The Return of the American Bison
This past Friday, May 17th was Endangered Species Day. For us and for all of our sourcing partners - every day is endangered species day as it is a key element of our shared ranching model; to promote and provide a healthy ecosystem for ALL creatures to not just live but thrive.
Collectively, by returning bison back to their homeland we are now positively impacting over 300,000 acres of prairie grasslands.
We are always interested in sharing our story and the greater story of the bison and their significance and impact in our past and present world. "The Return of the American Bison" is an important film on their natural and cultural history, as well as the current state of conservation of the North American bison.
We are very proud to be part of this beautiful film - our founder, Dan O'Brien is featured and a majority of the buffalo/prairie footage was filmed on the Cheyenne River Ranch.
This film will take only 14 minutes of your time (although you might not want it to end), and will give you a better idea of where your buffalo meat comes from and the impact of its majestic return.
A big thank you to Nebraska Educational Television for telling the story and for including us. And... a big thank you to all of you for supporting ranchers whose main mission is conservation with an emphasis on supporting an intact ecosystem.
Enjoy the film!
Comments
Jane Lanham
My prayer is that someday mankind with concerns will out number those driven by greed. This film gives me hope. Thank you.
john Collier
Outstanding film…!!! I am looking forward to viewing more to come…!!! what can an indivdual do to be helpful in preserving the Bufffalo for the future…!!!????
sandy
nice to see the buffalo are on the way back
must see this film
THANK YOU
David Sercu
keep up the good work!
Patricia Sandoval
This is how it should be for all of our foods .. hopefully one day we will be able to convince all that it can and should be done .. think of all the new small business owners doing it the right way…
Stephen Kinzy
I thank the Great Spirit every day for the good work that you do!! MITAKUWE OYAS’IN
pat
Thank you. Your new film is a great addition to the work of Russell Thornton.
American Indian Holocaust and Survival (The Civilization of the American Indian Series) by Russell Thornton (Author)
George Frantz
Great historical perspective, plus a poignant tribute to these great animals. The Buffalo Nation is growing, and wise stewardship is seeing to the genetic diversity of the herd. We first tried to tell this story in Buffalo Quarterly Magazine back in the ’70’s, but people were less environmentally tuned in than now. Plus, your film is a more persuasive medium. Hats off to a great effort.
Georgene
Woo-Hoo! Awesome sauce! That was the shortest 14 minutes, ever. Beautifully done. Hats off to all involved. I hope this film is shown in classrooms.
Kathy Treanor
Inspiring! Thanks Dan, Jill and crew!
Jerry and Norma Reynolds
Thank you so much for sharing this film with us. Parts of this history have come up from time to time, but to see this circle of events and information in one presentation is very enlightening. It is so awesome to see the bison return and the caring that is allowing it to happen. We are so interested in this entire process and hope to be very active in it in the very near future. Thank you for all you have fought for and persevered to see to fruition.
Holly Hopper
Thankyou for this beautiful film, and all the important and hard work of restoration… you’re right, didn’t want it to end! But will now forward to my children to view 🙏🏽
Kathleen Pickrell
It is interesting to note that we (and our ancestors) have exploited this land to the point that, now, we are concerned about losing some of the wildlife and land that have attracted us. This is truly an oxymoron. I agree that conservation of the bison is a successful endeavor. Let’s expand to other areas. God gave us the land and the animals for us to enjoy. Let’s not squander it.
Lynn
What a beautiful tribute. Makes me homesick for the country.
Michael Kuhns
A great thanks to NET for initiating this great effort, who first introduced me to Dan with their two part episode of the Great Prairie with photographer Michael Forsberg. Wonderfully filmed, and beautifully narrated. I was totally encapsulated with this imagery, again. I am humbled by these projects.
David
Thank you for sharing!
Eric L Johnson
I look forward to the day when they can once again range the entire bredth of the interior of this great nation of ours!
Bob Mahoney
This is a very informative film and very well done it tells the story of the Bison and hopefully it w ill wake the residents of the USA to save and savor the important prairie biomes for future generations. We the people, bison and prairie enthusiasts must strive to educate and inform the peoples of this nation of the story behind both of theses entities of our natural world. This short film does a great job of doing just that. Thank you Dan and all
Anne Clare
That was beautiful!! Thank you!
Todd Bufkin
AMAZING! One of the most beautiful animals on God’s green Earth! Thank you Dan, for your vocation to the American Bison, and thanks to all who made the film. Semper Fidelis…ask Mr. Merchant
Susan Johnston
We must advocate for the future of the bison in our own way. We must help strengthen the Centra Herd in YNP & it’s genetically pure herd. Thank you Dan et al for doing this with this film to hep educate about the importance of protecting the bison for future generations.
Chris Jensen
Dan and Jill have been at the farming of Bison for many years. At every point of their lives they have made the health of Bison herds and the restoration of the prairie a goal. They are worth our recognition as a couple contributing to America’s sustainability. Thank you Dan and Jill.
Cindy Hess
Thank you
Mort Jaffe
Thank you for this informative, poignant and beautifully made film, and for the work that you continue to do so well.
Josh Powell
Beautiful work – good to see more ranchers joining the cause. Appreciate your stewardship of the land and it’s energy Dan. Also deeply appreciate the service you provide to my family in providing excellent nutrition from a sustainable restorative community. Aloha!
Dan Tornetta
This is beautiful! We need more people to take care of our buffalo. They are such a majestic animal and I love them. I am so happy you all are bringing them back to their home and healing the land.
Love it.
Dani
Penny Gray
Thank you, Dan and Jill.
Raymond Steege
This is a great reminder of what greed does to the land and to nature. Thank you for you passion and dedication to this wonderful cause. Correcting the sins of our past so that nature can be brought back into balance. Beautiful creatures combined with caring people.
Fred
looking good ,thank you for all your hard work
Linda Clark
What a treat to see this film. Thanks to NET for making it and for all you contributed to it and to the restoration of the prairie and the rightful and essential place of the bison in it. And also very important, every time an ecosystem like this is restored, another step is taken to the sequestering of carbon in the soil and the subsequent drawing down of it from the atmosphere. While few of us have the prairie outside our door to help restore, we all have ecosystems around us that have been degraded. Let’s all do what can in our own backyards. A a thousand thanks, Dan, and Jill, for your hard work and for being such an inspiration to us all.
Barbara Horton
Thanks for sharing. Beautiful animals. Beautiful scenery.
Georgia Clark
Thank you, is nice to have a little hope, that part of the grass lands & the buffalo are returning.
Jim Barnard
Very interesting and informative. Great to see the effort in this area of conservation.
Melissa Grieves
Beautiful film! Thank you for sharing it and all the work you do!
Terrence Peterson
Thanks to our relative, the North American Bison, and to all who work to restore its place in Nature.
Steiner Jean-Pierre
Magnifique ! Merci à vous , pour votre aide au retour du bisons .
Larry Delgado
II love this video. I have watched it several times and still enjoy it. We have s few bison in our western Nebraska and to see and hear their strength you just imagine them in the thousands years ago
Rebecca Hukill
Just beautiful, what a wonderful film.
Kim Zarney
Thanks for sharing this wonderful film. It’s a story that needs to be taught in our schools.
Mark Holloway
Fantastic!
Pascal Chollet
Merci beaucoup à vous pour cette belle initiative et ce magnifique film.
Je ne manque jamais de partager vos nouvelles avec mes amis ,en France.
Nous sommes de véritables gamins devant ces magnifiques animaux sauvages et reconnaissants de votre travail.
Le rêve américain c’est aussi ça :retrouver une terre mère originelle.
Chuck Beatty
Beautiful and full of hope. Thank you for leading the way.
Emil Stockton
The lands adjacent to Yellowstone still are Bison free thanks to cattlemen of Montana and their political cronies. That is why Wild Idea products are the only meat I will eat. Cattle are a curse to the western lands and the use of our public lands for cheap cattle fodder is a curse on our public wild lands. Thanks to Dan, Jill and the Wild Idea folks for providing an alternative paradigm for grazing and meat production.
Mike OBrien
Ultimately, If humans are going to live in harmony with the natural world, the first question we must ask ourselves is “How many people are going to live on the Earth?” This should be obvious, but obviously it is not. Therefore, if we are going to save ourselves we need to get to the central question from another direction. What is happening at Wild Idea (and other enlightened peoples and organizations) is suggesting that industrial farming is unsustainable and will eventually overwhelm the natural would. That idea is starting to get some traction and, if it were to truly take hold, the next step would be to show how many people the earth could be support if all of our food could be produced in a truly sustainable manor (like happens at Wild Idea). If we ever get to that point, I think people would be shocked to learn how few people could live on the earth in a truly balanced way. But there is a number, and we could accept it and move towards attaining that population level. In my opinion it is a long shot, but it is our only hope.
Chris and Kim
Excellent video, beautiful footage and a priceless message. Thank you O’Brien’s for sharing!
Paula Jordan
Beautifully done. More people need to watch this and learn how interconnected we are to all aspects of creation. We’re all brothers in one capacity or another.
leanora lawson
beautifully done, almost makes me want to move back to the Midwest, keep up the great work
Linda
Beautiful film with wise words…
Peter Carrels
This film provides an uplifting message in an era when uplifting news is so needed and welcome. We are witnessing a rising interest in environmental and ecological restoration, and the story of the buffalo is a poignant example of that.
CYNTHIA GOOCH
That was just lovely! Thank you for sharing it!
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Kenny Dockery
April 28, 2018
Outstanding