Buffalo Dreams at Pine Ridge
By Gary Wockner
July 12, 2004
As the buffalo truck turned off Route 18 and down onto the long lane north
of Pine Ridge Village, Henry Red
Cloud stood arm-in-arm with his brother, Chief Alfred Red Cloud II, watching
from across the field. Henry’s eyes misted over. “This is our dream,” he
said. “My family’s, my people’s.”
Seconds later, the truck eased to a stop and fifty people rushed over
jumping on the fender wells and peered, wide-eyed, through the aluminum
slats of the stock trailer. The crowd – family members and visitors who had
assembled to honor and celebrate the return of the buffalo – cheered and
embraced. Inside the trailer, fifteen yearling buffalo peered back, their
late-spring fur molting and falling, their eyes also wide.
Chief Alfred Red Cloud II stood silently, watching. Alfred is the great,
great grandson of Chief Red Cloud, the last of the Lakota Chiefs to be captured
in 1876 nearby at Fort Robinson, Nebraska, and then ‘relocated’ to the Pine
Ridge Indian Reservation. Henry and Alfred embraced. “This is for our children,”
Alfred said. “For our future.”
For the past year, the Red Cloud family has been working side-by-side
with the Fort Collins, CO environmental organization, Village Earth (www.villageearth.org),
and their extensive international membership to return the buffalo to the
family’s property on Pine Ridge. David Bartecchi, project coordinator for
Village Earth, says, “This is about social justice, environmental stewardship,
and creating a more sustainable world. It is our honor to assist the Red
Cloud family with this project.”
The arrival of the buffalo to Henry’s property near Pine Ridge Village
was the centerpiece event of the first day of a two-day celebration hosted
by the Red Cloud family. Earlier in the day, a variety of activities took
place including traditional Lakota storytelling, games, songs and dance.
Two well-known storytellers, Philomene Lakota and Wilmer Stampede demonstrated
the skill of oral tradition by sharing stories of traditional Lakota life
and spirituality. Later, Lawrence Swalley offered a stirring, lengthy rendition
of the Lakota Creation Story. After a tasty dinner of buffalo stew and fry
bread, the evening was filled with hand games, and dancing and singing led
by the Yellow Bear Drum Group and the Crazy Horse Singers.
The next morning, all the guests and many reservation residents followed
the buffalo truck on a long caravan out to the Red Cloud family ranch near
the Slim Buttes area of the reservation. The family named their property
“Tatanka Isnala” (Lone Buffalo Ranch) to commemorate Henry and Alfred’s nephew,
Arnold Big Crow, who died recently.
The ceremony at the ranch included Oglala spiritual leader Basil Brave
Heart who performed a traditional buffalo blessing ceremony that involves
the filling and sharing of the sacred pipe, smudging, and the performance
of buffalo songs, dances and prayers. Just before the buffalo were released,
Chief Alfred Red Cloud II walked arm-in-arm with his grand-niece, Shekela
Big Crow (Arnold’s only daughter), across the family’s property commemorating
the last moment before the return of the buffalo. Alice is the 7th generation
of Red Clouds to be born on Pine Ridge since Chief Red Cloud’s 1876 relocation.
Minutes later, fifteen yearling buffalo were released. The crowd – now
200-strong and including three busloads of Pine Ridge school children – cheered
and embraced as the yearling buffalo rumbled out of the livestock trailer
and across the open prairie. After more than 125 years, the Red Cloud family
ranch – once part of the buffalo’s traditional migration routes across the
Great Plains – again felt the thunder of buffalo hooves.
The buffalo release represents one part of Village Earth’s larger initiative
to help Lakota families utilize their own land for income-generating activities
to support a more self-sufficient lifestyle. The buffalo were purchased through
Village Earth’s “Adopt-a-Buffalo” program. These fifteen yearlings will
be the “seed herd” from which more herds will come for Lakota families interested
in buffalo ranching. The herd will be raised in a traditional manner using
organic methods. After three years, this initial herd will have bred enough
calves for a second group of yearlings to be “gifted” to another family
to start their own herd. The animals will be used for food, clothing, education
and ceremonial purposes.
“The plan is to get this herd started, and then make a gift of yearlings
to another family to get their herd started, and so on,” said Henry Red Cloud.
“It’s part of the healing for the Lakota family, a return to “tradition,”
by which our elders meant “self-sufficiency.”
Henry Red Cloud is launching this initial herd, and several other projects,
on land owned by his extended family. All 94 members of the Red Cloud extended
family have combined their landholdings at the ranch and are actively involved
in making it a successful, income-generating, self-supportive prospect. In
addition to buffalo ranching, the Red Clouds are growing herbs and vegetables
for family consumption as well as moneymaking crops, a model of enterprise
that Henry says other reservation families are considering.
Throughout the celebration at Henry’s property and at the family ranch
near Slim Buttes, Henry, Alfred, and all of the speakers emphasized the importance
of the event for Lakota children. “I want all of the children to watch and
listen,” Henry said as he spoke to the crowd during the buffalo release.
“They need to know that we have suffered greatly but that we are strong and
resilient. This ceremony and these buffalo will teach our children that we
are returning to health and vitality. Buffalo can heal us. We can heal each
other. At the dawn of the 21st Century, we stand here, seven generations since
Chief Red Cloud’s capture, to make a powerful statement: We are strong. The
Lakota people – families and individuals – have a strong future together.”
________
Contacts:
Henry Red Cloud: (605) 867-1544, braveeagle@gwtc.net
David Bartecchi: (970) 218-5157, david@villageearth.org
Gary Wockner: (970) 491-5724, garywockner@comcast.net
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