STEAMBURG, N.Y. — The public release of a herd of bison at a Buffalo farm run by the Seneca Nation of Indians near Steamburg was canceled Thursday after the death of two animals during transport to the site.
A dozen bison from the InterTribal Buffalo Council of Rapid City, S.D., were scheduled for release at the Seneca buffalo farm on Sunfish Flats. The 10 surviving bison were released without public fanfare.
It is part of a nationwide effort to direct surplus populations of buffalo to help restore the bison back to Indigenous tribes lands like the Ohi:yo (Allegany) Territory of the Senecas.
The aim is to help heal generations-long atrocities of government-backed tactics to drive Native peoples off their lands by slaughtering buffalo, leaving them nearly extinct.
The public event was canceled to give farm employees the time and space to care for the 10 remaining bison from the herd. No cause of death was announced, although some of the bison could have been stressed by the trip.
The new herd are Wind Cave Buffalo and are believed to be linked to the Lakota Tribe of South Dakota. It is the first time this type of bison was transported east of the Mississippi, according to Stephanie Timblin, director of the Seneca Nation Media and Communications Center. The buffalo have a high rate of unique genetic traits not found in other herds.
Seneca Nation Agriculture Department Director Michael Snyder and project manager Gordon Brown were also scheduled to speak about the cultural and spiritual importance of restoring bison to Seneca lands, as were Erin Myers Madeira, interim director of North America Indigenous Landscapes and Communities and representatives from the Nature Conservancy.
The Seneca Nation’s herd of American buffalo now stands at 75. It started with 14 bison purchased from a Machias rancher three years ago. Over the next two years, the herd grew to 51.
The herd was moved to the Seneca Buffalo Farm, a 300-acre site surrounded by electric fence on the former John family farm on Sunfish Flats near Steamburg last year.
In April, the Onondaga Nation of Central New York transferred 20 bison to the Seneca Nation’s bison farm.
“This release is especially meaningful because the buffalo are released into an area that has not been utilized in 60 years as it was flooded by the Army Corps of Engineers,” said Timblin.
“The release continues healing in connection with the Kinzua Dam, whose construction violated a treaty between the Seneca Nation and the U.S. government and displaced hundreds of Native Americans,” she said.
The Seneca Nation Agriculture Department has trained employees in the harvesting and processing of a small number of bison. Products like bison steaks, ground bison burger and breakfast sausage are available at Seneca One-Stop Stores and the Gakwi:yo:h Farms on Taylor Hollow Road in Gowanda.
The Seneca Nation joins 68 other tribes in 19 states in establishing bison farms.
