Bison Conservation Efforts Are Bringing the Buffalo Back to Texas

In partnership with: Texas Department of Agriculture

According to Lakota legend, about 2,000 years ago, during a time of hardship when food was sparse and the buffalo were disappearing, White Buffalo Calf Woman appeared. She brought with her a bowl pipe and taught the tribe how to pray and call the buffalo with it. When her work was done, she transformed into a white buffalo calf, promising to return during hard times as a white buffalo calf with a black nose, black eyes and black hooves. 

To this day, many Indigenous people believe that a white bison calf with a black nose, eyes and hooves is the most sacred thing on Earth, comparable to the second coming of Christ. The birth of a white bison calf in the wild is thought to occur in only one in a million births. 

Alluring Animals 

While not considered “sacred” because it wasn’t born in the wild, an all-white buffalo calf was recently born on Wagon Springs Ranch, a 270-acre working ranch and event venue in the Texas Hill Country owned by Carl Chambers. 

The farm has 14 creamy white buffalo, two of which bred and produced the highly sought-after snow-white heifer calf. 

Chambers named her Unatsi, which means “snow” in Cherokee, a nod to his citizenship with the Cherokee Nation. 

“I just wanted buffalo and now it’s our whole focus,” Chambers says. “It’s kind of our spirit animal now. We have upwards of 50 and fell in love with them and what they do.” 

Chambers believes they are ideal foragers and are more resilient than commercial beef cattle. 

Returning to Indigeneity 

After discovering her own Indigenous heritage, Lucille Contreras, CEO and founder of the Texas Tribal Buffalo Project (TTBP), dedicated herself to helping restore buffalo to their native lands. 

Her nonprofit, run entirely by Indigenous women, aims to reconnect Texas’ Indigenous people with the buffalo, the animal of their ancestors, and to heal the environment by restoring the buffalo population. 

After years of learning to care for bison in South Dakota, Contreras says she longed to bring that knowledge back to her people in Texas. 

“At one point, the buffalo was everything to our people,” Contreras says. “Home, shelter, food, spirituality, even examples of governance and how to treat each other.” 

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She launched the nonprofit in 2020 and bought a ranch the next year in Waelder. A second ranch in Floresville was purchased on their behalf by The Conservation Fund in early 2025. Both properties are in original Lipan Apache territory.

“We are reinhabiting our own traditional land and in the path of the original buffalo migration pattern,” Contreras says. 

Benefits of Buffalo in Texas

Contreras draws inspiration from buffalo and incorporates their naturally regenerative nature into the ranches.

“They are the No. 1 climate mitigators just by walking on the soil,” she says. “They are aerators and wake up the seed bank as they walk across the grounds. They don’t graze flat, but move around and create habitats for other animals to live in.” 

These habits increase biodiversity in the area and soil health.

Contreras has big plans to reintroduce her people’s animals back to Native tribes. 

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They also support 10 Indigenous women with “Meat for Mamas” throughout pregnancy and postpartum, helping restore the health of mother and baby by reviving their traditional foodways. 

Their teepee talks provide opportunities for Tribal women to come together to learn about seed saving, bison conservation and cultural connections from other Native tribes.

Dream Makers

TTBP is a small nonprofit with big dreams. “Our overarching goal is to gain 20,000 acres with 600 head of buffalo in Texas with camps where Native Americans in Texas can go to be our true Native Indigenous selves,” Contreras says. “Where we can drum, sing and have our ceremonies in our own habitat.” 

She longs to see the Native land and people healed and regenerated through the resurgence of the buffalo in Texas.

Have You Herd?

Learn more about bison and their importance to Native American culture. 

• Bison in North America are commonly referred to as buffalo, but bison is more technically correct. 

• Bison are known by their large shoulder humps, cloven hooves and unbranched horns. 

• A male bison can weigh up to 2,200 pounds. 

• Native Americans revere bison as a source of food, shelter, clothing, tools, jewelry and spiritual importance. 

• European settlers decimated the bison population from 60 million in the 1700s to less than 1,000 in 1885. 

• Today, there are more than 450,000 head across the U.S.

Sources: All About Bison, Texas Bison Association, Texas Parks and Wildlife