In the Lakota creation story, buffalo and people are one and the same. The buffalo have been a keystone species, nourishing soils and ecosystems and creating the conditions for people and prairie to thrive. The US government’s active destruction of the buffalo in North America was part of an intentional effort to crush the power of the Lakota by severing the sacred connection to their foodways. For the Lakota, the path towards healing lies in remembering, a process rooted in restoring the buffalo and their homelands.
Sicangu Oyate, or the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, is working to reclaim Wicozani, or “the good way of life” for the Lakota – holistic health, economic self-sufficiency, cultural revitalization, sustainable housing, food sovereignty, climate resilience, and shared, lasting prosperity. Their work is anchored in the maintenance of the largest Indigenous-led buffalo herd in the world. By reclaiming and redefining the Lakota way of life, Sicangu Oyate offers hope that we can once again recognize the fact that we are a part of nature, and that we can live in humble balance once more.
