Red Lake Nation's Food Initiative sees growth as buffalo herd increases to 33

Jul. 22—GONVICK, Minn. — Peering over a fence along the side of the road on a recent sunny day, school children from Red Lake scan the bison herd in front of them in an attempt to spot its newest and smallest members — three calves born this past spring.

Their birth brings the number of bison that are part of Red Lake's Buffalo Ranch to 33, a significant increase from the seven that started the herd just a few years ago. If things continue to go well, someday the size of the herd could be in the hundreds.

Both the buffalo ranch and several acres of garden nearby are a part of Red Lake Nation's Food Initiative, an effort just north of Gonvick, Minn. meant to increase access to locally sourced meat and produce for Red Lake tribal members.

Cherilyn Spears, the project's director of agriculture, recalls the conversations that first led to the initiative in 2014.

"People were asking 'How come we can't have locally grown vegetables? How come we can't have buffalo?'" Spears recalled. "We have all our food shipped in when we have all this land."

This sparked the idea of a food sovereignty project, and after fencing off a section of land and joining the Intertribal Buffalo Council, Red Lake received its first bison in 2020 from Wind Cave National Park.

"We received seven of them to start out with," Spears said. "The next spring we had five calves."

The herd has grown steadily since then, with more calves and an additional 15 bison from Wind Cave National Park joining the group over the years.

With that growth, Spears and her team have worked to ensure the herd has everything it needs. By this fall the ranch will include over 600 acres for the bison to roam.

"We're hoping to bring the herd up to 300 buffalo," Spears shared.

All of that space requires upkeep, and James Kingbird, a buffalo manager at the ranch, goes into the enclosure frequently to check fences and see how the herd is doing.

"It's really peaceful and beautiful out here with the buffalo, I love it," Kingbird shared. "Sometimes they'll walk right up to you."

When school children visit the farm, he'll gently encourage the bison to go somewhere visible from the side of the road so that the kids can see them.

"It's great to see the kids out here," Kingbird said. "I think they have a lot of fun."

Children from local schools and community programs take field trips out to the ranch frequently, particularly in the summer. During their visit they get to see the bison herd, learn about the farm and, if it's the right season, pick fresh strawberries from the garden.

These visits from school children are a highlight for Fred Auginash, the project's farm manager. For him, a key part of food sovereignty is educating the next generation, and he views visits from local students as a chance to encourage them to learn about agriculture and gardening.

"The hope is to (teach) these young ones how to grow fruits and vegetables so that they know how to garden," Auginash explained.

Alongside strawberries, the garden Auginash manages grows potatoes, peppers, tomatoes, lettuce and a variety of other produce items.

"We grow just about everything," Auginash said.

While the buffalo herd is still too young to regularly harvest, food grown in the garden is already supporting community members across Red Lake Nation.

Spears sent the first harvest of strawberries to a nearby nursing home and shared that the vegetables grown in the garden have been a favorite of local school children.

"The schools said they really like our vegetables, that our cucumbers were so delicious," Spears shared. "It wasn't how we grew them, what matters was it was fresh. That's the difference."

Spears hopes to expand these efforts as the project grows, providing boxes of food to the tribe's elderly members and selling locally sourced produce, and eventually buffalo meat, at grocery stores in the surrounding community.

"I think so much stems from food, so (it's important) to try and teach our little ones, and their moms and dads how important it is to have fresh fruits and vegetables," Spears said. "That's what we want to start teaching and to help out with."