“Recognizing and continuing to embody all the teachings we have received from Buffalo, We, collectively the signatories of the Treaty, agree to develop programs revolving around BUFFALO as a means of transferring intergenerational knowledge to the younger and future generations and sharing knowledge amongst our respective Nations.”
School and students supporting the Buffalo Treaty
Did you know that a class or school can support the Buffalo Treaty? Sometimes it starts with few students or a class and can be the whole school. A signing ceremony can be the culmination of a Buffalo Curriculum. If you would like to organise a signing ceremony, please contact us by email and download the signing page here. Send us photos, video and information about your project and we will add it to the Flux.
Resources
The resources below are here to inspire teachers, project leaders, parents and community organisers to incorporate the Buffalo teachings. This is far from exhaustive and if you have Buffalo education materials that you would like to share, please send us an email. Investigate the NEWS and its archive section and the blog Flux for more ideas.
The 10,000 Year Significance of Bison: A Curriculum Sequence on the Past, Present, and Future of Bison Includes Complete Lessons and Teacher Guides for Science and Language Arts Units, Grades 6th-9th. A Collaboration between the Blackfeet and Montana.
Click here to open the curriculum in pdf
Watching the sky beings helped tell time. Certain parts of the year were directly related to the buffalo. Here is a collaboration between the Blackfeet and Montana. Montana Skies Blackfeet Astronomy.
Here is a collaboration between the Crow and Montana. Montana Skies Crow Astronomy.
Here is the pdf providing links to the sky beings stories on YouTube.
Here is a Star Chart Wheel that can be used as an activity for students.
The Bone Game was made from buffalo bones and played to help children learn and count.
This presentation illustrate the various uses of the Buffalo/Iinnii put together by Api'soomaahka, William Singer III
Wind River Buffalo Initiative has two brochures for educators that show the traditional uses of the buffalo Wind River Buffalo Initiative
Intertribal Buffalo Council have an educational coloring book Gifts of the Buffalo Nation
Online
Elder in the Making has great education materials and they were part of the first Buffalo treaty signing.
Visit their website to get more materials.
The Glenbow Museum also offers great Blackfoot education materials about Iinnii.
Find more inspiration here
Buffalo Recipes
Here are some bison recipes from the Texas Tribal Buffalo Project
Download three powerpoints (in pdf) for science classes from the Fort Peck Tribes in Montana Reservation.
Introduction to Bison
Bison and Archaeology
The Protection, Conservation and Restoration of Bison
The Biosphere Institute of the Bow Valley integrated the Buffalo to their EduKit presentations after the return of the plains bison in Banff National Park. Download their presentation here.
Academic/Literature Resources
The Buffalo Treaty and it’s relationship to people, land, and animals is the focus in this academic article: Awakening Buffalo Consciousness: Lessons, Theory, and Practice from the Buffalo Treaty
Science and research articles listed on Wind River Buffalo Initiative website.
Literature listed on the Fort Peck’s Buffalo People Unite website.
Educational and Scientific Studies from Head Smashed in Buffalo Jump Buffalo Tracks
Books
Imagining Head-Smashed-In:Aboriginal Buffalo Hunting on the Northern Plains by Jack W. Brink Published by Athabasca University Press. 2008
A Field Guide to the Plains Bison and Portraits of the Bison: An Illustrate Guide to Bison Society by Wes Olson are filled with invaluable information written by a experienced bison passionate.
Sky Wolf’s Call is for Grades 6+ and is about knowledge systems being passed down generation after generation. Sky Wolf’s Call also comes with an Educator Guide.