Patti Baldes--Northern Arapaho and Northern Paiute-- directs the Wind River Native Advocacy Center and lives among a recently restored herd of buffalo. Her husband, Jason Baldes--Eastern Shoshone--serves as Exec. Director of the Wind River Tribal Buffalo Program, among a host of other buffalo related work. When Patti brings traditional dancers together on a chilly fall afternoon in the tourist town of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, gateway to Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks, the bed of her dented truck carries fresh willow twigs and an old gray sheet. Her vision and that celebrated "indigenous ingenuity" turn those modest materials into buffalo skeletons she then covers with bright star quilts in different color patterns. As a bit of sunset seeps between low clouds and high peaks, Jason and Apsaalooke historian and educator Shane Doyle drum and raise their combined voices over the hum of gathered community members and visitors.

Three buffalo emerge from the pungent stock trailer, twelve legs touching the earth in that drummed heartbeat rhythm. Ribbon dresses add even more color under the animated sculptures, and as dusk deepens, the buffalo spin. Behind them, 7 tall teepee lodges covered in modern canvas begin to glow from within.

The public ceremony is part of a conversation among land managers, representatives from the Rocky Mountain Tribal Leaders Council and a variety of non-governmental organizations working to protect public values across this multi-jurisdictional landscape. Bridging western science and tribal sovereignty, food security and climate resilience becomes strikingly visceral in the presence of this dance, these drums, the tall lodges, changing sky, entranced people.

After the traditional buffalo songs, Shane offers an honor song for Patti because, he says, "we are all part of her vision right now." And when Patti encourages watchers to become participants, the magic of her vision manifests. The park fills with a sideways-stepping community circle of strangers, hearts united for a more just and fruitful future, in the way of Patti's call for Rematriation.

https://www.psfmt.org (Lodges provided by Pretty Shield Foundation--read more here.)