Kalispel Tribe’s buffalo herd represents cultural renewal and growth | Lifestyle [Video]

As spring transforms the Inland Northwest with blooming trees, budding lilacs, and golden-yellow Arrowleaf balsamroot carpeting hillsides, another kind of renewal is taking place along the banks of the Pend Oreille River on the Kalispel Reservation.

The magnificent buffalo, symbols of the American West, are in calving season – a time of growth not only for the herd but also for the Kalispel Tribe’s cultural identity.

“The buffalo is important because it’s us taking control of our culture and our history and our sustainability as a tribe,” said Alec Bluff of the Kalispel Tribe.

While buffalo aren’t native to Washington state, the Kalispel people weren’t originally confined to their current reservation. Their ancestral territory once spanned millions of acres across Idaho, Montana, and northeast Washington.

“We traveled millions of acres across Idaho, Montana and northeast Washington, and we’re a plateau River people,” Bluff explained.

The Pend Oreille River, the lifeblood …