Week 7 Bio: Reintroducing the American Bison & resetting the natural balance e

I wouldn't know the first thing about how to prioritize the reintroduction of the American bison, or buffalo- it is something for the ITBC to decide as well as ecologists. The systematic destruction of buffalo was obviously harmful to buffalo, but also towards a huge group of people who relied upon the buffalo, Native American tribes, as well as the environment. I take it at face value from our article, the statement: "the destruction of buffalo herds and the associated devastation to tribes disrupted the self-sufficient lifestyle of Indian people more than all other federal policies to date". It would be like taking away the internet, Starbucks, and cars away from the average American, only obviously, these things we are reliant on do not benefit the environment! (The environment would even improve)...

I would say the first action would be to support sovereignty of these tribes, because they already knew better.

Can we reset the natural balance? The Bison Project shows that maybe we can, there is certainly a lot of hope, especially when they already see results: rare birds and the buffalo population size has grown - and the buffalo eat while also heal the prairie. Another interesting thing is that the buffalo attract visitors, which raises awareness of restoring prairies in general (there is less than 1% of prairie left in the state of Illinois, where this project takes place). The activities for visitors raise awareness of biodiversity, and appear interactive & fun. It's refreshing to see this project.