Indian tribes prepare way for buffalo's return

Indian tribes prepare way for buffalo's return

MATT VOLZ, Associated Press

POPLAR — American Indians depended on the buffalo for hundreds of years for food, clothing, tools and medicine. Now today's tribes want to return the favor by helping preserve one of the last genetically pure herds in North America.

The Sioux and Assiniboine tribes of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars preparing 5,000 rolling acres in northeastern Montana for 50 wild bison from Yellowstone National Park. Their neighbors to the west at the Fort Belknap reservation have also asked...