WAELDER, TX — For health-conscious consumers, bison offers a healthier alternative source of red meat. Bison has lower levels of cholesterol, saturated fat, and calories compared to beef, according to the USDA.
“Buffalo meat is the most amazing meat compared to any other meat out there on the market. It’s the healthiest, it’s the most tastiest,” said Lucille Contreras, CEO and founder of the Texas Tribal Buffalo Project (TTBP).
Lyanee’, meaning “buffalo” in Apache, reflects Contreras’s heritage as a proud descendant of the Lipan Apache Tribe.
“We often, as indigenous people, say the word ‘buffalo’ as the word ‘bison.’ It’s the same animal.”
Originally from San Antonio and formerly an IT expert, Contreras began her journey with buffalo herding after working with the Knife Chief Buffalo Nation Society in Pine Ridge, South Dakota. Inspired by this experience, she brought buffalo herds back to Native lands in Texas for the first time in over a century.
During the pandemic, Contreras purchased 77 acres of grassland along with a herd of nine buffalo. Today, the herd has more than doubled in size.
More than just a buffalo ranch, the TTBP is recognized as a women-led, Indigenous movement to restore the buffalo population and bring them back to indigenous lands.
Contreras uses regenerative agriculture to raise the buffalo, which supports the well-being of the land. Studies show that this approach harmonizes with nature and the environment, making the TTBP a potential leader in Texas’s “powerhouse” agricultural industry.
Contreras allows her regenerative buffalo herd to roam, move, and open-graze naturally to nurture healthy soil.
“We move them, we work with them, but the benefit is that the soil restores as the buffalo graze, as they walk on the land, that restores the water that holds the water retention in the soil, which is huge,” said Contreras.
Aside from selling bison meat online, in-person, and at farmers’ markets, the TTBP also supplies to school districts and federally recognized tribes. It’s also one of the few providers in the nation to accept SNAP and EBT to make bison meat more affordable. Contreras encouraged the public to buy more bison meat, support the movement, or donate to the cause because more bison would mean a healthier generation.
“Our people suffer the highest rate of diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and cholesterol. Buffalo meat is the highest protein. It is the leanest meat. Our bodies as indigenous people and all people, we digest buffalo meat so well that if you’ve had a nice big juicy buffalo burger, you will not fall asleep in comatose as the other type of red meat that people have,” Contreras explained.
Millions of bison, the largest mammal in North America, used to freely roam the American plains. They were spiritually and culturally central to Native Americans’ ways of life. Federal policies, Westward settlement, and overhunting slaughtered the majority of the North American bison down to the hundreds by the 1900s.
The bison’s survival was tied to Native American history and heritage – so was the movement to preserve and restore buffalo herds to their native lands. According to the TTBP’s website, the organization embraces a higher cause.
“As many of our ancestors assimilated into other cultures, and as the Buffalo were nearing the brink of extinction, many traditions and lifeways were lost. Our connection to Buffalo was lost. Because of this loss, Our people suffered a dis-connect from their homelands and from their culture. The mission of TTBP is to rematriate the Buffalo and the native communities in Texas. As we reconnect with our relative the Iyane’e, we will once again learn those traditions and lifeways that they taught our Ancestors and preserve our culture for the younger generations.”
“The buffalo are our relatives, and they have lived here for millions of years, just like our people, our ancestors,” said Contreras. ” This is the original way of feeding people…Not an alternative. Alternative is the cattle.”
Through the project, Contreras said she was able to return to her Native roots and contribute to bringing Native cultures back to prosperity. The TTBP provides Native American communities with buffalo hides and skulls to use in traditional arts and crafts.
She said, “One of our greatest honors, is to be able to support our elders, to support our relatives and other nations by providing hides and skulls in a ceremonial way. It’s the most value. The wealth that we generate is through those connections.”
For more information on the Texas Tribal Buffalo Project or how to purchase bison meat from them, click here, call 512-595-1584, or email info@texastribalbuffaloproject.org. You can also visit their social media platforms on Facebook and Instagram.
Larrison Manygoats and Marina Fatina contributed to this report.
