Debbie and Savanna meet Miracle, a white buffalo calf born on a small farm in Wisconsin. Her birth fulfilled an ancient Lakota prophecy that promised the return of the White Buffalo Calf Woman during a time when all peoples would need to unite to heal the earth. Dave and Valerie Heider named her Miracle and made the extraordinary decision to open their farm to visitors free of charge, welcoming hundreds of thousands of people over the next decade.

Books and Documentaries:

- Chief Arvol Looking Horse's "White Buffalo Teachings"

- Ken Burns' "The American Buffalo" (PBS, 2023)

-By the Side of the Buffalo Pasture by Kathleen Buerer (1994 visits to Miracle)

-Dan Flores: American Serengeti: The Last Big Animals of the Great Plains (2017) and Wild New World: The Epic Story of Animals and People in America (2022)

Not a book, but Heider's website for Miracle (referenced in episode) https://whitebuffalomiracle.homestead.com/

Current Bison Conservation Status:

Total population: ~500,000 bison

Conservation herds (wild habitat): ~30,000

Commercial herds (meat production): ~470,000

Genetically pure bison: ~15,000 (free from cattle genes)

IUCN Status: Near Threatened

Historical low: <1,000 (1880s)

Historical high: 30-60 million (pre-European contact)

WHAT WE CAN DO

Organizations to Support:

1. InterTribal Buffalo Council (ITBC)

Website: itbc.org

2. Tanka Fund

Website: tankafund.org

3. American Prairie Reserve

Website: americanprairie.org

4. World Wildlife Fund - Northern Great Plains Program

Website: worldwildlife.org/places/northern-great-plains

5. Buffalo Field Campaign

Website: buffalofieldcampaign.org

6. National Bison Association

Website: bisoncentral.com

Works Cited

Cook, John R. The Border and the Buffalo: An Untold Story of the Southwest

Plains. Crane & Company, 1907.

Delano, Columbus. Annual Report of the Secretary of the Interior on the

Operations of the Department for the Year 1873. Government Printing

Office, 1873.

Fire, John (Lame Deer), and Richard Erdoes. Lame Deer, Seeker of Visions.

Simon and Schuster, 1972.

Hornaday, William Temple. The Extermination of the American Bison. Report

of the National Museum, 1887. Government Printing Office, 1889.

Smits, David D. "The Frontier Army and the Destruction of the Buffalo:

1865-1883." The Western Historical Quarterly, vol. 25, no. 3, 1994,

pp. 312-338.

"American Bison." National Park Service, U.S. Department of Interior, nps.gov/articles/american-bison.htm. Accessed 18 Nov. 2025.

"American Bison." U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Department of Interior, fws.gov. Accessed 18 Nov. 2025.

"American Buffalo." Directed by Ken Burns, PBS, 2023.

"American Prairie Reserve." American Prairie Reserve, americanprairie.org.

"Bison." National Wildlife Federation, nwf.org. Accessed 18 Nov. 2025.

"Bison bison." IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, International Union for Conservation of Nature, iucnredlist.org. Accessed 18 Nov. 2025.

"Bison of Yellowstone." National Park Service, Yellowstone National Park, nps.gov/yell/learn/nature/bison.htm. Accessed 18 Nov. 2025.

"Buffalo Field Campaign." Buffalo Field Campaign, buffalofieldcampaign.org. Accessed 18 Nov. 2025.

DeMallie, Raymond J., editor. The Sixth Grandfather: Black Elk's Teachings Given to John G. Neihardt. University of Nebraska Press, 1985.

Forgacs, David, et al. "Genomic evidence for reintroduction of cattle genetics in wild American bison." Scientific Reports, vol. 10, 2020.

"InterTribal Buffalo Council." InterTribal Buffalo Council, itbc.org. Accessed 18 Nov. 2025.

Laskin, Tom. "Miracle, the Sacred White Buffalo Calf, Dies." Isthmus, 23 Sept. 2004.

Looking Horse, Chief Arvol. White Buffalo Teachings. [Publisher information to be added with full publication details]

"Northern Great Plains." World Wildlife Fund, wwf.org. Accessed 18 Nov. 2025.

"The Sacred White Buffalo." Smithsonian Magazine. [Multiple articles, specific dates to be added]