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Education

Education at the International Buffalo Relations Institute is grounded in land-based learning, Indigenous knowledge, and the time-immemorial relationship between people and the buffalo. By creating space for inquiry, connection, and shared understanding, IBRI supports learners of all ages in exploring conservation, culture, health, and community—while fostering Buffalo consciousness and a deeper commitment to cooperation, restoration, and renewal.

Buffalo Treaty Tracks

Buffalo Treaty Tracks is a land-based learning curriculum that is easy to print and use. It is designed to honour the knowledge you carry and deepen your relationship with the Buffalo, while creating a space of inquiry for Indigenous and non-Indigenous teachers.

Through activity cards organized around the nine Articles of the Buffalo Treaty, learners of any age can explore conservation, culture, health, education, research, partnerships and more — in a classroom, on the land, or anywhere in between.

The goal is simple: to expand Buffalo consciousness and explore what it means to live in cooperation, renewal, and restoration with the Buffalo in your school or community.
ACCESS THE BUFFALO TREATY TRACKS CURRICULUM

Explore the Buffalo Treaty Tracks curriculum and see how it comes alive in the classroom:

Coming soon

International Buffalo Relations Institute is creating two Buffalo Caretaking Curriculums. Both curriculums will be piloted in Indigenous colleges across Canada and the United States in the hopes of creating credentialing Bison caretaker programs.

Intro to Bison Caretaking

In partnership with Montana State University, IBRI is developing Intro to Bison Caretaking curricula. These introductory modules will establish the foundation for those who want to learn more on implementing Buffalo Consciousness through caretaking.

Advanced Buffalo Care Curriculum

A more advanced curriculum will be developed from Guardians of the Buffalo: The Essential Guide to Bison Care, which will be for those who are dedicated to establishing caretaking herds.

Buffalo Treaty Research Network

The Indigenous Buffalo Research Network project is the development of a collaborative research network conducted by Indigenous Researchers for Indigenous communities and Buffalo Treaty signatories. The goal is the creation of Indigenous research partnerships with the Buffalo Treaty nations, NGOs, tribal colleges, and grassroots community in order to support the rematriation of the buffalo, as well as creating buffalo consciousness amongst Indigenous communities through high profile and impactful projects.

Underpinning the research projects will be the Buffalo Treaty. The Treaty reminds us as Indigenous peoples that the “Buffalo is part of us and we are part of the buffalo, culturally, materially and spiritually. Our ongoing relationship is so close and so embodied in us that buffalo is the essence of our holistic eco-cultural life-ways.”

A central tenet for the project will be an emphasis on Indigenous research that is led by, written by and done in support of Indigenous communities.
IBRI is also a partner with Critical Approaches to Indigenous Relationality (CAIR), a Canadian Research Network program dedicated to exploring the concept of Indigenous Relationality in the breadth of Indigenous traditions and overlapping connections. CAIR is composed of 25 initiatives and it is hosted by the Prairie Relationality Network.


Buffalo Readings

We sure will not capture all the great reading one can do on their path of Buffalo Consciousness. Here is a list to get you started. Look in your library, local bookstore or order online. Maybe you even feel compelled to buy one and give one to a school library near you. 

  • Buffalo Lessons: How Bison Returned to Banff National Park by Karsten Heuer (Author), Leroy Little Bear (Foreword), Harvey Locke (Introduction)
  • The Ecological Buffalo: on the trail of a keystone species, by Wes Olson and Johane Janelle
  • Buffalo Is the New Buffalo by Chelsea Vowel 
  • Portraits of the Bison: An Illustrated Guide to Bison Society by Wes Olson
  • The Last of the Buffalo Return to the Wild by Harvey Locke 
  • "I Will Be Meat for My Salish": The Montana Writers Project and the Buffalo of the Flathead Indian Reservation by Bon I. Whealdon (Author), Robert Bigart (Editor), Dwight Billedeaux (Illustrator)
  • The Buffalo People: Pre-contact Archaeology on the Canadian Plains By Liz Bryan
  • Theodore Roosevelt and Bison Restoration on the Great Plains by Keith Aune and Glenn Plumb
  • Imagining Head-Smashed-In: Aboriginal Buffalo Hunting on the Northern Plains by Jack W. Brink
  • Buffalo Wild! By Deidre Havrelock (author), Azby Whitecalf (illustration)

BOOKS AND ARTICLES

Awakening Buffalo Consciousness: Lessons, Theory, and Practice from the Buffalo Treaty by Crosschild, Ryan, et al. Wicazo Sa Review, vol. 36 no. 1, 2021, p. 5-29. Project MUSE. 

The Potential of Bison Restoration as an Ecological Approach to Future Tribal Food Sovereignty on the Northern Great Plains by Shamon H, Cosby OG, Andersen CL, Augare H, BearCub Stiffarm J, Bresnan CE, Brock BL, Carlson E, Deichmann JL, Epps A, Guernsey N, Hartway C, Jørgensen D, Kipp W, Kinsey D, Komatsu KJ, Kunkel K, Magnan R, Martin JM, Maxwell BD, McShea WJ, Mormorunni C, Olimb S, Rattling Hawk M, Ready R, Smith R, Songer M, Speakthunder B, Stafne G, Weatherwax M and Akre TS (2022) Front. Ecol. Evol. 

Where the bison managers learn: Extension and outreach as a tool for manager success by Ehlert KA, Urso PM and Martin JM (2025) Front. Ecol. Evol. 13:1700046. 

Lens of time Northwest by Cliff White. Reports and Maps on historical Bison movements and records in Historical Journal Observations. 

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