Tanka Fund Hosts Its First Buffalo Gathering on Pine Ridge
When we think about healing at the table at Tanka Fund, it starts with Buffalo restoration.
Bringing Buffalo back to Native stewards means reconnecting the people to the land as well as the herd. Restoration fortifies cultural knowledge and bolsters Native economies — all of which comes full circle to the plate, at the table. These ways have sustained Native people for generations.
That's why this year's theme of "Healing at the Table" for Makoce Agriculture Development's fifth Annual Convergence feels deeply connected to our work. On September 4, Tanka Fund will lead the final day at Healing at the Table, which takes place at Woyute Regenerative Production Farm, located at 1953 BIA 27 in Porcupine, South Dakota. Our continued partnership with Makoce is particularly significant because of our similar mission focused on Indigenous agriculture and communities. In addition, its founder and CEO, Nick Hernandez, is a Tanka Fund board member.
We have planned a full day centered on Buffalo teachings, stewardship, and the people carrying this work forward — none of which could happen without our rancher partners. Attendees will get the opportunity to learn from them, as well as others in the industry, at our Rancher Roundtable over lunch provided by The Hangry Buffalo. Other event highlights are a full lineup of speakers, door prizes, a tea and coffee bar, meals featuring Buffalo (with vegan options), and a community BINGO night with prizes.
This is a first-of-its-kind event for Tanka Fund, and we look forward to making it an annual tradition. For Tanka Fund Executive Director Dawn Sherman, healing at the table means safety.
“I see a safe space to be who you are with your community – with a diverse group of people who are able to support healing and thrive together as individuals,” said Dawn. “I see a place of smiles and proud faces. Where we can be free of a day heavy with burdens and laugh, eat, visit, cry, and enjoy the moments that got you to the table in the first place.”
Get to know just a few of the speakers and ranchers joining us:
Speakers
Summer Afraid of Hawk (Mnicoujou and Oglala Lakota) is from the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation. She currently serves as a Program Specialist with World Wildlife Fund's Great Plains Bison Program and is pursuing her M.S. in Natural Resource Management at Salish Kootenai College. Her work and research center on Buffalo restoration, Indigenous food sovereignty, culturally significant plants, and strengthening relationships between Buffalo, land, and people. Through Buffalo harvests, plant walks, and community-based work, Summer has also experienced buffalo as an important part of her own healing journey. She is a mother of two sons and is passionate about creating opportunities for future generations to reconnect with Buffalo, land, culture, and community.
Monica Rattling Hawk (Oglala Lakota), based in Wanblee, South Dakota, has worked for decades at the intersection of Buffalo restoration, conservation, and Tribal sovereignty. She joined World Wildlife Fund in 2017 after working with the Oglala Sioux Parks & Recreation Authority, where she helped oversee planning for a Tribal National Park and the restoration of Buffalo to the South Unit of Badlands National Park. A founding member of the Buffalo Nations Grasslands Alliance, Monica continues to advance sustainable Tribal wildlife conservation rooted in culture and community. She also helped bring the Buffalo Treaty to the Oglala Sioux Tribe, which signed the treaty in 2019 and is co-hosting the 2026 Buffalo Treaty gathering in the Black Hills.
Dereck Stonefish (Oneida of the Iroquois Confederacy) has spent his life walking between formal education and a Native way of living. Through research, teaching, and public health work, he came to a truth that guides everything he does: unresolved trauma quietly contaminates the healing of Indigenous communities. As Training Coordinator at the Native American Institute and CEO of Indigenous Forward Consulting, he builds culturally based trainings for the betterment of all people. He joins us as a trauma-informed speaker connecting the Buffalo to finding healing at the table.
Ranchers
Wayne Frederick (Sicangu Lakota and Tanka Fund board member) and Alex Romero-Frederick (Oglala Lakota) founded Rez Raised Buffalo Ranch on the Rosebud Reservation.
Alex is a rancher, artist, and community-development advocate. She had a clear vision that Buffalo would once again be part of her family’s legacy. After managing another herd for the tribe for over two decades, her husband Wayne felt called to something deeper: bringing Buffalo back to land that hadn't felt their hooves in more than 125 years. They accomplished that goal in 2022. Wayne once said, "Buffalo saved my life" when reflecting on how their presence carried him through his late teens and early twenties. Both of them hope to pass this connection and meaningful work to their next generation.
Brendan Siers (Sicangu Lakota) became a Tanka Fund rancher partner in 2023 and operates Double S Ranch on the Rosebud Reservation, where he and his sister, Suzanne Mealer, have been converting their family's ranch from cattle to Buffalo. Brendan's motivation is rooted in community: providing meat to those who may go hungry, feeding schools, and supplying byproducts like hides and bones for ceremonial use. He's also committed to encouraging Native youth to see Buffalo caretaking as a viable and meaningful career path
Agenda
