Texas Tribal Buffalo Project leads the charge on cultural revival

Photo Courtesy: Texas Tribal Buffalo Project

Written By: Braden Harper

(NATIONAL) The Texas Tribal Buffalo Project (TTBP) is a woman-led nonprofit aiming to reconnect the Lipan Apache people with the buffalo descendants. Leading the charge on the nonprofit is Texas Tribal Buffalo Project Founder and CEO Lucille Contreras (Lipan Apache), or Buffalo Woman. Her mission for the nonprofit comes from her passion for her ancestors and her people. Contreras appeared on Mvskoke Media’s “Live Wire” on July 31 to discuss her tribe’s history and culture, as well as her hope for the future of her people.

Read this story on Mvskoke Media here.

TTBP ranch is located in the Lipan Apache territory in Welder, Texas. The ranch was recently featured on the PBS series “Women of the Earth.”

The Lipan Apache are located in Texas. Like Muscogee (Creek) Nation, they are a matrilineal society that trace their ancestors through their mother’s side. They descend from the Apache people that migrated from Canada to present day New Mexico, Arizona and Utah. Like so many other tribes, bison, or the American buffalo, has a significant meaning to the Lipan Apache. Their official shield contains a buffalo at its center signifying hunting and the Creator’s knowledge for His people.

For Contreras, forming the nonprofit was a way to reestablish a relationship to bison. TTBP oversees a 150-acre ranch that is home to 40 bison. Cultural knowledge and education is especially crucial in Texas where so few tribes have received federal recognition, including Lipan Apache.

“I had begun Texas Tribal Buffalo Project as a way to reclaim Texas Indigenous lineal descendancy,” Contreras said. “In Texas there are very few federally-recognized tribes. There are the Alabama-Coushatta in the east, the Kickapoo in the south, and the Ysleta Pueblo in the west.”

Contreras’ approach to leading the nonprofit is traditional to Lipan leadership structure.

“I have governed Texas Tribal Buffalo Project as a matriarchal governance,” Contreras said. “We are now creating a type of matriarchal, matrilineal governance where we are forming the decisions at Texas Tribal Buffalo makes and the pathways we move forward in our initiatives of regenerative agricultural curriculum, food sovereignty, and restoring land back to Indigenous people."

TTBP was funded in part by a USDA Beginning Farmer and Rancher loan. It is also funded by the Seventh Generation for Indigenous Peoples and Americorp. The nonprofit has received bison as donations from the Nature Conservancy and other anonymous donors.

In addition to conservation efforts, TTBP also sells bison meat. According to Contreras, TTBP is the only bison caretaker and producer that accepts EBT and food stamps online. TTBP ships bison meat all over the United States. The funds from sales all directly support TTBP’s operations and future projects.

Bison meat is provided for students through their Farm to School Basket initiative. The goal is to provide traditional Indigenous foods for students that are nutritious and culturally significant. Acknowledging the connection between traditional foods and material health, the nonprofit also provides bison meat for pregnant mothers through their Meat for Mamas initiative. 

The nonprofit gives educational tours of the ranch. Visitors get the opportunity to learn about the bison, native plants, history of the land, regenerative agriculture, and Lipan Apache culture. To schedule a visit to the TTBP Ranch, visit ​​https://www.texastribalbuffaloproject.org/ranchtour.