The winter of 1996-97 chilled indigenous peoples across the Great Plains to the bone. As the last remaining wild buffalo herd in the United States crossed an invisible border between Yellowstone National Park and the state of Montana they were being shot down; executed as they wandered in search of winter foraging grounds.

The Montana Department of Livestock, along with the National Park Service, were killing them based on unfounded threats that the buffalo would be spreading the chronic cattle disease, brucellosis. It is estimated that over 1,000 buffalo were slaughtered by government agencies.

The tragedy of this present-day buffalo slaughter catalyzed the development of the Buffalo Commons Initiative. This ambitious initiative, under the working title of the Indigenous Buffalo Commons Proposal, will document, capitalize and support innovative Native projects over a multi-year period to restore buffalo, buffalo cultures, ecosystems and grasslands in the Great Plains of North America. It is our belief that sweeping changes in land, water, agricultural policy and wildlife management are essential to the ecological well being of the region and the continent. This project is viewed to be a step in the process of recovering the land of the region, and our futures.

In 1850, fifty million buffalo ranged the prairie ecosystem. One hundred percent of all plant and animal species were present without the "benefit" of fences, federal subsidies, elaborate irrigation systems or powerful pesticides. Today, a century and a half later, the natural balance looks quite different. 45.5 million cattle live in this same ecosystem, now teeming with irrigation systems, combines and chemical additives. The Great Plains have been stripped of their biological diversity. This biome, which covers more than any other area in North America, has suffered a massive loss of life.

There is an economic crisis today on the Great Plains, a direct result of this ecological crisis. It is the most simple of realities. It effects small rural towns, farmers and Indians. It fundamentally impacts all of America and the future of America--in terms of what we eat and what we will pass on to our children.

The 1970's revolutionized the landscape of the Great Plains with the crush of industrialized agriculture. Today over 270 million acres of public land in the American West is leased by cattleman at a fee per acre which is below the market value for land, and that land is ecologically dying. The last comprehensive study of federal rangeland in the region indicates that only 15% is in good condition; 85% of that rangeland has less than 50% of it's vegetation. Along with vegetation we are losing the topsoil in the region--nearly one third of the prime topsoil is gone. In most regions of the Great Plains, the top soil has dropped from 21 inches to 6 inches. Add to this the problem of drawdown of the Oglalla Aquifer, the large underground reserve of water which underlies the Great Plains. Between 1959 and 1975, farmers in the region pumped more than 27 billion gallons a day from the aquifer, far more than can be naturally replenished. Drawdown rates today drop the aquifer by four feet per year while the recharge rate of this reservoir is estimated to be one half inches a year. Today, twenty percent of nationally irrigated cropland is serviced by the Oglalla, yet hydrologists suggest that the aquifer will be depleted in thirty years. These statistics, along with the buffalo slaughter at Yellowstone, are indicators of a way life that is unsustainable. That is the issue we hope to address in our work.

The promise of the White Buffalo calf represents a way of life on the other side of the spectrum. A few years ago, the White Buffalo calf was born, an event prophesized for generations and of immense significance to buffalo cultures, signifying the re-birth of the Buffalo Nation. This birth and the concurrent revitalization of buffalo cultures pierces the ecologically destructive way of life on the Great Plains with hope. Today, 47 tribes are members of the Intertribal Bison Cooperative. Numerous grassroots efforts are underway in communities throughout the region to restore buffalo, and non-Indian people ranging from the wealthy to the most modest of subsistence farmers, are returning the buffalo to the plains. Why? Because it makes sense.

We believe that dialogue around and support for this rebirth is central to the ecological future of America; that is to say, the ecological and cultural transformation of the heartland of America -- from industrialized agriculture and a natural resource management policy based on the eradication of species and on fear--to a future based on sustainability. The buffalo are at the center of this dialogue. This initiative is about forwarding that dialogue -- among Native, environmental, philanthropic, farming and other communities, at the heart of America. In this vein, Honor the Earth supports local initiatives matched with regional, national and international efforts focused on buffalo restoration. Our work strives to increase awareness of the ecological, cultural and economic crisis of the Great Plains and shed light on possible solutions.