Where the buffalo roam: Herd treads again on tribal land
WIND RIVER INDIAN RESERVATION, Wyo. — The men stood by the edge of the corral to mark the release of the first buffalo to run on the Wind River Indian Reservation in decades.
The sound of their drums mixed with their voices lifted in song and the 10 buffalo shifted nervously before finally they bolted and ran out onto the grassy plain.
The buffalos’ first free steps on the reservation on Thursday marked a homecoming that’s been decades in the making for members of the Eastern Shoshone Tribe.
Leslie Shakespeare, a member of the Eastern Shoshone Business Council, the tribe’s governing body, watched the buffalo move through the tall, parched yellow grass. “It’s very surreal, just seeing them released and seeing them run across the field here,” he said. “Seeing everybody’s emotions — a lot of people are real emotional.”