The American bison (commonly called buffalo) went from tens of millions to the edge of extinction, and came back.
“Buffalo are part of America's story. Once numbering in the tens of millions across North America, bison were pushed close to extinction in the 1800s. Their recovery is one of America's great conservation stories.”
Estimates of how many bison lived on the Great Plains before 1800 range from 30 to 100 million (Smithsonian's National Zoo). The National Park Service says herds once numbered roughly 40 million. By the 1890s, fewer than 1,000 bison remained on the whole continent.
Bison also lived in the East. An estimated 2 to 4 million lived east of the Mississippi River, and Daniel Boone reported seeing thousands on Kentucky's bluegrass in 1769 (NPS).
In Tennessee, the Tennessee Encyclopedia says the last two reports of bison were recorded near Nashville in 1795, while an NPS history lists bison as gone from the state by 1823. Long hunters in the early 1700s described grasslands populated with bison and elk as far as the eye could see, and Native Americans used fire to keep those grasslands open.
The National Park Service notes that Native American tribes especially revere Yellowstone's bison as descendants of the historic Great Plains herds. Dozens of tribes take part in the InterTribal Buffalo Council, which helps tribes return bison to tribal lands, and over one million acres of tribal land now support bison conservation and cultural efforts.
When bison became the national mammal, the Wildlife Conservation Society called them an ecological keystone, a cultural bedrock and an economic driver. Bison matter to different nations in different ways. This page shares only what the cited sources say, and it is not a substitute for the voices of Native nations themselves.
“Buffalo and grasslands go together. Their grazing can help shape plant communities, cycle nutrients through the soil, and support healthy grassland ecosystems when herds and land are managed responsibly.”
“At Vital Buffalo Farm, raising buffalo means respecting the animal and the land that sustains it. It means thinking beyond the next season and asking: What are we leaving behind?”
Vital Buffalo Farm protects its land in Georgetown, Tennessee with a conservation easement held by The Land Trust for Tennessee. The farm hosts the Blessing of the Buffalo, which it describes as a way to celebrate heritage, conservation, community, and the land.
These are the same facts you unlock in Adopt a Buffalo.
