WEBVTT

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[Music]

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the Buffalo have been in here before

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we\'ve ever been here and while an ID

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they\'ll be here at your work home

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[Music]

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the only animal that we don\'t allow to

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be wild in North America is the one that

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was symbolic of the wild sometimes they

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call this animal faces the storm because

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that\'s what it did when that storm comes

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through that wing starts to Hal those

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snow start to whiff turns right into it

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and starts walking towards that storm

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because it\'s that storm is coming

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towards you you\'re gonna be out of it

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quicker this is a very smart animal very

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very smart animal we believe that the

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Buffalo and Indian people were created

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almost to be as one and one without the

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other can\'t survive this grassland is

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calling up for the Buffalo is it too

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late is something I ponder about bison

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are difficult neighbors that\'s the

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reality

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it\'s just whose land is this who belongs

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here and who\'s the intruder I don\'t

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think that Buffalo can be restored

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unless we can figure out a way for them

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to pay which means we got to eat Buffalo

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at one time we had 50 million in the

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sons of bitches here on this United

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States and I killed them all off this

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year we wanted to come down and do a

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hunt sabotage to get in the way of these

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hunters and frustrate them and and try

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to prevent them from killing bison and

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risk our lives and put ourselves between

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the hunters in the hunted

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[Music]

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greetings and welcome to christy the

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wordsmith the word buff is a

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hard-working member of the English

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lexicon buff is the name of a color it\'s

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also a synonym for naked to buff up is

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to clean or polish and a buff is an

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ardent fan or enthusiast as in sports

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before camera buff though the word

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appears to glance off at schizophrenic

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angles all the senses of buff have the

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same source and that\'s the abbreviation

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of Buffalo the term used to refer to the

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water buffalo of Asia and Africa \'s cape

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buffalo this has also been the popular

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name of the North American bison since

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at least the early 1600s

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[Music]

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I know that Buffalo come out of the same

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evolutionary strain that I do

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and that evolutionary sense there can to

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be there is sort of a window into a

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vanished world bison as much as any

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other icon in the West represents what

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the West is this animal that evolved on

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the Great Plains and whether it was a

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drought or it was fire or snow was deep

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they were able to survive in massive

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numbers

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[Music]

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bison have been in North America

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somewhere between 200,000 and 800,000

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years bison evolution goes through a

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variety of different species some of

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which became extinct before humans ever

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arrived there was an animal called bison

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Priscus which appears in the cave art in

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Europe but it became extinct 70,000

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years ago in North America another

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species it became extinct before humans

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got here was bison latifrons and that\'s

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the Bison that\'s got horns with a span

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of 6 feet between the tips the next

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animal in the length bison antiquus it\'s

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called very definitely was hunted by

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humans but that animal did become

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extinct probably as a result of human

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hunting pressure over the course of

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three or four thousand years after the

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extinction of bison antiquus the

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survivor species becomes a dwarfed

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animal and that becomes our present

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species

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I had gone up Hayden Valley on foot I\'ve

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sat down in the open dropped my day pack

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and was looking at vegetation and I

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heard this and I looked up and here came

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my bull and I thought you want to be

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where I am so I went off on hands and

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knees until I had enough distance that I

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thought I could stand up without his

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objecting to that he walked over and

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stood exactly where I\'d been sitting

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just stood there present day people very

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commonly consider present-day bison

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stupid they stand and they stare at you

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to me stupid as a human term I would

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call them stolid he was simply telling

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me whose land this was and if you were

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silly enough not to read the message you

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might have a problem if you read that

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message no problem at all

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[Music]

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[Music]

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[Laughter]

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[Music]

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once met an old-time Rancher who had to

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take over a bison herd and I asked him

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how he heard at the Bison and he said

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well it\'s quite easy all you do is

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figure out which way the Bison are going

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herd them in that direction and that\'s

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something we haven\'t quite learned to do

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not only with bison but all of nature

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figure out what way nature is going and

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go in that direction that\'s why I like

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the animals so much because they can

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teach us that fundamental lesson not

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just about bison and but about it living

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in this place Buffalo are not tame and

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do not make good pets the heavy massive

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head is backed by 2,000 pounds of power

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they cannot be trusted because you never

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know what they will do it\'s important to

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remember that humans can be very rude

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and in terms of violating space shoving

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a camera up against practically an

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animal\'s face I call that rude if you\'re

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in the way you\'re in the way that\'s just

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how it is

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stay behind me behind me and fluctuate

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yeah behind me right there that\'s it

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stay here don\'t run away

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[Music]

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[Music]

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now I was born in this state of Montana

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I\'ve been pretty much all over the

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goddamn world so there\'s a hell of a lot

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that I know up here then I don\'t go

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around it\'s about spreading it all over

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hell Matt faker but I\'ll try to ask you

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guys questions truthfully

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the signs are all around here so if the

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Buffalo are free to walk all over this

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goddamn place some of the characters

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killed four right out here in the yard

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and after they left there were nine

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Buffalo came in here

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single file and they made a circle

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around that bloody spot and they were

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not real loud but they mumbled among

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themselves and after they spent about

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thirty minutes there one took off and

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all the rest of them followed him they

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never came back

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they\'re a wonderful animal and the thing

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of it is I like to see them around they

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were in here before there were small

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human beings at least white ones

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the human relationship with bison is a

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really old one you\'d probably say it\'s

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the oldest economic life way that you

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can find anywhere in North America bison

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became the primary big animal in the

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western part of North America that

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fuelled Indian culture and economy that

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goes on for least eight or nine thousand

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years we had shot up a buffalo up here

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by East Glacier Park we blessed the guns

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we best bless the people that were going

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to do the shooting we sang some songs

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and then we began to look at the animal

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that we were going to shoot

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immediately the other Buffalo surrounded

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it and they actually stood between us

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and him the bigger Buffalo pushed him

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with his head as to indicate he come on

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get up get up meet him you know each one

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of them took their own turn pushed you

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butted even trying to get him out

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finally they had realized that he was

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dying and so they circled him once more

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than when he run to the north and he

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stopped and they all faced us in a

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single line looking at us then we

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approached the bull after it had died as

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if to say you go ahead and take him down

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it that we\'ve sent him on his way long

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ago we were like the Buffalo they

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nourish - we nourish them and we always

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were equal with him we were no better

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than them they were no better than us

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and we got along very well

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the Buffalo were our lodging our food

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just about everything that we existed on

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it used to be our main economy

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okay in Stronach Oken AXA Michigan a

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hawk moxie toy armoire a support system

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ammo Pisgah and haneda soup ammo picanha

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we\'re here at the head smashed in

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buffalo jump this buffalo jump predates

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Christ it\'s a continuum of a long

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existence that thrived Buffalo jump is a

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site where the plains people would hunt

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Buffalo by luring or driving a herd of

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buffalo to the top and then stampeding

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it over the edge of the cliff so that

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they could get the meat and the hides

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they needed for survival out here on the

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plains

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we have a relationship with the Buffalo

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the Buffalo represents power represents

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freedom they represent life to me

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the heights are used the bones are used

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and with that the meat takes us through

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the hard winters into the springtime

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that takes us to the mixture for

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thousands of years this is what we did

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and it brought us to a point where

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another part in history begins

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Native Americans started acquiring

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horses through trade in the middle of

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the 18th century as they acquired horses

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which made hunting bison much easier

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they made themselves into full-time

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equestrian bison hunters who would move

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from place to place

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follow the Bison and inhabit the Great

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Plains year-round in the early part of

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the 19th century that native groups

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began to hunt for commercial purposes

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and spending a lot of their time trading

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the Bison robes to European fur traders

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if you need rifles if you need

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ammunition if you need metal for bridal

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bits or knives the best way to get those

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Goods from the Industrial Revolution if

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you\'re a Plains Indian is to kill a

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bunch of Buffalo and have your women

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dress out the robes and then trade them

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to the traders of the global market

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[Music]

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by about 1830 the small numbers of bison

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in the mountain valleys of the Rockies

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and west of the Rockies are getting

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hunted out by Indians and by white fur

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trappers bison are pretty much confined

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to their core range the great plains

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that was always the center of the Bison

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range the great bison built after about

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1870 euro-americans move into the great

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plains and start hunting bison

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themselves and what you have in the

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1870s is the spasm of industrial

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expansion into the great plains when the

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railroad opened up the bison hide trade

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the Kansas Pacific Railroad had buffalo

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hunting excursions where they drove

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people out on the tracks sometimes they

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wouldn\'t even stop the train they would

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just go along at five or ten miles an

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hour and let people blast away

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[Music]

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anything that would give money that was

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what the guild abhor the ricotta slate

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all over this goddamn United States

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where they killed him and took the hides

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left him lying around

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[Music]

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history should teach us something visit

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what was the thinking behind destroying

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the Buffalo

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why did they do it

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there was a feeling that they had to

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give way that they had to be erased in

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order to paint the canvas with something

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else

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federal government has no willingness to

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fight a long campaign against Indians in

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the Great Plains we\'re putting up some

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pretty fierce resistance to the United

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States conquest so they send a peace

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commission out into the Great Plains and

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they make a number of treaties now these

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treaties reserved to the plains groups

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the right to hunt bison in a very large

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areas so long as the Bison remained in

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numbers that were sufficient to justify

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the hunt commanders in the Great Plains

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knew that there were lots of private

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hunters engaged in killing the Bison

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they knew native resistance would

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decline as the bison numbers decline

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[Music]

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the reason that Native Americans

00:20:00.999 --> 00:20:03.490
ultimately succumbed to the reservation

00:20:03.490 --> 00:20:04.690
system was not because they were

00:20:04.690 --> 00:20:06.610
defeated in the field the reason that

00:20:06.610 --> 00:20:08.169
they succumbed to the reservation system

00:20:08.169 --> 00:20:09.909
was that there simply were no more bison

00:20:09.909 --> 00:20:11.919
left for them to subsist outside of the

00:20:11.919 --> 00:20:14.850
reservation system

00:20:17.590 --> 00:20:24.509
[Music]

00:20:24.509 --> 00:20:27.460
so from 30 million animals at the

00:20:27.460 --> 00:20:30.400
beginning of the 19th century by 1884

00:20:30.400 --> 00:20:32.710
there are fewer than a thousand Buffalo

00:20:32.710 --> 00:20:35.820
left in North America

00:20:36.921 --> 00:20:40.970
the traditional Indians believed that

00:20:40.970 --> 00:20:42.649
what had happened was that bison had

00:20:42.649 --> 00:20:45.769
returned to the ground because in

00:20:45.769 --> 00:20:48.980
traditional Indian belief bison emerged

00:20:48.980 --> 00:20:52.130
either from underground and spilled out

00:20:52.130 --> 00:20:54.980
onto the plains out of caves or from

00:20:54.980 --> 00:20:57.740
beneath a waterfall there\'s a woman

00:20:57.740 --> 00:21:00.470
among the Kiowa her name was old lady

00:21:00.470 --> 00:21:03.350
horse she was down at a creek one

00:21:03.350 --> 00:21:04.880
morning and looked up and saw the

00:21:04.880 --> 00:21:07.070
mountain open up and the last herd of

00:21:07.070 --> 00:21:08.840
buffalo in the southern plains and

00:21:08.840 --> 00:21:11.299
disappear inside the mountain which the

00:21:11.299 --> 00:21:13.490
Kiowa was referred to still today as

00:21:13.490 --> 00:21:14.610
hiding mountain

00:21:14.610 --> 00:21:16.540
[Music]

00:21:16.540 --> 00:21:18.910
Edwards sheriff Curtis said when he was

00:21:18.910 --> 00:21:22.330
on Pine Ridge about 1905 he asks some of

00:21:22.330 --> 00:21:25.330
those elderly Lakota men so what

00:21:25.330 --> 00:21:27.640
happened to the Buffalo then they said

00:21:27.640 --> 00:21:31.660
it\'s walking it\'s a mystery we don\'t

00:21:31.660 --> 00:21:34.390
know what happened to them when Curtis

00:21:34.390 --> 00:21:37.230
said don\'t you think we killed them all

00:21:37.230 --> 00:21:40.240
Indians would still tell him by 1905 on

00:21:40.240 --> 00:21:42.880
this beyond humans couldn\'t have killed

00:21:42.880 --> 00:21:44.830
my flow it\'s beyond the ability of

00:21:44.830 --> 00:21:46.540
humans to have done that Buffalo have

00:21:46.540 --> 00:21:48.090
been here forever they\'re like the stars

00:21:48.090 --> 00:21:51.370
it\'s like they said walking out and

00:21:51.370 --> 00:21:54.010
looking up at the night sky and suddenly

00:21:54.010 --> 00:21:56.500
having all the stars erased you think

00:21:56.500 --> 00:21:59.310
humans can do that

00:22:11.660 --> 00:22:17.059
[Music]

00:22:17.059 --> 00:22:21.639
by the early 1880s a lot of Americans

00:22:21.639 --> 00:22:23.199
and especially people in the

00:22:23.199 --> 00:22:25.089
conservation community began to realize

00:22:25.089 --> 00:22:27.249
that bison were possibly going to go

00:22:27.249 --> 00:22:30.940
completely extinct and that this was an

00:22:30.940 --> 00:22:34.149
animal that was such an iconic creature

00:22:34.149 --> 00:22:36.789
for North America that it symbolized

00:22:36.789 --> 00:22:43.749
America to the world this is the

00:22:43.749 --> 00:22:46.709
Hornaday Room in Fort Benton Montana and

00:22:46.709 --> 00:22:50.349
this is the last Buffalo from the great

00:22:50.349 --> 00:22:52.719
herds that were killed out in the 1880s

00:22:52.719 --> 00:22:54.729
these particular specimens were

00:22:54.729 --> 00:22:57.009
collected by a man named William temple

00:22:57.009 --> 00:22:59.819
Hornaday he was the first of the modern

00:22:59.819 --> 00:23:01.629
taxidermist he was an outstanding

00:23:01.629 --> 00:23:04.719
individual there are people like William

00:23:04.719 --> 00:23:06.309
T Hornaday at the New York Zoological

00:23:06.309 --> 00:23:09.399
Park who decided that at the very least

00:23:09.399 --> 00:23:13.889
they should create a collection of

00:23:13.889 --> 00:23:20.139
stuffed Buffalo and so Hornaday ended up

00:23:20.139 --> 00:23:22.389
making a hunt into the badlands country

00:23:22.389 --> 00:23:24.160
of eastern Montana

00:23:24.160 --> 00:23:28.140
[Music]

00:23:28.140 --> 00:23:31.539
it took them two three weeks to finally

00:23:31.539 --> 00:23:33.700
get the lead on a small herd of bison

00:23:33.700 --> 00:23:37.059
and they shot them fairly late in the

00:23:37.059 --> 00:23:39.340
afternoon and they decided to go back to

00:23:39.340 --> 00:23:42.269
the camp that night

00:23:44.100 --> 00:23:49.480
during the night this kill site was

00:23:49.480 --> 00:23:51.790
visited by some of the local Indians

00:23:51.790 --> 00:23:54.100
which they discovered when they returned

00:23:54.100 --> 00:23:56.770
the next morning because several parts

00:23:56.770 --> 00:23:58.930
of the Buffalo had been taken and the

00:23:58.930 --> 00:24:02.440
skull and the horns of the big bull were

00:24:02.440 --> 00:24:05.950
decorated with feathers and ribbons and

00:24:05.950 --> 00:24:08.680
all sorts of symbols

00:24:08.680 --> 00:24:16.900
[Music]

00:24:16.900 --> 00:24:20.610
there was evidence of Indians had danced

00:24:20.610 --> 00:24:21.930
around sir there were a lot of moccasin

00:24:21.930 --> 00:24:24.930
prints all around the dead animals and

00:24:24.930 --> 00:24:26.610
so they had come tonight and done some

00:24:26.610 --> 00:24:28.880
kind of ceremony around those animals

00:24:28.880 --> 00:24:32.310
then had left when they made no attempt

00:24:32.310 --> 00:24:35.220
to cover their tracks it may have had

00:24:35.220 --> 00:24:36.420
something to do with their awareness

00:24:36.420 --> 00:24:39.080
that these were some of the last ones

00:24:39.080 --> 00:24:41.580
it\'s kind of interesting that that\'s the

00:24:41.580 --> 00:24:43.950
scientific reaction when you think there

00:24:43.950 --> 00:24:46.050
are only a handful of them left is that

00:24:46.050 --> 00:24:48.060
you go out and bag them and haul them

00:24:48.060 --> 00:24:50.580
off to a taxidermist to have them stuff

00:24:50.580 --> 00:24:54.810
then you put them in a diorama Hornaday

00:24:54.810 --> 00:24:57.420
built a framework out of wrought iron

00:24:57.420 --> 00:25:01.470
and wire and laughs and he coded these

00:25:01.470 --> 00:25:04.020
things and burlap soaked everything in

00:25:04.020 --> 00:25:06.300
our snick so that there\'d be no bugs or

00:25:06.300 --> 00:25:08.850
anything get into it and then sewed them

00:25:08.850 --> 00:25:12.870
all together on them the original skulls

00:25:12.870 --> 00:25:15.850
are inside these particular mounts

00:25:15.850 --> 00:25:17.920
and to show you how short the buffalo

00:25:17.920 --> 00:25:19.750
supply was the next year the American

00:25:19.750 --> 00:25:22.930
Museum of Natural History in 1887 sent

00:25:22.930 --> 00:25:25.210
out a group to collect some bison

00:25:25.210 --> 00:25:29.620
specimens and found none Teddy Roosevelt

00:25:29.620 --> 00:25:31.930
did the same thing in the Dakotas you

00:25:31.930 --> 00:25:33.580
know at the point when Roosevelt

00:25:33.580 --> 00:25:36.490
realized about 1882 that the Buffalo

00:25:36.490 --> 00:25:40.600
were almost gone his reaction was to hop

00:25:40.600 --> 00:25:43.570
on a train and get out to North Dakota

00:25:43.570 --> 00:25:45.790
as fast as he could so he could go kill

00:25:45.790 --> 00:25:49.720
one the federal government has used this

00:25:49.720 --> 00:25:52.240
whole bull we have and they designed all

00:25:52.240 --> 00:25:56.050
the emblems and stationery and stamps

00:25:56.050 --> 00:25:58.240
for the Park Service and a lot of

00:25:58.240 --> 00:26:00.580
federal organizations so you know this

00:26:00.580 --> 00:26:04.410
guy\'s had a lot of artwork done on him

00:26:04.410 --> 00:26:07.219
the group that was instrumental in

00:26:07.219 --> 00:26:09.649
bringing Buffalo back from the brink of

00:26:09.649 --> 00:26:11.749
extinction was the American bison

00:26:11.749 --> 00:26:14.689
Society William T Hornaday assembled a

00:26:14.689 --> 00:26:16.659
group of people that consisted mostly of

00:26:16.659 --> 00:26:17.989
well-heeled

00:26:17.989 --> 00:26:22.819
elite Easterners and these men decided

00:26:22.819 --> 00:26:26.239
that the animals should not be allowed

00:26:26.239 --> 00:26:29.059
to roam as a wild animal across the

00:26:29.059 --> 00:26:31.309
plains so it was a deliberate act of

00:26:31.309 --> 00:26:33.829
policy bison were singled out a hundred

00:26:33.829 --> 00:26:36.019
years ago as literally the only one of

00:26:36.019 --> 00:26:40.309
the big megafauna animals in the West

00:26:40.309 --> 00:26:43.849
that didn\'t get to be wild animals in

00:26:43.849 --> 00:26:47.509
the 20th century we saved them but we

00:26:47.509 --> 00:26:49.729
didn\'t save them as wild animals we

00:26:49.729 --> 00:26:51.919
wanted to say them as kind of a fenced

00:26:51.919 --> 00:26:56.839
in almost zoo population of animals so

00:26:56.839 --> 00:26:58.699
tourists could go and see them and say

00:26:58.699 --> 00:26:59.269
aha

00:26:59.269 --> 00:27:01.429
that\'s what a buffalo looked like and if

00:27:01.429 --> 00:27:03.409
I use my imagination and extrapolate

00:27:03.409 --> 00:27:05.899
into the millions I can recreate it but

00:27:05.899 --> 00:27:08.839
we didn\'t want them to actually spread

00:27:08.839 --> 00:27:10.639
into the millions and cover the plains

00:27:10.639 --> 00:27:11.180
again

00:27:11.180 --> 00:27:22.990
[Music]

00:27:22.990 --> 00:27:28.970
the grasslands a treeless windswept

00:27:28.970 --> 00:27:32.750
continent of grass stretching from the

00:27:32.750 --> 00:27:35.480
broad Texas Panhandle up through the

00:27:35.480 --> 00:27:37.040
mountain reaches of Montana to the

00:27:37.040 --> 00:27:38.760
Canadian border

00:27:38.760 --> 00:27:43.090
country of high winds and Sun

00:27:43.090 --> 00:27:45.900
I win and some

00:27:45.900 --> 00:27:48.440
[Music]

00:27:48.440 --> 00:27:52.740
one of the very first explorers who was

00:27:52.740 --> 00:27:54.900
on the southern plains was a guy named

00:27:54.900 --> 00:27:58.260
Stephen long the first thing he says

00:27:58.260 --> 00:28:00.570
when he looks at these short grass

00:28:00.570 --> 00:28:02.640
prairies as far as the eye can see is

00:28:02.640 --> 00:28:05.340
this country would be fairly easy to

00:28:05.340 --> 00:28:09.570
plant in Kentucky bluegrass the first

00:28:09.570 --> 00:28:12.270
thought is how can I take this place and

00:28:12.270 --> 00:28:21.840
turn it into something else starting in

00:28:21.840 --> 00:28:24.030
the 1870s 1880s the home setting

00:28:24.030 --> 00:28:26.780
frontier really came to the Great Plains

00:28:26.780 --> 00:28:29.400
this was the last part of the American

00:28:29.400 --> 00:28:33.480
West that anybody tried to homestead the

00:28:33.480 --> 00:28:34.830
assumption was with the Louisiana

00:28:34.830 --> 00:28:35.340
Purchase

00:28:35.340 --> 00:28:37.110
and everything following that that all

00:28:37.110 --> 00:28:39.630
open space would someday be diced up and

00:28:39.630 --> 00:28:45.480
given to farmers in 40 acre parcels what

00:28:45.480 --> 00:28:48.630
you had for about a 50 year period was

00:28:48.630 --> 00:28:51.870
all of that wonderful short grass

00:28:51.870 --> 00:28:54.960
buffalo habitat plowed up and turned

00:28:54.960 --> 00:28:59.120
over and planted in wheat

00:28:59.120 --> 00:29:02.680
the country started out being D

00:29:02.680 --> 00:29:07.390
buffaloed and then it got D wolfed the

00:29:07.390 --> 00:29:09.640
farmers made every effort they could to

00:29:09.640 --> 00:29:13.210
D prairie-dog the country and finally

00:29:13.210 --> 00:29:16.180
they pretty much degress tit and so they

00:29:16.180 --> 00:29:19.860
took a very old ecological setting and

00:29:19.860 --> 00:29:27.190
dismantle it the result of all those

00:29:27.190 --> 00:29:29.710
changes meant that humans that sort of

00:29:29.710 --> 00:29:31.450
trip wired the whole Great Plains to

00:29:31.450 --> 00:29:32.320
fall apart

00:29:32.320 --> 00:29:34.240
as soon as the weather change didn\'t get

00:29:34.240 --> 00:29:36.160
drier and so that\'s what we call the

00:29:36.160 --> 00:29:38.550
Dust Bowl

00:29:39.650 --> 00:29:47.800
a third of the population leaves the

00:29:47.800 --> 00:29:51.330
region and so all of that effort of

00:29:51.330 --> 00:29:53.890
dismantling that region and destroying

00:29:53.890 --> 00:29:56.410
the ecology of it and a lot of ways came

00:29:56.410 --> 00:30:01.930
for not ultimately we define progress as

00:30:01.930 --> 00:30:04.510
people coming to live in a place the

00:30:04.510 --> 00:30:06.040
train comes in they build a white picket

00:30:06.040 --> 00:30:07.690
fence and it\'s a saloon in the church

00:30:07.690 --> 00:30:11.890
and now it\'s good well that\'s not

00:30:11.890 --> 00:30:16.179
necessarily progress progress is really

00:30:16.179 --> 00:30:19.720
coming to terms with the conditions made

00:30:19.720 --> 00:30:22.510
sure to lays out for us it\'s completely

00:30:22.510 --> 00:30:24.790
necessary to do so the land won\'t

00:30:24.790 --> 00:30:28.110
tolerate anything else

00:30:30.220 --> 00:30:35.160
[Music]

00:30:38.070 --> 00:30:53.900
[Music]

00:30:53.900 --> 00:30:58.720
back in about 1902 the bison population

00:30:58.720 --> 00:31:03.309
had been reduced to about 25 animals at

00:31:03.309 --> 00:31:06.130
that time the park managers felt that

00:31:06.130 --> 00:31:09.909
they\'d probably go extinct and so they

00:31:09.909 --> 00:31:13.320
brought in 23 additional bison and

00:31:13.320 --> 00:31:16.630
ranched them in the mammoth area as part

00:31:16.630 --> 00:31:23.980
of a herd to show the visitors by 1915

00:31:23.980 --> 00:31:26.169
they had more bulls than they could deal

00:31:26.169 --> 00:31:28.480
with and eventually of course they

00:31:28.480 --> 00:31:31.890
reached a little over a thousand bison

00:31:31.890 --> 00:31:34.480
Horace Albright who was superintendent

00:31:34.480 --> 00:31:38.740
in the 20s staged show roundups complete

00:31:38.740 --> 00:31:40.630
with dressed up for the part Native

00:31:40.630 --> 00:31:43.690
Americans and TVs and finally there were

00:31:43.690 --> 00:31:44.950
people who said they didn\'t think it was

00:31:44.950 --> 00:31:46.690
particularly humane to be forcing these

00:31:46.690 --> 00:31:48.059
big stampede

00:31:48.059 --> 00:31:51.490
but the 1930s was much more a period at

00:31:51.490 --> 00:31:53.169
beginning to try to think in range

00:31:53.169 --> 00:31:55.840
management terms and to maintain a more

00:31:55.840 --> 00:31:57.910
natural looking population

00:31:57.910 --> 00:32:07.939
[Music]

00:32:07.939 --> 00:32:15.480
in about the 1940s they began allowing

00:32:15.480 --> 00:32:18.570
the Bison to more naturally use the

00:32:18.570 --> 00:32:21.180
Yellowstone Park in the surrounding area

00:32:21.180 --> 00:32:24.630
and now Yellowstone has one of the

00:32:24.630 --> 00:32:26.520
largest wild free-ranging bison

00:32:26.520 --> 00:32:29.960
populations in the world

00:32:29.960 --> 00:32:33.660
back in the 1880s a lot of people that

00:32:33.660 --> 00:32:36.240
had bison herds were trying to and were

00:32:36.240 --> 00:32:38.070
successfully hybridizing them with

00:32:38.070 --> 00:32:40.560
cattle consequently a lot of the

00:32:40.560 --> 00:32:42.930
domestic and public herds in the u.s.

00:32:42.930 --> 00:32:45.830
today have cattle genes in them

00:32:45.830 --> 00:32:48.720
the Yellowstone herd almost miraculously

00:32:48.720 --> 00:32:52.350
stayed free of the cattle genes herd in

00:32:52.350 --> 00:32:54.570
Yellowstone had some fantastic herd it\'s

00:32:54.570 --> 00:32:56.820
one of the most diverse genetics of any

00:32:56.820 --> 00:33:00.080
of the bison populations we have today

00:33:00.080 --> 00:33:03.350
at this point our management plan is to

00:33:03.350 --> 00:33:06.210
maintain and preserve a wild

00:33:06.210 --> 00:33:08.580
free-ranging bison population in and

00:33:08.580 --> 00:33:11.340
around Yellowstone National Park with

00:33:11.340 --> 00:33:14.760
the objective of allowing some bison in

00:33:14.760 --> 00:33:17.070
selected areas on public lands outside

00:33:17.070 --> 00:33:20.550
Yellowstone outside the park though

00:33:20.550 --> 00:33:23.340
there\'s other management objectives that

00:33:23.340 --> 00:33:26.100
have to be addressed along with our

00:33:26.100 --> 00:33:28.110
neighbors for instance in the state of

00:33:28.110 --> 00:33:30.590
Montana

00:33:38.570 --> 00:33:44.989
this is hi cow country this is summer

00:33:44.989 --> 00:33:47.749
grazing country some of the best in the

00:33:47.749 --> 00:33:48.139
west

00:33:48.139 --> 00:33:50.840
this is the country of big beef herds

00:33:50.840 --> 00:33:54.610
and vas trenches

00:33:54.610 --> 00:33:57.550
in many states in the United States and

00:33:57.550 --> 00:33:59.350
Montana\'s no exception a large

00:33:59.350 --> 00:34:01.000
percentage of the land is actually owned

00:34:01.000 --> 00:34:03.190
by the federal government and that land

00:34:03.190 --> 00:34:06.010
is available for people to log to mine

00:34:06.010 --> 00:34:09.159
and in particular to graze cattle and

00:34:09.159 --> 00:34:11.889
the more wildlife we have on the

00:34:11.889 --> 00:34:14.830
landscape the fewer acres available for

00:34:14.830 --> 00:34:15.540
grazing cattle

00:34:15.540 --> 00:34:18.460
so the range war that continues to rage

00:34:18.460 --> 00:34:21.100
across the West is a competition between

00:34:21.100 --> 00:34:24.899
wildlife and cattle

00:34:24.899 --> 00:34:27.780
the reason that Montana looks the way

00:34:27.780 --> 00:34:30.419
that it does today is because ranchers

00:34:30.419 --> 00:34:32.160
have been stewards of this land for over

00:34:32.160 --> 00:34:34.169
a hundred years we\'ve been stewards of

00:34:34.169 --> 00:34:35.400
the water we\'ve been stewards of the

00:34:35.400 --> 00:34:37.110
riparian areas we\'ve been stewards of

00:34:37.110 --> 00:34:40.169
the range through managed grazing and I

00:34:40.169 --> 00:34:41.669
think there\'s been some conflict in

00:34:41.669 --> 00:34:43.350
terms of the effects of livestock

00:34:43.350 --> 00:34:47.190
grazing versus Wildlife grazing you look

00:34:47.190 --> 00:34:49.110
at the Montana hundred years ago when

00:34:49.110 --> 00:34:51.780
there were millions of Buffalo roaming

00:34:51.780 --> 00:34:53.490
the state of Montana it didn\'t look like

00:34:53.490 --> 00:34:56.280
it did today a lot of the range was very

00:34:56.280 --> 00:34:58.320
over grazed we didn\'t have a large

00:34:58.320 --> 00:35:00.450
healthy population of cottonwood trees

00:35:00.450 --> 00:35:02.190
on the Yellowstone River they weren\'t

00:35:02.190 --> 00:35:03.600
there because they were trampled by the

00:35:03.600 --> 00:35:06.030
the mismanagement of a free ranging

00:35:06.030 --> 00:35:08.670
wildlife or free ranging Buffalo it\'s

00:35:08.670 --> 00:35:11.340
just kind of a reality that the managed

00:35:11.340 --> 00:35:12.930
approach the ranchers have had on this

00:35:12.930 --> 00:35:14.550
landscape over the last hundred years is

00:35:14.550 --> 00:35:16.260
a large part of why it looks like it

00:35:16.260 --> 00:35:18.620
does today

00:35:19.650 --> 00:35:26.690
[Music]

00:35:26.690 --> 00:35:30.780
[Applause]

00:35:30.780 --> 00:35:33.889
[Music]

00:35:33.889 --> 00:35:37.309
livestock people have a terrific

00:35:37.309 --> 00:35:41.599
prejudice against Buffalo this prejudice

00:35:41.599 --> 00:35:44.260
is rooted in their absolute wildness

00:35:44.260 --> 00:35:48.079
they suggest something that is very

00:35:48.079 --> 00:35:52.420
almost offensive to a livestock person

00:35:52.420 --> 00:35:58.690
they suggest a depth in animals that is

00:35:58.690 --> 00:36:03.339
unsettling to somebody who raises cattle

00:36:17.650 --> 00:36:24.130
we\'re raising the fifth generation Myers

00:36:24.130 --> 00:36:27.790
is on the ranch right now we summer cows

00:36:27.790 --> 00:36:31.630
here in the West Yellowstone area I\'ve

00:36:31.630 --> 00:36:33.460
spent my life in and around the

00:36:33.460 --> 00:36:36.790
Yellowstone my great granddad was a

00:36:36.790 --> 00:36:38.890
buffalo herder in Yellowstone for the

00:36:38.890 --> 00:36:41.310
army before it became Yellowstone Park

00:36:41.310 --> 00:36:44.710
and my granddad\'s main job was to sort

00:36:44.710 --> 00:36:47.200
the herd every fall and clean him up and

00:36:47.200 --> 00:36:49.060
then the old barren cows and the old

00:36:49.060 --> 00:36:52.390
bulls or cripples or defects went to a

00:36:52.390 --> 00:36:55.060
slaughter plant and processed and give

00:36:55.060 --> 00:36:57.220
them to whoever needed the food at the

00:36:57.220 --> 00:37:01.180
time now we just let nature take its

00:37:01.180 --> 00:37:04.360
course and they have to have room in the

00:37:04.360 --> 00:37:06.010
spring in the fall there\'s just no place

00:37:06.010 --> 00:37:06.640
to go

00:37:06.640 --> 00:37:08.920
in Yellowstone to support that many

00:37:08.920 --> 00:37:14.320
Buffalo I feel bad for the Buffalo it\'s

00:37:14.320 --> 00:37:18.360
not their fault I kind of like Buffalo

00:37:18.360 --> 00:37:21.470
in terms of how the livestock industry

00:37:21.470 --> 00:37:23.600
is interacted with the bison situation

00:37:23.600 --> 00:37:25.220
we talk about its ease called

00:37:25.220 --> 00:37:26.720
brucellosis and it\'s um that the

00:37:26.720 --> 00:37:28.820
yellowstone herd has a large infectivity

00:37:28.820 --> 00:37:33.590
rate in the history of america the

00:37:33.590 --> 00:37:35.510
livestock industry has played a major

00:37:35.510 --> 00:37:38.420
role in contributing to the strength of

00:37:38.420 --> 00:37:41.300
our economy maintaining the two great

00:37:41.300 --> 00:37:44.630
pillars of our food supply meat and milk

00:37:44.630 --> 00:37:47.210
means guarding our livestock against

00:37:47.210 --> 00:37:50.930
infectious disease the main route at

00:37:50.930 --> 00:37:52.790
transmission of the disease is the

00:37:52.790 --> 00:37:55.760
female bison that are infected would

00:37:55.760 --> 00:37:58.730
abort their calf and then the landscape

00:37:58.730 --> 00:38:00.740
will be contaminated and cattle can

00:38:00.740 --> 00:38:02.960
subsequently come and be exposed to the

00:38:02.960 --> 00:38:05.900
bacteria the disease brucellosis itself

00:38:05.900 --> 00:38:09.400
is on the CDC\'s list as far as potential

00:38:09.400 --> 00:38:11.660
organisms that can be used by bio

00:38:11.660 --> 00:38:15.230
terrorists years of research at the

00:38:15.230 --> 00:38:17.030
animal disease station of the Bureau of

00:38:17.030 --> 00:38:20.810
animal industry finally in December 1940

00:38:20.810 --> 00:38:24.470
strain 19 an effective vaccine when

00:38:24.470 --> 00:38:26.930
properly handled was ready for extensive

00:38:26.930 --> 00:38:28.910
distribution for cat food vaccination

00:38:28.910 --> 00:38:35.260
against brucellosis while montana since

00:38:35.260 --> 00:38:38.270
1934 has spent several million dollars

00:38:38.270 --> 00:38:40.130
to try to eliminate the brucellosis

00:38:40.130 --> 00:38:44.740
disease in his domestic cattle herd

00:38:44.740 --> 00:38:48.080
we don\'t take a cow home until we\'ve run

00:38:48.080 --> 00:38:50.000
through the city facilities here and

00:38:50.000 --> 00:38:52.580
made sure that they\'re they\'re not

00:38:52.580 --> 00:38:54.860
carrying brucellosis for I take them

00:38:54.860 --> 00:38:57.040
home

00:38:57.740 --> 00:39:04.530
we know that it was present in European

00:39:04.530 --> 00:39:06.630
cattle that were brought over here and

00:39:06.630 --> 00:39:09.920
most people believe that cattle

00:39:09.920 --> 00:39:12.450
transmitted brucellosis to bison

00:39:12.450 --> 00:39:17.640
originally despite the fact that we have

00:39:17.640 --> 00:39:19.350
yet to have the actual transmission

00:39:19.350 --> 00:39:22.500
embrace losses from bison to cattle and

00:39:22.500 --> 00:39:25.440
in spite of the fact that the elk herd

00:39:25.440 --> 00:39:27.840
in the Yellowstone Teton area also

00:39:27.840 --> 00:39:30.900
carries brucellosis livestock interests

00:39:30.900 --> 00:39:33.750
have targeted the buffalo herd in

00:39:33.750 --> 00:39:36.120
Yellowstone as being the culprit that

00:39:36.120 --> 00:39:37.860
would cause the two states to lose their

00:39:37.860 --> 00:39:42.090
brucellosis free designation in politics

00:39:42.090 --> 00:39:44.460
sometimes you have to listen to the

00:39:44.460 --> 00:39:46.560
rhetoric very closely and if you listen

00:39:46.560 --> 00:39:48.720
to the rhetoric closely enough you\'ll

00:39:48.720 --> 00:39:50.760
find out that they\'re saying one thing

00:39:50.760 --> 00:39:51.780
but what they actually meant was

00:39:51.780 --> 00:39:57.480
something else there are people who just

00:39:57.480 --> 00:40:01.620
don\'t want Buffalo to compete with the

00:40:01.620 --> 00:40:04.460
cattle for grass

00:40:04.460 --> 00:40:14.790
[Music]

00:40:14.790 --> 00:40:18.100
you know the great Wild West of the

00:40:18.100 --> 00:40:20.680
migrating bison herds I think is a thing

00:40:20.680 --> 00:40:22.660
of the pasture there\'s just no place for

00:40:22.660 --> 00:40:25.710
that to happen anymore

00:40:25.710 --> 00:40:26.610
[Applause]

00:40:26.610 --> 00:40:36.770
[Music]

00:40:47.000 --> 00:40:50.990
during the winter time when Yellowstone

00:40:50.990 --> 00:40:52.760
is hit pretty hard with some snowpack

00:40:52.760 --> 00:40:55.130
the bison began to migrate north out of

00:40:55.130 --> 00:40:56.720
Yellowstone Park and into the state of

00:40:56.720 --> 00:41:00.020
Montana the Montana Department of

00:41:00.020 --> 00:41:02.630
livestock is tasked with trying to keep

00:41:02.630 --> 00:41:04.670
those bison any position where they

00:41:04.670 --> 00:41:06.890
don\'t get too far into Montana and pose

00:41:06.890 --> 00:41:09.050
a risk of exposure that could jeopardize

00:41:09.050 --> 00:41:13.369
our brucellosis free status it\'s

00:41:13.369 --> 00:41:15.230
unfortunate people that enjoy

00:41:15.230 --> 00:41:17.180
Yellowstone in the summer aren\'t exposed

00:41:17.180 --> 00:41:18.680
to what happens to bison in the

00:41:18.680 --> 00:41:20.210
wintertime because if more people were

00:41:20.210 --> 00:41:21.380
exposed to what happened in the

00:41:21.380 --> 00:41:23.660
wintertime bison management as is

00:41:23.660 --> 00:41:25.280
currently practiced would not continue

00:41:25.280 --> 00:41:27.110
because there would just be this

00:41:27.110 --> 00:41:31.910
absolute outrage when bison wander out

00:41:31.910 --> 00:41:33.530
of Yellowstone those bites are then

00:41:33.530 --> 00:41:36.130
somewhat hazed back into Yellowstone

00:41:36.130 --> 00:41:38.690
well any Buffalo that takes a step

00:41:38.690 --> 00:41:41.390
outside of Yellowstone National Park has

00:41:41.390 --> 00:41:44.060
no rights and is not even treated as

00:41:44.060 --> 00:41:49.160
wildlife they\'re put into the custody of

00:41:49.160 --> 00:41:51.560
the Montana Department of livestock who

00:41:51.560 --> 00:41:53.810
have absolutely no background of

00:41:53.810 --> 00:41:58.040
Wildlife Management Department of

00:41:58.040 --> 00:42:01.850
livestock nationals they keep trying to

00:42:01.850 --> 00:42:03.800
drive them back into the father

00:42:03.800 --> 00:42:07.139
[Music]

00:42:07.139 --> 00:42:10.260
those poor simple-minded sons of bitches

00:42:10.260 --> 00:42:12.119
they go all the way out then we bring

00:42:12.119 --> 00:42:13.410
them all the way back and they go all

00:42:13.410 --> 00:42:14.580
the way up we bring them all the way

00:42:14.580 --> 00:42:19.310
back I\'m an agricultural scientists I

00:42:19.310 --> 00:42:21.780
understand the livestock business this

00:42:21.780 --> 00:42:23.520
is not going to eradicate brucellosis

00:42:23.520 --> 00:42:26.310
this is a tool for chasing Buffalo

00:42:26.310 --> 00:42:27.690
around and slaughtering them if it gets

00:42:27.690 --> 00:42:30.440
to be too many of them

00:42:30.440 --> 00:42:36.320
what we\'re doing is just trying to give

00:42:36.320 --> 00:42:39.560
the animals the same rights as all other

00:42:39.560 --> 00:42:42.170
wildlife that we have in this area and

00:42:42.170 --> 00:42:44.270
that is to under our national forests

00:42:44.270 --> 00:42:48.280
and their state lands that will

00:42:48.980 --> 00:42:54.740
I was around in 96-97 winter when the

00:42:54.740 --> 00:42:57.020
state of Montana together with the Park

00:42:57.020 --> 00:43:00.440
Service killed 1083 Buffalo which was

00:43:00.440 --> 00:43:02.060
approximately one third of the entire

00:43:02.060 --> 00:43:07.490
herd and it was at that point that we

00:43:07.490 --> 00:43:09.380
realized if we didn\'t have cameras

00:43:09.380 --> 00:43:11.690
documenting every move that they made

00:43:11.690 --> 00:43:13.910
they would probably kill off the last

00:43:13.910 --> 00:43:15.920
while free-ranging herd of buffalo we

00:43:15.920 --> 00:43:17.130
have in the United States

00:43:17.130 --> 00:43:24.820
[Music]

00:43:26.570 --> 00:43:29.620
he is now inside Yellowstone National

00:43:29.620 --> 00:43:30.690
Park

00:43:30.690 --> 00:43:34.970
less than 20 feet off the ground

00:43:41.188 --> 00:43:46.299
until they get those same rights as all

00:43:46.299 --> 00:43:48.130
other wildlife we will have people

00:43:48.130 --> 00:43:50.589
coming here from all over the world to

00:43:50.589 --> 00:43:52.800
stand up and protect these animals

00:43:52.800 --> 00:43:56.550
[Music]

00:44:14.861 --> 00:44:26.660
[Music]

00:44:26.660 --> 00:44:29.799
the majority of bison our man is true

00:44:29.799 --> 00:44:32.829
removals and what they do is they\'ve got

00:44:32.829 --> 00:44:36.609
traps that they use to capture bison

00:44:36.609 --> 00:44:38.930
they put them into trucks they drive

00:44:38.930 --> 00:44:41.059
them to slaughterhouses in Montana and

00:44:41.059 --> 00:44:43.410
Idaho and they kill them

00:44:43.410 --> 00:44:49.500
[Music]

00:44:49.500 --> 00:44:52.609
I graduated from Montana State

00:44:52.609 --> 00:44:54.829
University in 1996 with a master\'s

00:44:54.829 --> 00:44:58.729
degree in biology after I graduated a

00:44:58.729 --> 00:45:03.130
job came up working as a biological

00:45:03.130 --> 00:45:13.069
technician in the slaughterhouses no

00:45:13.069 --> 00:45:14.150
woman\'s ever worked in that

00:45:14.150 --> 00:45:18.559
slaughterhouse but as a biologist you do

00:45:18.559 --> 00:45:20.239
need to work and it\'s not easy finding

00:45:20.239 --> 00:45:28.909
work my job was to collect tissues from

00:45:28.909 --> 00:45:32.869
the Bison they wanted to know if these

00:45:32.869 --> 00:45:37.269
animals were infected with brucellosis

00:45:37.269 --> 00:45:41.299
and there were all different ages they

00:45:41.299 --> 00:45:45.979
just took them all they were frightened

00:45:45.979 --> 00:45:48.229
I mean that that\'s not putting human

00:45:48.229 --> 00:45:51.909
feelings onto an animal they were

00:45:52.440 --> 00:46:02.769
[Applause]

00:46:02.769 --> 00:46:05.239
the first time that they took an animal

00:46:05.239 --> 00:46:08.359
into the chute and shot it it was really

00:46:08.359 --> 00:46:13.539
hard didn\'t feel right

00:46:13.539 --> 00:46:17.300
I remember going out into the back of

00:46:17.300 --> 00:46:19.220
the slaughterhouse and just looking out

00:46:19.220 --> 00:46:23.080
at the mountains and going forgive me

00:46:23.080 --> 00:46:25.940
and we slaughtered I don\'t know how many

00:46:25.940 --> 00:46:28.580
hundreds and hundreds as long as there

00:46:28.580 --> 00:46:30.260
was enough snow to drive the animals out

00:46:30.260 --> 00:46:30.920
of the park

00:46:30.920 --> 00:46:34.040
they were kept slaughtering them I\'m

00:46:34.040 --> 00:46:37.280
kind of embarrassed because that\'s if I

00:46:37.280 --> 00:46:39.380
was just one shouldn\'t kind of lose it

00:46:39.380 --> 00:46:44.140
was like this but um it was really hard

00:46:44.140 --> 00:46:50.569
but being a human being - you\'re pretty

00:46:50.569 --> 00:47:00.259
resilient and I got used to it at the

00:47:00.259 --> 00:47:03.979
end of the workday I would take all the

00:47:03.979 --> 00:47:07.159
tissues that I had to a lab and bozeman

00:47:07.159 --> 00:47:12.079
I always wanted to know why I never got

00:47:12.079 --> 00:47:14.390
an escort because I had the tissues

00:47:14.390 --> 00:47:17.689
involved with reproduction they were

00:47:17.689 --> 00:47:20.049
really that concerned about brucellosis

00:47:20.049 --> 00:47:24.849
why they didn\'t care about what I had

00:47:25.960 --> 00:47:32.690
[Music]

00:47:32.690 --> 00:47:38.300
[Music]

00:47:38.300 --> 00:47:41.520
this seemed to be so inappropriate that

00:47:41.520 --> 00:47:43.170
the Park Service and the state of

00:47:43.170 --> 00:47:45.420
Montana would be orchestrating this

00:47:45.420 --> 00:47:47.190
destruction of this magnificent animal

00:47:47.190 --> 00:47:50.940
and I was asked to organize an effort to

00:47:50.940 --> 00:47:53.430
try to stop the hunters from killing

00:47:53.430 --> 00:47:56.460
bison we were aware that fun for animals

00:47:56.460 --> 00:47:59.090
was involved in West Yellowstone

00:47:59.090 --> 00:48:02.850
tracking when the next hunt was going to

00:48:02.850 --> 00:48:05.390
be the movement of the animals there\'s

00:48:05.390 --> 00:48:08.520
two good places to shoot one of these if

00:48:08.520 --> 00:48:10.890
you can imagine being accompanied from

00:48:10.890 --> 00:48:13.020
your hotel room out into the fields by

00:48:13.020 --> 00:48:15.780
Fish Wildlife and Parks employees we can

00:48:15.780 --> 00:48:16.890
lose the Buffalo it would be hard to

00:48:16.890 --> 00:48:19.770
tell which one the hit was basically I

00:48:19.770 --> 00:48:22.530
can\'t hunt it\'s kind of like going out

00:48:22.530 --> 00:48:25.290
and shooting a couch with lots of people

00:48:25.290 --> 00:48:27.600
to help you find that couch they\'re

00:48:27.600 --> 00:48:29.190
hunting turkeys the hunting lobby that\'s

00:48:29.190 --> 00:48:31.400
what this is they want a hunt bison

00:48:31.400 --> 00:48:33.330
hunters want to be able to stick it

00:48:33.330 --> 00:48:35.130
let\'s take a different kind of head on

00:48:35.130 --> 00:48:36.600
the wall and that\'s what that\'s what all

00:48:36.600 --> 00:48:40.320
this is about on that particular morning

00:48:40.320 --> 00:48:42.990
a group of us went out someone\'s know

00:48:42.990 --> 00:48:44.730
what bills someone skis

00:48:44.730 --> 00:48:47.190
there\'s about ten or eleven people that

00:48:47.190 --> 00:48:48.420
are working the Buffalo back

00:48:48.420 --> 00:48:51.570
[Applause]

00:48:51.800 --> 00:48:55.970
we\'ll be out here as long as it takes

00:48:55.970 --> 00:48:58.640
we\'re hoping that they based on our

00:48:58.640 --> 00:49:00.740
presence here they will decide to call

00:49:00.740 --> 00:49:02.120
off the hunt for a day perhaps call it

00:49:02.120 --> 00:49:03.290
off for several days you have a

00:49:03.290 --> 00:49:06.380
perfectly be right to go down there and

00:49:06.380 --> 00:49:08.060
take your Buffalo if you\'d like to do

00:49:08.060 --> 00:49:12.800
that the three hunters each started to

00:49:12.800 --> 00:49:19.820
pursue different bison and we surrounded

00:49:19.820 --> 00:49:21.620
the animals we started making noise we

00:49:21.620 --> 00:49:29.540
started trying to be disruptive what

00:49:29.540 --> 00:49:31.790
happened oh we got a whole bunch of

00:49:31.790 --> 00:49:35.570
people on skis down there it wasn\'t safe

00:49:35.570 --> 00:49:36.680
shooting they didn\'t want to hurt

00:49:36.680 --> 00:49:39.950
anybody they got in the way you know get

00:49:39.950 --> 00:49:41.960
fired sooner or later we get some wheels

00:49:41.960 --> 00:49:44.500
we got skis

00:49:44.500 --> 00:49:45.460
[Music]

00:49:45.460 --> 00:49:48.510
[Applause]

00:49:48.510 --> 00:49:51.480
[Music]

00:49:51.480 --> 00:49:54.810
John position himself directly in front

00:49:54.810 --> 00:50:00.450
of a hunter whose gun was drawn and he

00:50:00.450 --> 00:50:03.270
that bison from being shot at that point

00:50:03.270 --> 00:50:05.340
in time that\'s what resulted in me

00:50:05.340 --> 00:50:08.180
getting charged with hunter harassment

00:50:08.180 --> 00:50:09.620
[Music]

00:50:09.620 --> 00:50:11.670
Montana\'s hunter harassment law

00:50:11.670 --> 00:50:13.560
prohibits anyone from disturbing a

00:50:13.560 --> 00:50:15.660
hunter with the intent to discourage or

00:50:15.660 --> 00:50:17.700
dissuade him from shooting his prey I

00:50:17.700 --> 00:50:19.800
was the filler time before the OJ trial

00:50:19.800 --> 00:50:22.950
when it was aired so while the people

00:50:22.950 --> 00:50:24.630
are waiting for edge a trial to happen

00:50:24.630 --> 00:50:26.730
they could take and what Montana versus

00:50:26.730 --> 00:50:29.220
a little burn will burns attorney says

00:50:29.220 --> 00:50:31.560
the statute infringes upon our clients

00:50:31.560 --> 00:50:34.290
constitutional rights in plain words we

00:50:34.290 --> 00:50:37.350
cannot limit free speech in a way to say

00:50:37.350 --> 00:50:39.810
that only dissuading is what\'s not

00:50:39.810 --> 00:50:42.030
allowed i believe this whole case is

00:50:42.030 --> 00:50:44.820
about mr. slimmers right not to be

00:50:44.820 --> 00:50:46.920
disturbed while he\'s engaging in a

00:50:46.920 --> 00:50:50.550
lawful hunt mr. schlimmer after you shot

00:50:50.550 --> 00:50:53.030
the Bison did you make any statements I

00:50:53.030 --> 00:50:58.130
did these dollars that are up here

00:50:58.130 --> 00:51:00.120
trying to stop it

00:51:00.120 --> 00:51:02.000
worth every bit as hard as anybody else

00:51:02.000 --> 00:51:04.380
you have to admire him for that as far

00:51:04.380 --> 00:51:09.210
as I\'m concerned we the jury make the

00:51:09.210 --> 00:51:11.730
following verdict to the charge of

00:51:11.730 --> 00:51:16.030
harassment guilty

00:51:16.030 --> 00:51:18.340
and eventually I was sentenced to 40

00:51:18.340 --> 00:51:20.500
hours of community service plus a $15.00

00:51:20.500 --> 00:51:25.200
court fee and that took about five years

00:51:25.200 --> 00:51:29.170
I\'m not so naive as to think that no

00:51:29.170 --> 00:51:31.360
bison are gonna be killed but that hunt

00:51:31.360 --> 00:51:33.820
and the way that bison are treated is

00:51:33.820 --> 00:51:37.210
just extremely disrespectful and it has

00:51:37.210 --> 00:51:40.840
no real validity in a political

00:51:40.840 --> 00:51:45.370
psychological spiritual way and that\'s

00:51:45.370 --> 00:51:51.040
why that bison was important that is

00:51:51.040 --> 00:51:54.120
snack there baby

00:51:54.120 --> 00:51:57.640
if we allow bison to be somewhat free

00:51:57.640 --> 00:52:00.910
and part of that equation is some sort

00:52:00.910 --> 00:52:04.000
of hunt that would be something I

00:52:04.000 --> 00:52:06.160
wouldn\'t really like but it\'s something

00:52:06.160 --> 00:52:09.130
I could live with but the basis for that

00:52:09.130 --> 00:52:11.920
common ground would be respect brought

00:52:11.920 --> 00:52:15.190
to you by the snack master also known as

00:52:15.190 --> 00:52:24.360
the webmaster ball this situation is

00:52:24.360 --> 00:52:28.780
bizarre and there\'s no reason that these

00:52:28.780 --> 00:52:30.880
animals should be confined to the park

00:52:30.880 --> 00:52:34.900
and then cold like livestock

00:52:34.900 --> 00:52:36.310
[Music]

00:52:36.310 --> 00:52:40.540
and I for one would love to hunt one but

00:52:40.540 --> 00:52:44.790
not under the circumstances we have now

00:52:44.790 --> 00:52:49.480
no one wants to think about Yellowstone

00:52:49.480 --> 00:52:52.660
being an outdoor zoo but that\'s what\'s

00:52:52.660 --> 00:53:02.230
happening everybody has spent this

00:53:02.230 --> 00:53:05.440
enormous amount of energy talking about

00:53:05.440 --> 00:53:07.570
brucellosis which isn\'t even the issue

00:53:07.570 --> 00:53:10.750
the issue is whether we are going to

00:53:10.750 --> 00:53:12.840
allow wildlife to be wild

00:53:12.840 --> 00:53:30.380
[Music]

00:53:30.380 --> 00:53:55.530
[Music]

00:53:55.530 --> 00:53:59.970
today most bison exist in privately

00:53:59.970 --> 00:54:03.170
owned commercial propagation herds

00:54:03.170 --> 00:54:06.000
something in the order of 400,000

00:54:06.000 --> 00:54:09.330
animals so we\'ve numerically have

00:54:09.330 --> 00:54:11.390
achieved recovery

00:54:11.390 --> 00:54:14.700
well the rub is that the bison isn\'t

00:54:14.700 --> 00:54:17.280
necessarily a bison unless you strive to

00:54:17.280 --> 00:54:19.710
maintain it maintain the wild type it

00:54:19.710 --> 00:54:23.810
will inevitably become another cow

00:54:31.500 --> 00:54:34.880
[Music]

00:54:49.670 --> 00:54:54.180
bread good

00:54:54.180 --> 00:54:56.750
the two

00:54:56.810 --> 00:54:59.890
sorry very good Drive

00:55:08.640 --> 00:55:14.320
the population of American bison is

00:55:14.320 --> 00:55:16.900
bifurcated essentially we have what

00:55:16.900 --> 00:55:19.330
amounts to a domestic animal which

00:55:19.330 --> 00:55:20.700
achieved many of those domestic

00:55:20.700 --> 00:55:23.500
characteristics by hybridization with

00:55:23.500 --> 00:55:25.810
cattle and then we have a much smaller

00:55:25.810 --> 00:55:27.970
percentage of bison which we call the

00:55:27.970 --> 00:55:30.310
conservation herds which not only do

00:55:30.310 --> 00:55:31.960
they have a low percentage of cattle

00:55:31.960 --> 00:55:35.020
genes but those genes in the bison

00:55:35.020 --> 00:55:37.390
genome are subjected to a large

00:55:37.390 --> 00:55:42.070
component of natural selection they are

00:55:42.070 --> 00:55:45.160
allowed to die they\'re allowed to be

00:55:45.160 --> 00:55:47.650
attacked by both diseases and now much

00:55:47.650 --> 00:55:50.740
more recently by predators so in order

00:55:50.740 --> 00:55:53.440
to maintain wild bison you first of all

00:55:53.440 --> 00:55:55.360
have to have the raw material which is

00:55:55.360 --> 00:55:57.580
capture as much as possible of the Bison

00:55:57.580 --> 00:55:59.860
genome but then you also have to subject

00:55:59.860 --> 00:56:02.500
those herds to the selection processes

00:56:02.500 --> 00:56:04.390
which are constantly testing those

00:56:04.390 --> 00:56:07.560
individuals for fitness

00:56:17.700 --> 00:56:20.840
[Music]

00:56:38.119 --> 00:56:42.019
[Music]

00:56:42.019 --> 00:56:44.430
in general what happens with the

00:56:44.430 --> 00:56:47.549
domestication of wildlife is a direct

00:56:47.549 --> 00:56:49.950
selection for traits that make them

00:56:49.950 --> 00:56:55.469
easier to manage so for example in bison

00:56:55.469 --> 00:56:57.719
you might select against animals that

00:56:57.719 --> 00:57:04.529
like to jump fences traits like that

00:57:04.529 --> 00:57:07.589
might be selected for in the wild so the

00:57:07.589 --> 00:57:10.589
ability to jump over obstacles might

00:57:10.589 --> 00:57:14.809
allow them an edge to escape a predator

00:57:15.939 --> 00:57:24.680
the last Oryx our primitive cow died in

00:57:24.680 --> 00:57:28.560
1627 and a zoom in Germany

00:57:28.560 --> 00:57:30.970
[Music]

00:57:30.970 --> 00:57:33.260
do you want to arrive at that situation

00:57:33.260 --> 00:57:36.980
where yes we\'ve got lots of bison but

00:57:36.980 --> 00:57:38.810
the primitive bison the original

00:57:38.810 --> 00:57:40.820
wild-type bison the last one has died

00:57:40.820 --> 00:57:43.160
out because we haven\'t emphasized its

00:57:43.160 --> 00:57:50.930
conservation what the private commercial

00:57:50.930 --> 00:57:53.210
breeders do with their herds is

00:57:53.210 --> 00:57:55.430
ultimately going to be up to them and

00:57:55.430 --> 00:57:57.650
there will be some individuals who wish

00:57:57.650 --> 00:58:02.610
to engage in conservation of bison

00:58:02.610 --> 00:58:05.040
Pam go up on the right here now

00:58:05.040 --> 00:58:12.150
[Music]

00:58:12.150 --> 00:58:21.390
I got started on bison in 1993 we have a

00:58:21.390 --> 00:58:26.660
bison herd that is approximately fifty

00:58:26.660 --> 00:58:30.060
one thing I\'ve learned is that you can

00:58:30.060 --> 00:58:32.370
do anything you really want with bison

00:58:32.370 --> 00:58:34.230
in terms of management if you want to

00:58:34.230 --> 00:58:36.960
treat them like domestic cattle and pin

00:58:36.960 --> 00:58:38.790
them into a small area and feed them

00:58:38.790 --> 00:58:41.340
green and raise them in feedlot

00:58:41.340 --> 00:58:44.670
situations that can be done or if you

00:58:44.670 --> 00:58:46.770
want to turn them loose on large

00:58:46.770 --> 00:58:49.800
acreages manage them as a semi wild

00:58:49.800 --> 00:58:53.240
animal you can do that too

00:58:53.240 --> 00:58:57.720
bison are just a small segment of the

00:58:57.720 --> 00:59:00.210
meat industry in the United States

00:59:00.210 --> 00:59:02.970
what slaughtered in a year in terms of

00:59:02.970 --> 00:59:04.830
ice and doesn\'t even make up what

00:59:04.830 --> 00:59:06.660
slaughtered in one day in terms of

00:59:06.660 --> 00:59:09.110
cattle

00:59:10.610 --> 00:59:13.729
[Music]

00:59:20.080 --> 00:59:26.960
[Music]

00:59:26.960 --> 00:59:30.489
14 you\'re out for a little bit give me

00:59:30.489 --> 00:59:33.009
13 here any 14 commuters sir and put on

00:59:33.009 --> 00:59:34.719
the bail in 13 what do you say for now

00:59:34.719 --> 00:59:35.769
for now drive the veil

00:59:35.769 --> 00:59:37.059
what do you say is he gonna prevail in

00:59:37.059 --> 00:59:41.049
16 yes sir no avail in 1500 at 16 on the

00:59:41.049 --> 00:59:43.029
bomb hey what do you say at 16 and a

00:59:43.029 --> 00:59:45.789
half we\'re 12 even $1,600 a put-up

00:59:45.789 --> 00:59:50.619
number 97 sir fire 97 go to triple 7

00:59:50.619 --> 00:59:52.209
ranch you guys just buy all five oh

00:59:52.209 --> 00:59:56.170
you\'ll get that nice Buffalo world right

00:59:56.170 --> 00:59:58.150
now what you need to do is you need to

00:59:58.150 --> 01:00:00.729
sell them the story of that Buffalo

01:00:00.729 --> 01:00:02.170
you\'re not selling with the meat you\'re

01:00:02.170 --> 01:00:03.640
selling them that story that you know

01:00:03.640 --> 01:00:07.449
what this Buffalo was raised free-range

01:00:07.449 --> 01:00:10.029
it was born on the Prairie and they know

01:00:10.029 --> 01:00:11.199
exactly where it\'s coming from

01:00:11.199 --> 01:00:13.979
that\'s the easiest way to push the meat

01:00:13.979 --> 01:00:16.719
boils down Buffalo are still wild

01:00:16.719 --> 01:00:19.140
animals

01:00:19.140 --> 01:00:21.290
[Music]

01:00:21.290 --> 01:00:24.150
we run about 1,500 head total right now

01:00:24.150 --> 01:00:26.370
and that includes our Bulls the calves

01:00:26.370 --> 01:00:28.380
and the cows and everything we don\'t

01:00:28.380 --> 01:00:30.030
pick for a single trade if you start

01:00:30.030 --> 01:00:31.440
picking for traits you take all that

01:00:31.440 --> 01:00:33.390
good stuff that\'s been bred into him for

01:00:33.390 --> 01:00:34.980
the last hundred thousand years out of

01:00:34.980 --> 01:00:36.780
them now we\'re starting to meddle with

01:00:36.780 --> 01:00:39.030
something that\'s already obviously

01:00:39.030 --> 01:00:44.790
perfect the cockroaches at the mammal

01:00:44.790 --> 01:00:46.530
world they made it to the Ice Age

01:00:46.530 --> 01:00:48.960
and they\'re not a cockroach hurry

01:00:48.960 --> 01:00:52.790
prairie dog to the cockroaches

01:00:57.641 --> 01:01:01.210
there\'s a reason that they\'ve been

01:01:01.210 --> 01:01:03.489
around for as long as they have they\'re

01:01:03.489 --> 01:01:05.070
perfectly suited to their environment

01:01:05.070 --> 01:01:19.389
[Music]

01:01:19.480 --> 01:01:25.870
we run Buffalo on 20,000 acres of public

01:01:25.870 --> 01:01:28.350
ground the Buffalo Gap National

01:01:28.350 --> 01:01:34.710
Grasslands 22,000 acres is still a tiny

01:01:34.710 --> 01:01:37.780
postage stamp experiment in Buffalo

01:01:37.780 --> 01:01:43.170
restoration but it\'s an incremental step

01:01:43.170 --> 01:01:46.140
we harvest our Buffalo in the field

01:01:46.140 --> 01:01:49.900
which adds to the price it\'s a lot more

01:01:49.900 --> 01:01:52.330
difficult it\'s a lot easier just to put

01:01:52.330 --> 01:01:53.650
them in trucks and haul them to a

01:01:53.650 --> 01:01:55.240
slaughter plant put him in a long chute

01:01:55.240 --> 01:01:56.440
where they hit them over the head going

01:01:56.440 --> 01:01:58.210
through sure that\'s easier that\'s what

01:01:58.210 --> 01:02:00.990
the beef guys do

01:02:00.990 --> 01:02:03.930
almost suggesting a ghostly symbol of

01:02:03.930 --> 01:02:06.059
the verse of the old Chisholm Trail an

01:02:06.059 --> 01:02:08.279
ever-growing stream of cattle are headed

01:02:08.279 --> 01:02:12.119
in a single direction to market I don\'t

01:02:12.119 --> 01:02:14.989
have anything against cattle but

01:02:14.989 --> 01:02:17.069
eventually people are going to say let\'s

01:02:17.069 --> 01:02:19.039
find a better use for this ground

01:02:19.039 --> 01:02:21.359
there\'s going to be a come-to-jesus on

01:02:21.359 --> 01:02:23.460
the Great Plains and what\'s the

01:02:23.460 --> 01:02:25.609
big-ticket item on the Great Plains

01:02:25.609 --> 01:02:27.900
takes you about five seconds to figure

01:02:27.900 --> 01:02:32.029
out it\'s Buffalo I believe the key to

01:02:32.029 --> 01:02:35.009
restoration of Buffalo on any kind of a

01:02:35.009 --> 01:02:37.950
meaningful scale is that somehow or

01:02:37.950 --> 01:02:39.690
another people are going to have to

01:02:39.690 --> 01:02:42.650
start eating Buffalo

01:02:42.650 --> 01:02:48.480
we have about 2,000 steady customers and

01:02:48.480 --> 01:02:51.270
those people who are conscious of what

01:02:51.270 --> 01:02:55.790
they\'re eating are looking for grass-fed

01:02:55.790 --> 01:02:57.990
wild raised if you will

01:02:57.990 --> 01:03:02.520
Buffalo and I think that it began as a

01:03:02.520 --> 01:03:05.100
tourist deal on the Great Plains you

01:03:05.100 --> 01:03:06.810
know eat a buffalo burger see if you can

01:03:06.810 --> 01:03:08.760
stand it that kind of thing yeah but

01:03:08.760 --> 01:03:11.960
turns out that not only is it great

01:03:11.960 --> 01:03:14.910
tasting it tastes better than beef but

01:03:14.910 --> 01:03:17.760
it\'s really good for you so we really

01:03:17.760 --> 01:03:19.950
have something you know that we can plug

01:03:19.950 --> 01:03:24.540
into the old capitalistic model finally

01:03:24.540 --> 01:03:26.910
I\'ve got something on our side here

01:03:26.910 --> 01:03:30.030
there\'s a consciousness in food there\'s

01:03:30.030 --> 01:03:33.540
a backlash against rain and corn farming

01:03:33.540 --> 01:03:34.380
that sort of thing

01:03:34.380 --> 01:03:38.610
if Buffalo are ever to make it now is

01:03:38.610 --> 01:03:39.480
the time

01:03:39.480 --> 01:03:50.590
[Music]

01:03:52.380 --> 01:03:58.050
you know a lot of the social problems

01:03:58.050 --> 01:04:00.540
that we have on on reservations the

01:04:00.540 --> 01:04:03.450
unemployment I\'ll call it the poor

01:04:03.450 --> 01:04:05.430
health conditions it\'s associated with

01:04:05.430 --> 01:04:10.740
the reservation system Indian people

01:04:10.740 --> 01:04:12.750
have got the highest rate of diabetes of

01:04:12.750 --> 01:04:15.360
any ethnic racial group in the country

01:04:15.360 --> 01:04:17.820
we moved from a nomadic way of life

01:04:17.820 --> 01:04:19.830
going out and gathering our own food

01:04:19.830 --> 01:04:22.920
eating Buffalo and other wild games to

01:04:22.920 --> 01:04:25.350
becoming pretty much dormant in one spot

01:04:25.350 --> 01:04:28.620
and the government providing food for us

01:04:28.620 --> 01:04:31.230
that\'s had pretty much dramatic effects

01:04:31.230 --> 01:04:32.760
on her health over the past hundred and

01:04:32.760 --> 01:04:37.620
fifty years now policy has worked out

01:04:37.620 --> 01:04:39.480
through contact with the Indians for

01:04:39.480 --> 01:04:42.150
more than 200 years it stated as helping

01:04:42.150 --> 01:04:44.100
the red man to live his own life and

01:04:44.100 --> 01:04:46.710
manage his own affairs is obvious there

01:04:46.710 --> 01:04:49.140
always must be influence by the majority

01:04:49.140 --> 01:04:51.240
of inhabitants in the United States to

01:04:51.240 --> 01:04:53.070
change the habits and customs of the

01:04:53.070 --> 01:04:55.890
minority such influence is intended to

01:04:55.890 --> 01:04:58.170
be nothing other than helpful to raise

01:04:58.170 --> 01:05:00.540
the Indian standard of living to make

01:05:00.540 --> 01:05:02.940
him happier and more comfortable the

01:05:02.940 --> 01:05:06.740
transformation of thought is underway

01:05:06.740 --> 01:05:11.610
a lot of changes were put upon us in

01:05:11.610 --> 01:05:19.800
people language religion and what\'s good

01:05:19.800 --> 01:05:22.770
fresh no it\'s not good for us and I

01:05:22.770 --> 01:05:24.870
always felt that their thought was to

01:05:24.870 --> 01:05:26.070
get rid of the buff long and

01:05:26.070 --> 01:05:27.390
consequently you\'ll get rid of the

01:05:27.390 --> 01:05:32.330
Indians but we\'re both still here

01:05:32.330 --> 01:05:37.480
the inner travel bison cooperative

01:05:37.480 --> 01:05:40.900
started in 1990 we started out with

01:05:40.900 --> 01:05:43.060
nineteen tribes whose mission was to

01:05:43.060 --> 01:05:45.730
restore Buffalo to tribal lands and

01:05:45.730 --> 01:05:50.190
returning healthy meat to the tribes

01:05:51.690 --> 01:05:59.200
today we\'ve got 57 tribes in nineteen

01:05:59.200 --> 01:06:02.770
states we\'ve got about 15,000 Buffalo

01:06:02.770 --> 01:06:07.930
amongst the tribes we want to

01:06:07.930 --> 01:06:10.240
reintroduce buffalo meat back into the

01:06:10.240 --> 01:06:13.680
diet of Indian people on a daily basis

01:06:13.680 --> 01:06:16.360
we want to replace everything they use

01:06:16.360 --> 01:06:21.370
on beef with Buffalo eventually some of

01:06:21.370 --> 01:06:23.170
our tribal people it\'s hard to convince

01:06:23.170 --> 01:06:26.050
them to eat buffalo it\'s that all in

01:06:26.050 --> 01:06:27.400
that respect that they had for the

01:06:27.400 --> 01:06:29.950
animal that I\'ve heard a number of times

01:06:29.950 --> 01:06:33.900
that this is my brother I can\'t eat him

01:06:33.900 --> 01:06:37.210
when I first seen an actual Buffalo I

01:06:37.210 --> 01:06:39.430
just couldn\'t stop staring I mean you

01:06:39.430 --> 01:06:43.720
know this is the real thing to grow up

01:06:43.720 --> 01:06:47.350
as part of a race that respected a

01:06:47.350 --> 01:06:50.020
single animal so much than to finally be

01:06:50.020 --> 01:06:51.400
able to get to work with them it\'s

01:06:51.400 --> 01:06:53.350
something that is very hard to describe

01:06:53.350 --> 01:06:56.970
but it\'s it\'s very powerful

01:07:00.720 --> 01:07:05.200
[Music]

01:07:05.209 --> 01:07:10.469
it took us 150 years to get in the shape

01:07:10.469 --> 01:07:12.839
we are right now it\'s not gonna you know

01:07:12.839 --> 01:07:16.979
be a miracle here but it\'s a start you

01:07:16.979 --> 01:07:20.479
know gotta start somewhere

01:07:20.479 --> 01:07:25.670
we go love IT BC and myself to bring the

01:07:25.670 --> 01:07:28.400
Buffalo back to Indian country and to

01:07:28.400 --> 01:07:30.650
one one day and what\'s a big dream but

01:07:30.650 --> 01:07:33.170
to one day seem like they were that they

01:07:33.170 --> 01:07:35.030
would be able to roam anywhere that they

01:07:35.030 --> 01:07:38.030
wanted just the way they did before

01:07:38.030 --> 01:07:50.409
[Music]

01:07:50.550 --> 01:07:54.280
twenty-nine minutes past ten o\'clock

01:07:54.280 --> 01:07:56.230
here on the one you depend on que vivió

01:07:56.230 --> 01:07:58.030
we Frank and Debra popper our guest

01:07:58.030 --> 01:07:59.830
today on the talk of Emporia talking

01:07:59.830 --> 01:08:01.510
about the history the future of the

01:08:01.510 --> 01:08:04.540
plains states today our sense is that at

01:08:04.540 --> 01:08:06.250
some level there\'s a new frontier

01:08:06.250 --> 01:08:08.770
struggling to be born that will be very

01:08:08.770 --> 01:08:10.930
different from the 19th century frontier

01:08:10.930 --> 01:08:13.000
which was largely a place for whites to

01:08:13.000 --> 01:08:16.990
conquer live online the Buffalo Commons

01:08:16.990 --> 01:08:19.060
is it for real we Frank and Deborah

01:08:19.060 --> 01:08:20.620
popper and find out why they think

01:08:20.620 --> 01:08:23.049
Buffalo might save our economy and our

01:08:23.049 --> 01:08:25.660
students you both offered an article in

01:08:25.660 --> 01:08:27.730
planning magazine which outlined a plan

01:08:27.730 --> 01:08:29.799
for bringing back large herds of free

01:08:29.799 --> 01:08:31.930
roaming Buffalo to vast areas of what

01:08:31.930 --> 01:08:34.569
you term the deep Plains we have looked

01:08:34.569 --> 01:08:37.810
at what we see to be the trends and

01:08:37.810 --> 01:08:40.930
suggested a way of reinvasion in the

01:08:40.930 --> 01:08:48.370
future in the late 1980s when I was in

01:08:48.370 --> 01:08:50.980
the governor\'s offices when the poppers

01:08:50.980 --> 01:08:56.609
published what now is fairly famous work

01:08:56.609 --> 01:09:00.299
and that\'s when they begin to speculate

01:09:00.299 --> 01:09:04.060
will it go back to some of its form of

01:09:04.060 --> 01:09:07.750
forms including the reintroduction of

01:09:07.750 --> 01:09:09.850
the Great Plains by significant numbers

01:09:09.850 --> 01:09:12.960
of American bison

01:09:12.960 --> 01:09:17.179
but that time we\'ve made a kind of

01:09:17.179 --> 01:09:20.940
historical argument about how the 19th

01:09:20.940 --> 01:09:23.909
century and most of the 20th century

01:09:23.909 --> 01:09:26.489
expectations that the frontier would be

01:09:26.489 --> 01:09:30.029
settled never came true never

01:09:30.029 --> 01:09:33.989
materialized yes people are still out

01:09:33.989 --> 01:09:36.810
there but fewer and fewer every year and

01:09:36.810 --> 01:09:40.069
in general there has been a long-term

01:09:40.069 --> 01:09:43.889
depopulation of the rural plains but now

01:09:43.889 --> 01:09:47.580
goes back more than a century awful of

01:09:47.580 --> 01:09:51.029
Commons was an idea for the ecological

01:09:51.029 --> 01:09:54.719
and environmental restoration of a lot

01:09:54.719 --> 01:09:58.500
of the Great Plains that Buffalo and

01:09:58.500 --> 01:10:01.290
other native animals would in some

01:10:01.290 --> 01:10:04.260
places replace cattle and we could

01:10:04.260 --> 01:10:07.530
imagine a buffalo Commons I don\'t think

01:10:07.530 --> 01:10:09.239
it\'s the time of course we had the

01:10:09.239 --> 01:10:11.429
slightest idea that this would be a long

01:10:11.429 --> 01:10:12.989
term involvement

01:10:12.989 --> 01:10:16.650
it was the response that got us hooked I

01:10:16.650 --> 01:10:20.310
think now we have people such as these

01:10:20.310 --> 01:10:23.460
two who are saying let\'s give it back to

01:10:23.460 --> 01:10:26.790
the Buffalo I don\'t think we said let\'s

01:10:26.790 --> 01:10:28.920
give it all back to the Buffalo what we

01:10:28.920 --> 01:10:31.980
said is we can\'t afford to give any of

01:10:31.980 --> 01:10:34.080
our farmland back to you and your

01:10:34.080 --> 01:10:37.110
Buffalo we expect over time a continued

01:10:37.110 --> 01:10:39.570
decrease in agricultural acreage and

01:10:39.570 --> 01:10:42.179
employment message that you send to

01:10:42.179 --> 01:10:45.420
other parts of the country is a message

01:10:45.420 --> 01:10:48.840
we don\'t like large parts of the plains

01:10:48.840 --> 01:10:53.159
will return something like their pre

01:10:53.159 --> 01:10:55.380
white condition good gracious made a

01:10:55.380 --> 01:10:57.000
whole bunch of folks lived up through

01:10:57.000 --> 01:10:58.500
here it makes a heck of a good living

01:10:58.500 --> 01:11:01.710
the feeds world and him next window blew

01:11:01.710 --> 01:11:03.540
everybody else just like it\'s no big

01:11:03.540 --> 01:11:05.550
deal there have been several other

01:11:05.550 --> 01:11:07.380
theorists who have publicizing their

01:11:07.380 --> 01:11:10.230
views on what\'s best for society one

01:11:10.230 --> 01:11:13.440
that comes to mind is Karl Marx they\'re

01:11:13.440 --> 01:11:17.219
Eastern professors telling people that

01:11:17.219 --> 01:11:19.080
your grandparents and your

01:11:19.080 --> 01:11:21.870
great-grandparents were

01:11:21.870 --> 01:11:25.080
dude people are leaving people are not

01:11:25.080 --> 01:11:27.450
able to make it here you know I suppose

01:11:27.450 --> 01:11:28.980
there aren\'t many of us in America who

01:11:28.980 --> 01:11:31.230
like being told that what they did was a

01:11:31.230 --> 01:11:34.650
mistake on the other hand this century

01:11:34.650 --> 01:11:36.870
long experiment with farming the Great

01:11:36.870 --> 01:11:38.730
Plains in the same fashion say that

01:11:38.730 --> 01:11:42.990
Indiana and Ohio get farmed is probably

01:11:42.990 --> 01:11:45.870
without government subsidy not something

01:11:45.870 --> 01:11:47.400
that was ever going to work to start

01:11:47.400 --> 01:11:53.670
with you know as a governor you\'re

01:11:53.670 --> 01:11:57.540
always optimistic about the future and

01:11:57.540 --> 01:12:00.600
coming from a very small town from a

01:12:00.600 --> 01:12:03.420
farm family you never really want to

01:12:03.420 --> 01:12:07.970
admit that your towns getting smaller

01:12:07.970 --> 01:12:11.170
in my lifetime I\'ve seen a very dramatic

01:12:11.170 --> 01:12:16.000
change of the land of the people it was

01:12:16.000 --> 01:12:18.060
brought home more than any other time in

01:12:18.060 --> 01:12:21.100
1987 when the Franken never published

01:12:21.100 --> 01:12:24.550
their paper and of course I was as

01:12:24.550 --> 01:12:27.190
governor of our state kind of you know

01:12:27.190 --> 01:12:30.390
the Mack Dylan gunslinger come out and

01:12:30.390 --> 01:12:33.880
blazing what could a couple interlopers

01:12:33.880 --> 01:12:36.250
from Rutgers possibly know about it it\'s

01:12:36.250 --> 01:12:38.770
not very pleasant to admit that you were

01:12:38.770 --> 01:12:43.740
wrong you know but the truth is I was

01:12:43.740 --> 01:12:48.250
not only did what Frank and Deborah

01:12:48.250 --> 01:12:51.820
predict come true the out-migration of

01:12:51.820 --> 01:12:55.210
the Great Plains has even been stronger

01:12:55.210 --> 01:12:57.890
in many quarters than they predicted

01:12:57.890 --> 01:12:59.490
[Music]

01:12:59.490 --> 01:13:03.640
when they gave their first talk they had

01:13:03.640 --> 01:13:07.120
to have armed guards well you don\'t have

01:13:07.120 --> 01:13:09.130
to have that anymore because a number of

01:13:09.130 --> 01:13:11.140
us have come to the realization that a

01:13:11.140 --> 01:13:14.970
lot of things they said have come true

01:13:14.970 --> 01:13:18.130
and I think I don\'t think any of us know

01:13:18.130 --> 01:13:20.620
for sure what the future the Great

01:13:20.620 --> 01:13:23.800
Plains is our logo the Kansas Department

01:13:23.800 --> 01:13:26.110
of Wildlife and Parks we have the head

01:13:26.110 --> 01:13:29.290
of a bison and it\'s half dark and half

01:13:29.290 --> 01:13:33.520
light and that\'s for a reason we have a

01:13:33.520 --> 01:13:38.110
pretty dark past we have a much better a

01:13:38.110 --> 01:13:40.650
brighter future

01:13:40.650 --> 01:13:43.180
the Bison once were here

01:13:43.180 --> 01:13:46.840
will they flourish here again that\'s the

01:13:46.840 --> 01:13:50.100
question and the debate

01:13:50.100 --> 01:13:55.220
when we first started on this there was

01:13:55.220 --> 01:13:59.090
standard American rhetoric about bison

01:13:59.090 --> 01:14:00.710
which was that they\'d had a terrible

01:14:00.710 --> 01:14:04.130
19th century and a terrible 20th century

01:14:04.130 --> 01:14:07.700
but things may be looking up in the 21st

01:14:07.700 --> 01:14:09.950
century it may be a good century for

01:14:09.950 --> 01:14:12.160
them

01:14:12.160 --> 01:14:15.450
if you spend enough time say in South

01:14:15.450 --> 01:14:16.440
Phillips County

01:14:16.440 --> 01:14:21.120
it is so silent and I don\'t think it\'s

01:14:21.120 --> 01:14:26.400
supposed to be that silent and it\'s not

01:14:26.400 --> 01:14:28.800
because it\'s not enough people or

01:14:28.800 --> 01:14:30.840
whatever it\'s because I think that that

01:14:30.840 --> 01:14:33.930
those Buffalo swept through there every

01:14:33.930 --> 01:14:38.840
year and it\'s no longer happening

01:14:40.440 --> 01:14:45.520
I\'m looking forward to today when at

01:14:45.520 --> 01:14:48.429
some point in the 21st century we\'re

01:14:48.429 --> 01:14:50.199
going to have the kind of vision that we

01:14:50.199 --> 01:14:52.869
had say with the Wilderness Act in the

01:14:52.869 --> 01:14:55.869
20th century where we think of a

01:14:55.869 --> 01:14:57.789
restoration project with the kind of

01:14:57.789 --> 01:15:00.070
scale and the grandiosity that would

01:15:00.070 --> 01:15:02.110
actually return Buffalo to a wild state

01:15:02.110 --> 01:15:04.599
somewhere on the Great Plains and we

01:15:04.599 --> 01:15:06.820
have wolves and Grizzlies and mountain

01:15:06.820 --> 01:15:08.679
lions and sort of that true primeval

01:15:08.679 --> 01:15:10.320
America with big herds of Buffalo

01:15:10.320 --> 01:15:12.460
everything getting to interact in a

01:15:12.460 --> 01:15:15.059
natural way

01:15:15.059 --> 01:15:21.690
this land still has the memory of what

01:15:21.690 --> 01:15:27.000
the Buffalo means to it our songs our

01:15:27.000 --> 01:15:29.190
ceremonies is calling out for the

01:15:29.190 --> 01:15:32.610
Buffalo to return bring them back bring

01:15:32.610 --> 01:15:34.890
him back here let\'s take these fences

01:15:34.890 --> 01:15:38.200
down bring them back

01:15:38.200 --> 01:15:41.090
[Music]

01:15:41.090 --> 01:15:46.440
we need them probably we need them more

01:15:46.440 --> 01:15:49.040
than they need us

01:15:49.360 --> 01:15:55.310
[Music]

01:15:59.940 --> 01:16:12.180
[Music]

01:16:20.160 --> 01:17:00.979
[Music]

01:17:01.068 --> 01:17:10.329
now what have I said that don\'t have

01:17:10.329 --> 01:17:13.670
have fruit in it

01:17:13.670 --> 01:17:22.739
[Music]

01:17:23.770 --> 01:17:25.830
you