Jason Baldes is the National Wildlife Federation’s Tribal Partnerships Program Tribal Buffalo Program Manager for the Eastern Shoshone Tribe. In 2016 he brought 10 pure certified disease-free Bison to the Wind River Reservation. In 2017 he helped bring 10 more from the National Bison Range in Montana and in 2019 a tribe-to-tribe agreement brought 4 bulls to the Wind River Reservation’s Shoshone Buffalo Restoration Program. The area started at 300 acres with the goal of one day managing buffalo on a large scale. By 1885 there were no more buffalo for the plains to provide for the tribes. With buffalo gone for over 131 years, the American Indian Religious Freedom Act is the driving force for Buffalo Restoration, connecting elders to youth and providing a cultural belief system though buffalo conservation. “We are not only helping the land, we are healing ourselves through buffalo.” – Jason Baldes
