--- description: Millions of bison, sacred to Native Americans, once blanketed the Great Plains. But by the start of the 20th century, the animals had been hunted... title: Where the Buffalo Roam Again image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Where the Buffalo Roam Again by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 30, 2016 12:14 PM CUT by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 30, 2016 12:14 PM CUT Millions of bison, sacred to Native Americans, once blanketed the Great Plains. But by the start of the 20th century, the animals had been hunted to near extinction and were thought to be a lost cause. A dedicated public and private conservation effort has nurtured a revival, and today hundreds of thousands of bison range across parts of Wyoming, Nebraska, the Dakotas and Montana, like this herd at Ted Turner’s Flying D Ranch on June 14. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4389152/where-the-buffalo-roam-again/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4389152/where-the-buffalo-roam-again/"},"headline":"Where the Buffalo Roam Again","datePublished":"2016-06-30T12:14:24.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T22:57:58.675Z","description":"Millions of bison, sacred to Native Americans, once blanketed the Great Plains. But by the start of the 20th century, the animals had been hunted...","url":"https://time.com/4389152/where-the-buffalo-roam-again/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4389152/where-the-buffalo-roam-again/","name":"Where the Buffalo Roam Again"}}]}] ```