Why the Buffalo Was Important to Native American Plains Nations

Short answer: Buffalo were central to the food systems, material life, economies, histories, and spiritual relationships of many Indigenous Nations of the Plains. Those relationships are not identical across all Native American or First Nations communities, so this guide focuses on documented Plains Nations context and does not present one Nation’s teachings as universal.

In this article, “buffalo” refers to the American bison. The National Park Service explains that many Indigenous people use “buffalo” in cultural contexts, while “bison” is common in scientific contexts.

Why Buffalo Were Important to Plains Nations

For many Plains Nations, buffalo supported daily life while also carrying cultural and spiritual significance. The Smithsonian’s Native Knowledge 360° resource on the InterTribal Buffalo Council describes a reciprocal relationship: Northern Plains people received food and materials from buffalo and honoured buffalo through ceremonies and cultural protocols. The details belong to each Nation and its knowledge holders.

Food and Community Well-Being

Buffalo provided an important source of food for many Nations whose homelands and seasonal lifeways were connected with the Plains. Harvesting, preparation, distribution, and use followed community-specific responsibilities. It is more accurate to recognize these distinct systems than to assign one universal rule to every Indigenous people.

Shelter, Clothing, Tools and Everyday Materials

Buffalo also provided hides, hair, sinew, bone, horn, and other materials. Nations developed their own skilled practices for turning those materials into clothing, lodge coverings, bags, rope, tools, containers, and other useful items. The Smithsonian resource documents specific museum examples, including a Mandan bull boat, Lakota storage bag, Sioux bone sled, Apsáalooke rope, and Northern Cheyenne moccasins.

Cultural and Spiritual Relationships Vary by Nation

Buffalo remain relatives, teachers, sources of identity, and participants in spiritual life for many Indigenous peoples. These relationships are living and Nation-specific. It would be inaccurate to reduce them to one symbolic meaning or a single list of “sacred animals.” Public sources can introduce the subject, but community knowledge holders remain the proper authorities for their own ceremonies and teachings.

The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bison Shared Stewardship Strategy, co-authored with representatives nominated by Tribes and Indigenous organizations, notes that individual Tribes maintain distinct cultural connections through song, prayer, ceremony, dance, art, and language.

What Happened to the Buffalo?

Before colonization, an estimated 30 to 60 million bison lived across the Plains. In the nineteenth century, commercial hide hunting, expanding railways, settler pressure, livestock competition, disease, and U.S. government efforts to control Indigenous peoples drove the herds toward extinction. The National Park Service reports that fewer than 1,000 remained by the 1890s, with some estimates as low as 300 survivors.

The destruction of buffalo was inseparable from the dispossession, starvation, and forced relocation experienced by many Plains Nations. The Department of the Interior’s shared-stewardship strategy explicitly connects the slaughter of bison with government policies that violated treaties, reduced Tribal lands, and attempted to eradicate or assimilate Indigenous peoples.

Buffalo Restoration Today

Buffalo are no longer on the edge of global extinction, but restoring free-ranging herds and rebuilding Indigenous relationships with buffalo remain ongoing work. Tribal Nations and intertribal organizations lead herd restoration, food-sovereignty, cultural-renewal, and land-stewardship initiatives. The National Park Service reports that more than 60 Tribes are involved in bringing buffalo back to their lands and communities.

That living work is why buffalo matter in the present, not only as a subject from the past. The strongest way to learn more is to follow the public resources and restoration programs of the specific Nations connected with each herd.