Our Development

How We Started and Where We Plan To Go

Founding

In 2013, Tribal wildlife managers at a Native American Fish and Wildlife Society meeting identified sustainable financing as a major challenge facing Tribal natural resource programs in the Northern Great Plains. As a result, a Tribal working group formed in 2015, in partnership with World Wildlife Fund Northern Great Plains Program (WWF), to identify ways to support Tribal wildlife programs in the Northern Great Plains (NGP) through sustainable financing strategies. The working group included representatives from seven Native Nations and called itself the Sustainable Financing Initiative for Tribal Wildlife Conservation in the Northern Great Plains.

In 2021, the working group applied for and gained formal recognition as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, renaming itself to Buffalo Nations Grasslands Alliance (BNGA). "Buffalo Nations" reflects the centrality of buffalo to all cultures across the Northern Great Plains’ 16 Native Nations, and "Grasslands Alliance" reflects BNGA's commitment to building and strengthening this coalition to protect “grasslands for generations.”

Timeline

The working group identified four priority financing mechanisms:

·       Increasing US government and state funding

·       Increasing tourism-based revenues

·       Increasing revenue from hunting fees and licenses

·       Establishing a conservation trust fund

  • 2017

    Visited Great Bear Rainforest and Haida Gwaii in British Columbia to learn about Coast Funds, a highly successful conservation financing initiative with 30 First Nations.

  • 2018

    Commissioned Solimar International to complete an assessment of sustainable tourism opportunities for tribes in the Northern Great Plains in 2018

    Supported Lower Brule Sioux Tribe’s Department of Wildlife, Fish and Recreation’s completion of their conservation and financial plans, in partnership with WWF

  • 2019

    Hired a full-time coordinator and quickly expanded Native leaders’ participation in the sustainable financing initiative across the region

  • 2020

    Created a regional conservation plan, and commissioned an assessment that determined establishing a conservation trust fund in the region is feasible

  • 2021

    The working group decided to take the step of creating its own 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and in August, the Buffalo Nations Grasslands Alliance received its official Internal Revenue Service determination.

    Supported both Rosebud Sioux Tribe’s Department of Natural Resources and Game, Fish and Parks and Fort Belknap Indian Community’s Fish and Wildlife Department in the completion of their conservation and financial plans, in partnership with WWF.

  • 2022

    Four Tribal Councils and one Tribal Association passed resolutions in support of BNGA’s vision, mission, and goals. BNGA passed its three year strategic plan and gained more financial support. The Board of Directors diversified and expanded to 8 members.

  • 2023

    BNGA hired our first CEO, Shaun Grassel, PhD (Lower Brule)

Setting Goals

7 GENERATIONS: Making decisions that will benefit present and future generations

COLLABORATION: Enhancing collaboration between Native Nations, Native-led organizations, and other like-minded stakeholders across the region

EQUITY: Plans and decisions improve the capacity of society to offer equality of opportunity to all

EMPOWERMENT: Enhancing the ability of citizens of Native Nations to increase their economic resources in relation to sustaining natural resources, to protect natural resources, and to practice Native lifeways

EFFECTIVENESS: Plans and decisions are made according to high standards of design and implementation with quantifiable outcomes envisioned

RESPECT: Make plans and decisions in a way that fully respects the rights and dignity of the individual and Mother Earth

Six core value underpin BNGA’s goalsetting and decision-making

BNGA’s directors draw on the expertise and advice of a growing group of over 50 advisors across the 16 Native Nations in the Northern Great Plains and partner organizations like the Native American Fish and Wildlife Society, First Nations Development Institute, Indian Land Tenure Foundation, and World Wildlife Fund. Advisors meet every month and participate in in-person workshops twice annually.

Please contact us if you are interested in participating in advisory meetings.