Poster Essay: Bison Rebirth

We’ve asked some noted conservationists, ecotourism managers, and researchers to write short essays that we’ll pair with future exhibitions of the ecotourism poster series. Here’s Dan O’Brien, author and South Dakota Bison Rancher, writing to match our Bison Rebirth poster.

***

When Americans dream, there is an enormous blue sky and rolling grasslands to a distant horizon. There is a steady breeze bringing the scent of possibilities. There are no restraints, no boundaries, and no limits.

When Americans dream, they dream like buffalo. It is as if we can stand in their skins, stare with their beguiling dark eyes, and let the rare, prairie rains drip benignly from our noble goatees. We imagine ourselves as country boys or strong, young women with long smooth muscles, solid bodies, and steady hands.

We feel a kind of innocence, tempered with confidence and power. There is the thousand-yard stare of wisdom, patience, and endurance. When we dream like buffalo we can imagine ourselves as the center of the world. To the culture that came before us, buffalo were, in fact, the center of their world.

The nomadic, equestrian, plains Indians believed that they were related to buffalo. The stories that were told as lessons to the children often involved interaction between buffalo and people: The gods had made them from the same dirt, people and buffalo could easily converse, they could change places, and they helped each other survive on the hostile Great Plains that they both called home.