Ally Focus: Flower Hill Institute

Tanka Fund is proud to announce our official partnership with Flower Hill Institute, an Indigenous-led nonprofit dedicated to strengthening the resilience of Tribal nations. Since 2015, Flower Hill has collaborated with Tribal leaders and communities across the United States, offering innovative problem-solving and technical assistance to help address some of the most pressing challenges faced by Indigenous peoples.

“We’ve watched Tanka Fund grow and evolve, and the role it plays is so important if we’re going to restore Buffalo to Tribal communities and Tribal nations,” said Dave Carter, Regional Director for Technical Assistance at Flower Hill Institute. “Our role now at Flower Hill is to expand meat processing capacity with Tribal producers—creating opportunities for both cultural harvests and commercial development that strengthen local economies.”

Flower Hill currently works with more than 80 Tribal processors nationwide. Dave emphasized that Tanka Fund’s mission to restore Buffalo to Tribal lands is a critical piece of a larger system. “From our standpoint, if we restore them, then what are we going to do with them? Buffalo are great for the environment—until they’re not,” he explained.

Without the natural predators and hunters of the past, herd management becomes essential. When Buffalo populations exceed what the land can support, health challenges and disease can emerge. “We see that the processing side of this goes hand in glove with restoring healthy herds,” Dave said.