A conservation effort has returned bison to Blackfeet National tribal lands more than a century after the animal was nearly slaughtered to extinction.  As colonizers moved west, millions of buffalo were killed and brought to the edge of extinction. Millions more Native peoples were murdered, displaced, and forced to assimilate. By the end of the 19th century, only 300 buffalo were left in the wild and Native populations dropped to less than 300,000.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Now, after more than 150 years, bison have finally returned to their homeland, the Amskapi Pikuni (Blackfoot Nation) tribal lands, to roam free. Fourty-nine buffalo ran out of their temporary enclosure towards Chief Mountain on the Blackfeet Reservation. The rest of the herd (about 70 buffalo) will join them at the end of the summer. Chief Mountain is not only prime buffalo habitat, but also a sacred place for Native people in both the U.S. and Canada.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     "I can't hardly describe the feeling that I have. I have this jittery feeling, goosebumps," says Ervin Carlson, director of the Blackfeet Nation Buffalo Program. "It just feels so good to finally see them here in this place they want to be."   On June 29, 49 bison were released into the wild at the base of our sacred Ninaistako (Chief Mountain) that stands tall like the warbonnets of Blackfeet warriors. This mountain towers along the border of the Blackfeet Nation, Glacier National Park in Montana, and Waterton National Park in Canada.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Our people, the Siksikaitsitapi (Blackfoot Confederacy) always believed the land we came from was a gift of the Creator, Ihtsi-pai-tapi-yopa. Our stories tell us that iinnii (buffalo) was created as a gift for our people as our life source. The iinnii were and still are our staff of life. Helen Augare, a Blackfeet knowledge keeper and director of the Blackfeet Community College Native Science Field Center, has been an integral voice in the return of buffalo to Chief Mountain for the past 15 years.