plans to make the world a better place- from documentary filmmaking to political activism, to youth education, to wildlife photography or other lifelong activists and spiritual seekers of peace and love. For me, Buffalo Field Campaign became a hub for making connections with the kinds of people who understand and actively want to change the world for the better.

On top of the kinds of people I encountered during my time at the Buffalo Field Campaign, the environment that Mike has helped to create provided me with so many opportunities for learning the kinds of skills that really matter in life. Growing up and living in cities and suburbs for my entire life, I have found that those of us who live like this lose contact with reality in a sense. If we want a gourmet meal, all we have to do is press a few buttons on an App, and it’s delivered to us within the hour. If we want heating or air conditioning, all we have to do is press a few buttons et voilà, we can create the climate of our desire. If we want our personal technology  and automobiles fixed, all we have to do is make a call, pay some money, and they’re as good as new, without really putting in much effort. And despite all of the seeming perks of this way of living, it removes us from reality and awareness, from understanding just how much work goes into creating and maintaining nearly every luxury that we take for granted. And the removal from this awareness, whether consciously or not, leads us to believe that we are entitled to the hard work of others who exist in disadvantaged positions. When we can pay someone who is struggling to scrape by as little money as possible to provide us with luxury, most of us jump on the opportunity.

During my time at Buffalo Field Campaign, through first-hand experience, I learned so many “basic” but necessary skills that most of us in modern America never end up learning. At Buffalo Field Campaign, if we wanted a gourmet meal or dessert, it was up to us to do it ourselves. Instead of being able to adjust the temperature of our houses on an app, the entire process of heating is done ourselves-from gathering wood, to chopping it, to starting the fires in the woodstoves present in every cabin. If our cars have a problem, our mechanic, or those with mechanic skills are the ones who fix it. Buffalo Field Campaign is not an environment in which you can have a machine or servant do everything for you, and it shouldn’t be. Rather, you either do things yourself, or the people you’re living and spending all of your time with do them for you and responsibilities for different tasks get shared.

And last, but not least, during my time at Buffalo Field Campaign, I realized that the cause the Campaign is fighting for, the Buffalo, is one of the most noble and worthy causes to fight for. They are something that we must defend in order to preserve not only our connection with nature, but our integrity and sense of responsibility. Because it’s not just about Buffalo, or stopping people from killing these animals. Everything must die after all; death is a fundamental and necessary counterbalance to life, and the activists at BFC understand that. Rather, it extends far further than that. Fighting for the Buffalo is about fighting for a Native people who’ve been oppressed by a colonizer that believes it can take and do whatever it wants to its surroundings without consequence. Fighting for the Buffalo is about reconnecting with nature and understanding it as a living organism we depend on, rather than an inanimate resource that’s ours for the taking.  This fight is about standing up for the oppressed, and in doing so, standing up for ourselves. It’s about reconnecting with reality and truth, and disconnecting from separation and selfishness. All things depend upon one another to exist, and when we oppress and abuse our natural environment, our natural wildlife, we ultimately oppress and abuse ourselves. Without natural wildlife, we destroy our environment, and without our environment, we do not exist. We cannot continue to run from ourselves and the consequences of our actions, we must take responsibility for what we are doing to our home. That is the greater meaning of fighting for the Buffalo, and that is why, despite only initially planning on spending a month with BFC I have decided to stay for however long feels right.

By Jacob Faye, Rutgers Intern & Summer Coordinator 2024;  BFC Kitchen Coordinator, 24-25 Field Season