SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Buffalo were considered sacred and were once essential to the Native Americans of the Menominee tribe. Now, the animals are being reintroduced to the tribe's land in Wisconsin. It's part of an initiative to try to inspire the tribe's youth called Medicine Fish. Susan Bence, of member station WUWM, traveled to the reservation a few weeks ago and has this report.
(CROSSTALK)
SUSAN BENCE, BYLINE: On this autumn morning at the Menominee Nation's sparkling new high school, students are experiencing one first after another. Some paint designs on a huge buffalo hide. Others, with encouragement, slip on gloves to form tennis ball-sized seed bombs, a combination of buffalo dung soil and native plant seeds. They'll help restore the prairie where the Menominee buffalo now roam. Senior, Cody Peters, is focused on cleaning a piece of hide.
CODY PETERS: Well, I had an idea. Maybe I can cut those burrs out. And this one, I'm trying to get some of it off it. So I can grab some ropes...
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: All right.
(LAUGHTER)
PETERS: ...And drill some holes of it and hang it up - tie it and then hang it up in my work spot where I do my woodworking.
BENCE: Buffalo never crossed this 18-year-old's mind until now.
PETERS: This is, like, first time I'm doing this, and I think this is incredible.
BENCE: That's music to Donovan Waupoose's ears. He and his brother launched Medicine Fish four years ago. Reaching out to the entire high school, introducing students to the buffalo as an honored relative was an exciting first.
DONAVAN WAUPOOSE: It's been really beautiful, because we got to watch these kids find a niche creating art, finding a piece inside of it themselves, you know? And then also, you see the seed balls being made over there - the prairie seed balls. In the beginning, they were all terrified and scared to touch the poo. Now, you see them over there. They're just full-on into it.
BENCE: The Medicine Fish vision started with a handful of youth and a desire to help them find strength and a sense of belonging through their Menominee culture and social values.
D WAUPOOSE: It's in our DNA. We just have to awaken it up.
BENCE: His younger cousin, Maurice Waupoose, was among the first to join. He was 16 at the time.
MAURICE WAUPOOSE: Something in our family happened, you know, at an age where we lost our, you know, dad. So it was, like, a really hard time throughout then. It's definitely something that helped me in my life. Yeah.
BENCE: Waupoose is now a college student and a Medicine Fish mentor. He's participated in every buffalo event, relishes fishing and sleeping under the stars.
M WAUPOOSE: It's definitely, like, a 24-hour, you know, way to live. You know what I mean? I wouldn't call it a job. It's a lifestyle.
(CROSSTALK)
M WAUPOOSE: And so I definitely feel it every single hour of the day, every minute.
BENCE: A month later, 20 miles west of the high school, Waupoose is somewhere in the crowd lending a hand, as a feast of braised buffalo and maple apple dessert is prepared. It's a welcoming celebration to mark the arrival of a trailer full of buffalo. They're joining the small herd that's been taking root on tribal land over the last two years.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Buffalo.
BENCE: Before the Buffalo thunder onto the landscape, 11 Medicine Fish members quietly form a circle. They break into a song of thanks to their Buffalo relatives. Their voices soaring.
UNIDENTIFIED MEDICINE FISH MEMBERS: (Chanting in non-English language).
BENCE: Four years ago, there was no circle. There were no buffalo. Now Menominee youth - young men and women - are finding their voice and community in traditional ways.
For NPR News, I'm Susan Bence at the Menominee Nation in Wisconsin.
UNIDENTIFIED MEDICINE FISH MEMBERS: (Chanting in non-English language). Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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