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January can be a hard month! Cold wind and dark nights have us craving hearty comfort foods, while the clean slate of a new year calls many of us to make choices that are good for our bodies and the earth. With those thoughts in mind, this month's newsletter features bison! This lean, nutritious meat is in high demand for its low fat content, sweet flavor, and potential as a driver for ecological and species restoration. We hope you enjoy this issue!
Bison: From the Brink of Extinction
to Culinary Eminence
An excerpt from Living Local magazine. The American bison, designated the national mammal of the United States in 2016, has a complex and tumultuous history. Numbering an estimated 30-60 million when Europeans first set foot on this continent, bison were brought to the brink of extinction by overhunting and wanton slaughter by settlers and government strategies to subjugate Native peoples who depended on the animal. By the 1890s, only 1,000 bison remained. Remarkably, nearly all bison in the world today can be traced back to herds built up by five ranchers at the turn of the 20th century.
Restoration of bison over the past 125 years has been an interwoven effort by tribes, ranchers, and conservationists. Presently, North America is home to around 500,000 bison, with approximately 420,000 on private ranches and the rest returning to tribal lands or in conservation herds like those at Minnesota's Minneopa and Blue Mounds State Parks.
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 Bison Returning to Tribal Nations
Tribal nations in Minnesota and across the country are making significant strides in reestablishing bison on their ancestral land, with the animals being important in movements connected to food sovereignty, ecological resilience, spirituality, and cultural connections. Here is a brief and noncomprehensive round-up of some news stories about bison returning to Minnesota.
Starting with seven bison in 2021, Red Lake Nation's bison herd has grown to 33 head, with three calves born in the spring of of 2023. Native Wise LLC (a Minnesota Grown member) acquired a dozen bison in November of 2022, bringing them to the Fond du Lac Reservation. The Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa received seven bison in April of 2023, and in November, the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community brought 10 bison to their tribal land. As shown in a 2022 WCCO feature, many organizations are working together to reestablish the herds, including the Intertribal Buffalo Council, Tanka Fund, and The Nature Conservancy.
Nearly a year ago, the U.S. Department of the Interior announced plans to use Inflation Reduction Act funds to help incorporate science and Indigenous knowledge into restoring bison across the country. According to Shannon Kesner, tribal liaison at the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, the Fond du Lac Reservation and other tribes also have plans to establish bison herds in the future.
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 Recipe: Herb-Rubbed Bison Roast
Now that there is snow on the ground and low temperatures have us bundling up in our warmest layers, it's time to fire up the oven. This bison roast from the winter issue of Living Local magazine is loaded with flavor and is simple to make — just be careful to avoid overcooking this lean meat. For more bison recipes ranging from rich soups to cozy hotdishes, visit the Minnesota Bison Association's recipe page.
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 Farm Feature: Rockie Hill Bison
The story of how Dave and Gail Griffin became bison ranchers starts with a game of cards, though not one they were playing. They’d purchased the farm in Winona in the early 1990s where they were raising dairy bulls for Dave’s dad while working busy in-town positions. Dave owned an excavating company and one day a cement supplier he worked with convinced him that any contractor with a farm needed some “buffalo." The cement supplier had just won a small bison herd playing a card game in Iowa! Dave bought three and Rockie Hill Bison began.
“Since the day the first three were delivered to the farm, we have never regretted that decision,” Gail and Dave shared.
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 Tiny New Year's Resolutions: Microgreens
Do your goals for 2024 include eating fresh nutritious foods while supporting local farmers? The Minnesota Grown Directory includes over 35 growers of microgreens, shoots that can be grown year-round! These teensy, tasty, and tender greens are the first true leaves of a plant, so they are packed with goodness and are easy to use as a topping for salads or soups, added to a sandwich, or blended into a dip! We think they'd be an excellent garnish for a bison (or beef or veggie) burger!
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