SATUS, Wash. — Far from the fruited plain, in marshy land on the Yakama Reservation, Darwin Sockzehigh has spotted that rarest of sights in Washington State, a herd of buffalo.
"This is one of their wallows," he said. "This is where they do some dust bathing."
Sockzehigh, biologist Kristi Olney and Francis Piel actually manage the herd, which got its start here in 1991.
In the winter, they will provide supplemental hay feeding from the back of a pick up truck, but for most of the year, the buffalo pretty much sustain themselves.
"That's one thing about them," Olney said. "They don't congregate and graze in one area. They keep moving."
Unimpeded, buffalo can roam up to 50 miles a day. Managing the herd means a lot of building and repairing of fences.
"It's a lot of hard work," Sockzehigh said. "And to see them out here just kind of grazing and relaxing, it feels pretty good. "
There's historical evidence that the Yakama would travel east to hunt for buffalo. A few years ago, the Intertribal Buffalo Council awarded the Yakama nation 26 buffalo from Yellowstone National Park. They're bigger, wilder and purer.
"We wanted to get them to incorporate their genetics into the herd," Olney said.
Throughout the nation, the return of buffalo on tribal lands has been a way to preserve cultural and spiritual traditions. But for the Yakama, they offer another brand of healing.
"We've got a problem with diabetes on our reservation" Sockzehigh said. "And the buffalo meat is a lot leaner and healthier."
A walk-in freezer on the buffalo ranch is stacked with buffalo meat sold with no preservatives and virtually no fat.
"Here we don't add anything, " Olney said. "It's just what they graze out here."
Meat sales pay for the maintenance of the herd.
"Eventually I want to have it where we can donate the meat to our people, but we're not there yet," Olney said.
Sockzehigh says working with the buffalo has been rewarding.
"As I got to minge and connect with the buffalo, they kind of became part of my life. When I leave, I want to see a bigger herd and a bigger calf crop."
By nurturing the buffalo, the Yakama nurture themselves.
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