A remarkable thing happened in the summer of 2023 on the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana. The tribe released a herd of 49 bison. The animals, iinnii in the Blackfoot language, leapt from trailers, free to roam parts of their historic homelands for the first time since the late 1800s when overhunting nearly drove them to extinction.

Cristina Mormorunni, co-founder and director of INDIGENOUS LED, a group working to restore bison and beaver to their original ranges, saw the release. “How fitting is it that the first animal that jumped off the trailer was a calf? Just a hopeful future in a shaggy red coat,” Mormorunni said. “I will never forget watching that little calf. She looked around, then just took off.”