From an estimated 60 million animals, only about 325 American bison remained by the late 19th century. Today, on the tribal lands of the Sicangu Lakota in South Dakota, the world's largest indigenously managed bison herd grazes. The rebuilding offers more than conservation: it changes who decides how to manage one of North America's most biodiverse grassland regions.
From 60 Million to 325 Animals
Bison were far more than a food source for Great Plains nations. For the Sicangu Lakota on the Rosebud Reservation, bison provided meat, hides, bones, and were the spiritual anchor of an entire way of life. What the US Army and commercial hunters carried out between 1860 and 1890 was no unintended side effect of Western expansion: the US government actively promoted hunting to destroy the material foundation of Plains nations. The National Park Service documents the nadir at roughly 325 animals in 1884. In less than two decades, 60 million became less than one thousandth.
The consequences were structural. Reservations received flour rations instead of buffalo meat in the late 1800s. Food insecurity and associated health problems persisted on many reservations. For the Sicangu Lakota, the loss of the bison was not abstract: it marked the transition from self-sufficiency to dependence on government allocations.
11,300 Hectares of Native Grassland
In October 2020, the Sicangu Lakota Oyate, partnering with the World Wildlife Fund, launched the Wolakota Buffalo Range project on the Rosebud Reservation in southern South Dakota. On 28,000 acres (approximately 11,300 hectares) of native grassland, 135 bison were initially released, transferred from Badlands National Park, Theodore Roosevelt National Park, and the American Prairie Reserve. The transfer was coordinated by the US Department of Interior working with the Rosebud Economic Development Corporation (REDCO) and the Tribal Land Enterprise.
Four years later, over 1,200 bison graze on the Wolakota Buffalo Range. The target is 1,500 animals, the land's carrying capacity. With this, Wolakota is today the world's largest indigenously managed bison herd.
In 2024, the project took another step: commercial meat harvests were conducted for the first time. In partnership with Sacred Storm, a Rapid City-based indigenous meat processing company, bison meat reached Rosebud Reservation communities directly. The project thus combines ecological restoration with concrete food sovereignty. In 2025, animals were equipped with GPS monitors to refine herd management and grassland stewardship. Riverbank assessments along the Little White River show measurable improvement in river and bank health since bison were carefully reintegrated into these sensitive areas.
In Comparison: Bison Return as a Movement
Wolakota is the most visible single project within a broader movement. The InterTribal Bison Cooperative, founded in 1992 and today the umbrella organization for 89 tribal nations, has returned thousands of bison to tribal lands since its founding. A 2024 report documents over 25,000 bison on more than one million acres of tribal land in the US. For comparison: only three decades ago, there were barely more than a few hundred animals on a handful of reservations.
In 2024 alone, more than 20 tribal nations adopted over 1,500 bison as part of a coordinated initiative by the InterTribal Bison Cooperative working with The Nature Conservancy. Beneficiaries included the Blackfeet Nation in Montana, the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, and the Osage Nation in Oklahoma. The increase from roughly 325 animals in 1884 to an estimated 400,000 to 500,000 bison across North America today shows the species itself has been saved. The question of who controls bison herds and who benefits from them remains distinct.
The ecological effect of this reintroduction extends beyond species protection. Bison are regarded as ecosystem engineers: through selective grazing, soil compaction in their characteristic wallows, and seed dispersal, they create fine-scale landscape structures that promote biodiversity and sequester carbon in soil. A 2024 World Economic Forum synthesis of research from the Romanian Carpathians shows that 170 European bison can sequester as much carbon as the annual output of 43,000 cars. American bison create similar processes, though systematic measurements for Great Plains grasslands are still underway.
From 325 to 25,000: A Century of Return
The story of American bison on tribal lands can be told in a few data points: 1884 nadir at roughly 325 animals, 1992 founding of the InterTribal Bison Cooperative as the first coordinated tribal response, 2020 launch of Wolakota Buffalo Range with 135 animals, 2024 over 25,000 bison on US tribal land. Behind these numbers lies not a natural miracle but a political decision by tribal nations that have for decades fought for the return of land and the ability to manage their own resources.
The Wolakota project of the Sicangu Lakota shows what happens when tribal organizations control land and engage external partners like the WWF without surrendering decision-making authority. The 1,200 bison on 11,300 hectares of Rosebud grassland are not a finished success but an ongoing experiment in indigenous self-governance, ecological regeneration, and food sovereignty. The grass of Rosebud Reservation never forgot the bison, the Sicangu Lakota write on their website. It took only 135 years for the animals to return.