The Texas Tribal Buffalo Project (TTBP) is restoring buffalo on traditional Lipan Apache land in south central Texas to renew the relationship between buffalo and Lipan Apache people, and support the health and wellness of Tribal peoples of Texas through food sovereignty and regenerative land stewardship. As holistic caretakers of land and buffalo, the TTBP is working to honor their ancestors and and inspire a reclamation of Lipan Apache language, traditional food, and other cultural practices through restoration of their relatives, the buffalo.
“Our work is driven by the Buffalo: their healing power and presence and the significance of what restoring them to our ancestral homelands would mean for Indigenous people across Texas and Turtle Island as a whole.”
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After over century, first herd of buffalo return to native lands of Lipan Apache
The Texas Lipan Apache community recently welcomed several bison, often referred to as buffalo, to its land as part of an effort to reestablish culture and a connection to its ancestors. These buffaloes complete the first herd there in more than 100 years. The Texas Tribal Buffalo Project, led by founder and Lipan Apache member Lucille Contreras, celebrated the herd with a ceremony in Waedler, Texas.
Return of buffalo to Texas’ Lipan Apache tribe symbolizes an era of healing
The Texas Tribal Buffalo Project aims to use the herd to renew the spiritual connection between the buffalo and the Lipan Apache.
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Meet Lucille Contreras, an Apache woman reintroducing bison to Texas as a way to revive traditional Native culture.