Bringing bison back to indigenous lands
Down to Earth: The Planet to Plate Podcast
Release Date: 11/12/2025
Bringing bison back to indigenous lands
Down to Earth: The Planet to Plate Podcast
Montana filmmaker Daniel Glick decided to make a film about bison just because he loved the animals and wanted to be around them. He teamed up with Blackfeet filmmakers Ivan and Ivy MacDonald to co-direct the documentary, Bring them Home, narrated by Lily Gladstone. The film explores the history of bison on the North American continent and the Blackfeet nation in particular; the parallel genocides of native people and the animal that provided them with sustenance, both practical and spiritual; and the movement to bring surviving herds of bison back to their ancestral lands. In this...
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Meet Xochitl, Quivira’s new Executive Director
Down to Earth: The Planet to Plate Podcast
Xochitl Torres Small grew up in Las Cruces, NM, and started her career as an attorney who has working in water and natural resources law. She served as U.S. Representative for New Mexico's 2nd congressional district (2019-20); she was Under Secretary for Rural Development (2021-23); and she served as United States deputy secretary of agriculture (2023-25). She brings her wide-ranging experience Executive Director of Quivira Coalition, and in our conversation she talks about her background, government service, and visions for regeneration and collaboration across the food system. ...
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Food, power, and hope in the American West
Down to Earth: The Planet to Plate Podcast
In today's podcast, we talk to Jennifer Sahn, editor of , and writers and , about HCN's September issue, a collaboration with the Food & Environment Reporting Network (FERN). The issue covers a wide range of topics on Food and Power in the American West. TIMELINE 1'57 and collaboration on "Food and Power in the West" issue 3'17 stories in the issue including meat packing and pecan growing 6'10 the 7'52 what is the 10'12 RICK BASS 10'57 the definition of sustainability and why it's not 100% attainable 12'41 forest service is part of the department of agriculture but really...
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The perils and poetics of being a fire lookout
Down to Earth: The Planet to Plate Podcast
grew up on a farm in Minnesota, studied journalism, and got a job at the Wall Street Journal. But after the September 11 attacks and the death of his brother, he left New York behind and took a job as a fire lookout in the Gila National Forest in New Mexico. Following in the footsteps of other fire lookout writers, poets, and philosophers, like Gary Snyder, Jack Kerouac, and Jack Loeffler, he wrote his first book, Fire Season, in 2011. Since then he written three more books, the latest of which, The Mountain Knows the Mountain, incorporates poetry — particularly haiki — to engage both...
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Ted Turner's Ranch: Watching degraded ecosystems bounce back
Down to Earth: The Planet to Plate Podcast
In 1996, media mogul Ted Turner bought a New Mexico ranch that's bigger than many national parks. A new film, Preserved, details its history, conservation projects, and influence. Previously owned by Pennzoil, the ranch was badly degraded from overgrazing, forest clearcutting, coal mines, fossil fuel extraction, railroads, and a long-term lack of environmental stewardship. Turner's goal was to restore the land and its wildlife, while keeping the ranch profitable through livestock and tourism businesses. The film explores the history and conservation activities of Vermejo Park Ranch,...
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An outdoor classroom for land stewardship—and life skills
Down to Earth: The Planet to Plate Podcast
Quinn Mendelson is Conservation Program Director of , a nonprofit that trains young adults to do conservation work in the "outdoor classroom" of New Mexico's landscapes. Not only do they learn skills like trail building, watershed restoration, and wildfire mitigation, but they also receive training that helps them to get jobs—as well as less quantifiable but just as important life skills like getting along with each other, finding their own authentic voices, and being in nature for long periods. The program has been going for three decades, and has led many of its alumni into...
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The Good Meat Movement
Down to Earth: The Planet to Plate Podcast
What is "good meat"? Michele Thorne has a lot to say on the subject. She is executive director of , a non-profit whose mission is to foster a healthy and humane meat system that centers local production instead of industrial monopolies that damage ecosystems and consolidate wealth. With the core value of transparency, they offer free services to butchers, ranchers, eaters, and chefs, and produce journals and that feature stories about people across the good meat universe. TIMELINE 3'51 what is good meat? 4'52 soil stewardship 5'12 the core value of transparency 5'55 the importance of consumer...
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Navajo farming and entrepreneurship––for the next generation
Down to Earth: The Planet to Plate Podcast
Zachariah Ben is a sixth-generation farmer from Shiprock, New Mexico. He and his family founded Bidii Baby Foods. Using traditional Navajo food traditions, they provide healthy, nutritious, and locally-grown food to Navajo people, many of whom are living in food deserts. And, through entrepreneurship and traditional farming, they seek to heal generational trauma by fostering not only physical health but also spiritual connection to land and community––from surviving to thriving. 4'12 traditional Navajo farming principles 5'01 trauma healing 5'31 farming with the stars, singing, birth...
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Feeding a Divided America
Down to Earth: The Planet to Plate Podcast
Gilles Stockton is author of the new book, Feeding a Divided America: Reflections of a Western Rancher in the Era of Climate Change, published by University of New Mexico Press. A third generation cattle rancher, he raises beef cattle and sheep on a 5000-acre ranch in Grass Range, Montana. He’s also an international agriculture development specialist and an advocate for ranching and farming communities. The new book imparts a lifetime of wisdom and analysis of what happened to our agriculture system, why, and how we can create a system that gives power back to the farmers who are...
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Feeding a Divided America
Down to Earth: The Planet to Plate Podcast
Giles Stockton is author of the new book, Feeding a Divided America: Reflections of a Western Rancher in the Era of Climate Change, published by University of New Mexico Press. A third generation cattle rancher, he raises beef cattle and sheep on a 5000-acre ranch in Grass Range, Montana. He’s also an international agriculture development specialist and an advocate for ranching and farming communities. The new book imparts a lifetime of wisdom and analysis of what happened to our agriculture system, why, and how we can create a system that gives power back to the farmers who are...
info_outlineMontana filmmaker Daniel Glick decided to make a film about bison just because he loved the animals and wanted to be around them. He teamed up with Blackfeet filmmakers Ivan and Ivy MacDonald to co-direct the documentary, Bring them Home, narrated by Lily Gladstone. The film explores the history of bison on the North American continent and the Blackfeet nation in particular; the parallel genocides of native people and the animal that provided them with sustenance, both practical and spiritual; and the movement to bring surviving herds of bison back to their ancestral lands. In this podcast Ivan and Daniel talk about the process of making the film, the significance of bison, and the challenges—and moments of grace—in the decades-long grassroots efforts to return them.
TIMELINE
2'28 WHY bring home buffalo
4'54 bringing back a wild herd that was once with Blackfeet people to their ancestral land
5'42 do the buffalo know they're coming home?
6'35 how the film came to be, Daniel wanted to spend time with buffalo
7'54 the creation stories and the relationship between Blackfeet and buffalo
9'35 vision of buffalo returning to the land, but it wasn't easy to implement
11'27 Blackfeet people were forced into ranching and farming and individual land ownership and this conflicted with the return of the buffalo
13'31 the system imposed on Blackfeet people antithetical to wildlife and healthy ecosystems
14'59 the different kinds of colonialism
16'02 Buffalo keystone species and how that affects other species
17'23 bison make grasslands a carbon sink
19'29 New York Wildlife Conservation Society got involved
20'40 the importance of patience in this process and building relationships, trust, community-building
22'58 potential for the buffalo to heal generational trauma, physical and spiritual genocide
24'23 Ini days celebration and ceremony
26'23 the spiritual aspect of Bison and all animals, relatives
26'35 everyone benefits from finding their reconnection to the natural world
27'20 the moment where the buffalo were set free, what was that like
28'13 a lot of risk and uncertainty in finally releasing them
29'55 cattle ranchers fell in love with buffalo
31'06 domesticated vs wild animals and how wildness affects us
32'47 how they are being monitored
33'51 Blackfeet acquired a 28,000 acre grassland ranch for the buffalo
34'45 conversations with other tribes
36'32 PBS screening starting November 24
38'05 beautifully made and crafted film, narrated by Lily Gladstone
40'56 a narrative of hope in a time of tragedy and pain</div>