Geography Colloquium: Ecological Fragmentation as Jointly Political: The Splintering and Rebuilding of Tribal Buffalo Habitat and Tribal Territory

Speaker: Dr. Libby Lunstrum Abstract: Habitat or landscape fragmentation is a major challenge for biodiversity conservation, yet current understandings focus primarily on its ecological dimensions, overlooking the fact that fragmentation is equally political. Drawing on Blackfoot-led efforts to reintroduce buffalo – or iinnii – to Blackfoot lands, we show how fragmentation and subsequent efforts to rebuild connectivity are both ecological and political, and indeed these are intertwined. We show, first, how colonial settlement was a fragmenting project that intentionally splintered vast buffalo habitat and Tribal territory into a complex mosaic of land uses – from ranches and national parks to internally subdivided reservations – to serve colonial interests. Contemporary efforts to welcome iinnii home counter this history by employing innovative strategies, including tapping into land buyback programs and partnering with national parks, to rebuild continuous buffalo habitat. This create...