How bringing buffalo back can combat climate change, heal indigenous people in Texas [Video]

WAEDLER, Texas – A group just outside of San Antonio is working to bring buffalo back to Texas, decades after the near extinction of the animals by the 1900s hurt the livelihoods of indigenous people and the environment.

The mission of the nonprofit Texas Tribal Buffalo Project is to heal Texas’ indigenous people and the environment by restoring the buffalo population.

“Once again, the buffalo are thriving here in Texas,” said Lucille Contreras, director and founder of the Texas Tribal Buffalo Project. “We are in the Southern Coastal Plains.”

Seeing buffalo graze the land while driving through Waelder, Texas — located off of Interstate 10, just a little over an hour east of San Antonio — will definitely make you do a double take.

There are over 20 buffalo on 77 acres of the Texas Tribal Buffalo Project.

The nonprofit is entirely run by indigenous women, from funding and logistics to caring for the buffalo.

Contreras said the return of these …