Episode 7

Oh, Give Me A Home

In the last episode of season one, we travel to the Blackfeet Nation and the Oakland Zoo, and we return to Gardiner, Montana, to we meet some of the only people in America who are growing up with wild bison. And we tackle some of the big questions driving this whole investigation: what is our future with this animal? How does that connect with our history? Can America ever have wild, free-roaming bison again? Should we try? Why, or why not?

Transcript

Bison on the Blackfeet Reservation

Ervin Carlson

Students at Gardiner School

Gardiner rodeo

Bison returning to the Blackfeeet Nation - photo by Reuben Maness/Oakland Zoo.

Bison from Canada's Elk Island National Park returning to the Blackfeeet Nation - photo by Reuben Maness/Oakland Zoo

Photo by Reuben Maness/Oakland Zoo

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Blackfeet Nation

Read more about Montana's Blackfeet Nation and the whole Blackfoot Confederacy:

Blackfeet Nation
Badger-Two Medicine Region -- one of the areas where bison may be returned to the landscape
10 Things You Should Know About the Blackfeet Nation -- from Indian Country Media Network
Kainai First Nation
Siksika Nation

Iinnii Initiative & ITBC

Learn more about the Iinnii Initiative here and in the video to the left.

The mission of the InterTribal Buffalo Council is "restoring buffalo to the Indian Country, to preserve our historical, cultural, traditional and spiritual relationship for future generations." Ervin Carlson is the president of the board of ITBC.

Elk Island and the Oakland Zoo

Scroll through the pictures above to see photos of bison being returned from Canada's Elk Island National Park to the Blackfeet Nation. Twenty of these animals will be heading to the Oakland Zoo sometime this year.