People Over Projects: Jason Baldes
Jason Baldes is the executive director of the Wind River Tribal Buffalo Initiative (WRTBI), led by the Shoshone and Northern Arapaho Tribes of central Wyoming. One of many groups managing buffalo from the TWP-supported Laramie Foothills Bison Conservation Herd, WRTBI has been a leader in restoring buffalo as wildlife within Tribal lands.
“I’m a member of the Eastern Shoshone Tribe and I grew up born and raised here on the Wind River Indian Reservation…my dad is a retired wildlife biologist, so when I was a little kid I got to spend a lot of time with him on horseback in the wilderness… And growing up, my grandma, she always stressed education too. She said go and get an education and come home and help your people. So, I took my grandma's words to heart.”
After a transformative trip in East Africa to observe wildebeest migration, Jason turned his focus towards restoration of another species, closer to home.
“We have a very long-standing relationship with buffalo, even though colonization worked to sever that. I guess I realized that we’re on this planet for a short amount of time in this form and working on buffalo restoration would be a valuable contribution.”
Jason led Wind River’s first designation of land for buffalo in 2014; despite many challenges along the way, the Shoshone Tribe now manages buffalo on more than 2000 acres of Tribal lands.
“We have to think holistically about restoring this animal relative in a meaningful way, despite the roadblocks. It’s hard to shed the comments and misconceptions, even when you’re trying to do something good and right and based in ceremony. We just have to keep plugging away, because the truth, in the end, will prevail… If we can create something that has longevity and sustainability, especially around something like buffalo, then the healing itself will come.”
Like many plains Tribes whose lifeways were intimately intertwined with this keystone species, Jason understands buffalo restoration as a deep form of healing for his people.
“I don’t think Lewis and Clark would have made it to the west coast if generosity, compassion, and empathy weren’t a common thread amongst Indigenous people here. And I think that’s because we had a pretty in-depth understanding of the interrelatedness of natural phenomena, the cosmos, the seasons, the foods, the water, the fish, the animals. All the things that we live here with, they don’t work for the benefit of themselves….Innately, nature is compassionate. I think our people, our ancestors, before colonization had a pretty good grasp of that ... .Colonization, unfortunately, worked to destroy much of our identities and beliefs and values, but we still see remnants of it. We still have our ceremonies, we still have our songs, we’re holding on to our language. Many tribes have lost all those things, but their identity and their innate character, it still prevails. And hopefully that prevails in all humanity, because we all have that if we’re willing to be open-minded and have open hearts enough to see it.”
Influenced by his own upbringing, Jason has also led efforts to include youth in WRTBI’s programs, ensuring the Tribe’s buffalo herds are sustained long into the future.
“I think if other kids had experiences like I did, they would be inclined to go into fields that help us protect the fish and the four-leggeds and the winged ones and the water. So I want to take those privileges that I had growing up and provide valuable experiences to more of our own youth, to my own kids.”
As Jason knows well, his work crosses boundaries and bridges generations. This is a story of reconnection, and we’re honored to be a small part.
“When our grandmas come and say, ‘keep doing what you’re doing,’ that’s all I need to hear to really continue on. When the grandmas have a restored relationship with the buffalo, are able to get buffalo back into their diet, are able to pray with buffalo, you know – you can’t put a price tag on that.”
