Bringing the buffalo home, restoring the Buffalo Nation
The 28,000 acre Wolak̇ota Buffalo Range, home to over a thousand buffalo, is the largest Native-owned bison herd in the world. Wolak̇ota supports the regeneration of the land, people, and economy of the Siċaŋġu Lak̇ota Oyate.
Wolak̇ota centers a Lak̇ota worldview while addressing two of humanity’s great existential crises: climate change and social inequity.
As the largest native species in the grassland prairie, the bison plays a healing and restorative role in a healthy ecosystem. And as an animal recognized by the Sicangu Lakota as a relative, the buffalo plays a healing and restorative role in the Native cultural economy. When the buffalo is healthy, the Sicangu Oyate is healthy.
Ṫaṫanka (buffalo) & the Lak̇ota
The bond between the Lak̇ota and Ṫaṫanka is sacred. For millennia, Ṫaṫanka cared for Lak̇ota people by providing food, shelter, clothing, tools, and ceremonial items. European and American settlers hunted buffalo to near extinction, disrupting the Lak̇ota way of life and the local ecosystems. The Wolak̇ota Buffalo Range is a sustainable solution that will return Tatanka to our homelands and will not only revitalize the prairie, but also the people who call it home.
The Wolak̇ota Regenerative Buffalo Range will provide meaningful cultural and educational opportunities, initiate ecological regeneration, combat climate change, strengthen food sovereignty, and create economic opportunity for the Sicangu Lakota Oyate.
Meet the Team
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TJ Heinert
TJ@Sicangu.co
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Jerrica Donnell
jerrica@sicangu.co
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Koby Jeschkeit-Hagen
koby@sicangu.co
Be a part of this healing story
We invite you to join World Wildlife Fund, the US Department of the Interior, and the many corporate and individual donors and investors who helped bring the Wolak̇ota vision to life.