Meeting Your Prayer Half Way: Jason Baldes, founder of the Wind River Tribal Buffalo Initiative (Part 2)

The RegenNarration Podcast

Chapters
0:00
Meeting Jason and heading out
3:32
All this would have been subdivided
5:58
Where the opposition to this work comes from (that often surprises)
10:18
Support growing from non-tribal people
12:18
Breaking news: the Shoshone Tribe officially designates buffalo as wildlife again
13:43
Pulling up alongside the herd
20:18
Buffalo’s keystone role amongst the pronghorn and other wildlife
20:58
Jason’s father and a family history of restoring wildlife (in ways that were controversial at the time)
23:58
Finding Wind River more conducive to buffalo restoration than Yellowstone
25:13
Profound lessons from navigating politically difficult situations (& the challenges of the current federal administration)
30:58
Tapping the great mystery
33:58
Meeting your prayer half way (Jason’s own journey to healing)
36:28
All of this was really close to never happening (hitting rock bottom)
38:28
The elder
40:18
A transformative trip to Africa and the fuel that keeps him going
44:28
Cultural field harvesting with a mobile unit – ‘it’s not a hunt, it’s a harvest’
45:58
A culture modelled on the buffalo
49:18
Partnering with Medicine Fish in the Menominee Nation to guide next generations
54:58
Re-acquiring lands through the buffalo
59:28
How white understanding and support kicked in here
1:01:48
Relating to a pivotal Australian case right now on managing as wildlife
1:04:58
A paradigm change in ownership and property
1:07:28
Buffalo leading the way to restoring the Wind River itself?
1:10:58
A grip on what’s real? (Thinking about the state of the nation)
1:12:28
Pulling the fences out from the 5 properties pieced together
1:13:43
Meeting a growing number of allies and financial supporters
1:15:23
Soul-searching to be ok with those who don’t agree
1:17:45
Meeting Ruby and the Orphan Horse
1:18:58
Thinking about the old Shoshone grandmas
1:19:48
A tour and vision for these traditional lands
1:24:38
A childhood memory seen in the young today
1:25:38
Ancestral stories and language restoration
1:30:13
Feeling a bit lost growing up
1:32:43
Feeding the young horse and buffalo calf
1:38:02
Other enterprises?
1:39:27
Jason’s travels in NZ on fire research
1:39:58
The bulls approach
1:41:06
Indigenous peoples reviving culture and food traditions everywhere
1:41:48
Watching the big bulls
1:43:03
Planning a tribal buffalo summit
1:44:08
Observing the calves – ‘babies all over the place’
1:44:58
Feels like yesterday the first 10 arrived
1:46:48
Up close with the buffalo
1:48:10
Tribal buffalo films coming out and winning awards
1:48:58
Peaceful giants
1:51:58
Eco-tourism grant and vision
1:53:58
87 tribes collaborating in restoring buffalo as a Council
1:57:05
Coming through in artwork
2:00:20
A music story
The RegenNarration Podcast
Meeting Your Prayer Half Way: Jason Baldes, founder of the Wind River Tribal Buffalo Initiative (Part 2)
Aug 07, 2025 Season 9 Episode 269
Anthony James

Welcome back to the Wind River Reservation, home of the Eastern Shoshone and Arapaho Nations. And, the Wind River Tribal Buffalo Initiative (WRTBI), a tribally led non-profit founded in 2023, here at the foot of the Rocky Mountains in current day Wyoming. We left off part 1 of this series last week, as we met the Initiative’s founder, Jason Baldes, and prepared to head out on the plains, to meet the buffalo and hear their, and Jason’s, stories.

It was in the lead up to the Tribe’s Sundance just 2 years ago, that they sourced meat from their own buffalo, on their own land, for the first time in nearly 140 years. That’s all part of enacting a broader vision of buffalo living as wildlife (not livestock) once again, protected under Tribal law. 

And this vision doesn’t stop at Wind River either. Jason is also VP of the InterTribal Buffalo Council – where 87 Tribes and growing are currently involved in efforts to restore the buffalo, and all that entails - from the re-acquisition of land, the return of rivers and other wildlife, along with the health, language and spirit of many Nations.

Join us in the side-by-side as we hear the brilliant story of what’s happening here, including how it came close to never happening. About half way in, we head over to feed the orphan buffalo Ruby, and hear about the old Shoshone grandmas, before ultimately arriving back at the herd for an incredible unexpected face to face encounter.

Chapter markers & transcript.

Recorded 16 June 2025.

You can hear Jason’s good friend, Pedro Calderon Dominguez, with the buffalo at American Prairie, for episode 220, Lakota woman Kelsey Scott for episode 222, and the series from the Osage Nation starting episode 261.

Title slide: AJ & Jason as our visit wound up (pic: Olivia Cheng)

See more photos on the episode web page, and for more behind the scenes, become a supporting listener below.

Music:

Regeneration, by Amelia Barden.

The RegenNarration playlist, music chosen by guests.

Send us a text

Pre-roll music: Heartland Rebel, by Steven Beddall (sourced from Artlist).

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