​"Healing Appalachia with Bison" with Tiffany Pyette of the Appalachian Rekindling Project.

​The Central Appalachian Mountains are known for their abundant biodiversity and folk cultures—as well as intensive mining for coveted minerals. Where Indigenous peoples of the region once coexisted with bison, we now find mountaintop removal, underground mining, and an economy heavily reliant on the destruction of North America’s oldest and most precious mountains.

​Little is spoken of an ecological event that took place in the 19th century: the slaughter of tens of millions of bison—gentle giants who once roamed the North American continent, coexisting peacefully with Native peoples of Turtle Island (also known as the United States). In a violent effort to subdue Native American stewards of the land, settler colonizers, supported by the U.S. Army, nearly eliminated these great mammals, severing ecological, cultural, and spiritual threads of relationship and reciprocity.

​That is, until the team behind the Appalachian Rekindling Project had an idea: could they bring bison back to forgotten, mistreated lands to help regenerate, rematriate, and restore the land?

​For this Learning Lab, we’re joined by Tiffany Pyette (she/her), Cherokee-descendent and co-Executive Director tending to a vision of working in collaboration with bison as a keystone species, all guided by Native-governance protocols, to restore mountains of central Appalachia. Appalachian Rekindling Project is also establishing an intertribal Indigenous center where Native people can physically return and gather in central Appalachia, caring for the land collectively.

​Together we’ll explore…

• Rematriation and restoring sacred relationship with land
• The quiet and profound cultural and ecological history of central Appalachia
• Approaches to collective governance and consensus for land stewardship
• How bison move earth, plant seeds, fertilize land, and heal hurting landscapes

​Join Tiffany of the Appalachian Rekindling Project to hear about the power of stewarding a collective vision, and working in partnership with the mighty bison. It is a deep and inspiring initiative with kernels of wisdom for all land stewards, and we hope to see you there.