WHO WE ARE
The mission of Tanka Fund is to RETURN BUFFALO TO NATIVE AMERICAN LANDS, LIVES AND ECONOMIES. Our work also honors the cultural and spiritual significance of the animal to Native American communities.
Historically, most funding and resources focused on the restoration of buffalo to Native lands go to tribally owned herds. Founded in 2014, Tanka Fund works directly with individual Native American buffalo ranchers of all herd sizes and across all tribes. This includes ranchers who are just starting out or who seek to convert from cattle to buffalo.
Through our return of buffalo to Native caretakers, our grant-making and our technical assistance programs, Tanka Fund supports Native American Buffalo ranchers in addressing the challenges they face in growing economically and environmentally sustainable buffalo herds.
RETURNING THE BUFFALO
History of Pte Oyate Buffalo Nation
The importance of the buffalo to Native people cannot be overstated. Before colonization, the buffalo was integral to daily Native life. Work, culture, health and spirituality derived from and honored the buffalo as evidenced in the art, prayers, songs and celebrations that survive to this day.
In an effort to starve Native Americans into submission, the U.S. government initiated the policy of removal, and along with it launched an all-out military attack on buffalo to destroy this mainstay of Native life. The impact of the destruction of some 50 million buffalo can still be felt today on reservation community lives through substance abuse, poverty, and limited opportunities.
With your help, Tanka Fund seeks to reverse those effects through the Return – its mission to repopulate Native lands with buffalo and re-establish a sustainable buffalo economy to the Lands, Lives, and Economies of Native people.
The return of healthy land.
Buffalo, a keystone species, shaped the prairie ecosystem, the largest biome and once the largest carbon sink in North America. Their physical characteristics and natural herding behavior and migratory patterns regenerate the prairie ecosystem, allowing grasslands and native plant species to flourish.
The return of healthy people.
Buffalo meat is a superfood. Grass-fed buffalo meat is low in sodium, cholesterol, and saturated fat and high in protein, iron and Omega-3 fatty acids. Access to buffalo meat not only helps return health to Native Americans, but also provides a healthy, all-natural, organic, gluten free, non-GMO alternative to other meats for all consumers.
The return of healthy economies.
Native American reservations were created to benefit the outside economy. Statistics reveal that the total value of agricultural commodities produced on Native American reservations in 2022 totaled more than $2.1 billion, yet only 16% of that income went to Native American farmers and ranchers. A well-orchestrated campaign to return the Buffalo economy to Native American lands can reverse this trend as the ranchers become part of the rapidly expanding market for bison.