By Taylar Stagner, Grist Jason Baldes drove down a dusty, sagebrush highway earlier this month, pulling 11 young buffalo in a trailer from Colorado to the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming. His blue truck has painted on the side a drawing of buffalo and a calf. As the executive director of the Wind River Buffalo Initiative and Eastern Shoshone tribal member, Baldes has helped grow the number of buffalo on the reservation for the last decade. The latest count: the Northern Arapaho tribe have 97 and the Eastern Shoshone have 118. “Tribes have an important role in restoring buffalo for food sovereignty, culture and nutrition, but also for overall bison recovery,” he said. ___ EDITOR’S NOTE: This story is a collaboration between The Associated Press and Grist. ___ The Eastern

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