"The Living Muscle of Our History"

From the Buffalo Field Campaign website:
"[The buffalo are] the dark force of the plains - the living muscle of our history. Perhaps no other animal represents so well that richness which we once had, and which we so savagely squandered and mutilated."
- Rick Bass, nature writer and environmental activist

From a Montana blogger:
"One day while hiking across the Lamar Valley in Yellowstone, I realized that my route was intersecting the wanderings of a buffalo herd. I quickly found a large rock on a steeply sloped knoll the the buffalo would walk around and hunkered down to wait for the herd to pass. I was surrounded by a couple of hundred buffalo that were grunting & snorting as they were moving down the Lamar Valley. I could hear and feel their feet hitting the ground and see puffs of dust every time a hoof struck the earth. They were only 20 or 30 feet away and, because I sat very still, they appeared unaware of my presence and ignored me. That was a primevally awesome experience. And sitting quietly on the ground while 200-300 1000+ pound animals meander past is a very humbling sensation. Adding to my experience was their smell; grass, earth, sun, rain, wind, snow; all combine to give them a uniquely natural odor that is oddly pleasant."