buffalo icon

Re-building the Native Knowledge Network of the Buffalo Nations of the Northern Plains & Rockies

sunflower

Certifying Indigenous Food System Professionals

beans icon

Food Sovereignty Through Education, Experience, and Community

Research Areas

  • Buffalo grassland ecology
  • Buffalo meat: nutrition & preference
  • Buffalo dry meat: harvesting processes
  • Traditional plant knowledge & community education
  • Access to land for foraging and hunting
  • Indigenous identity & relationship with the land
  • Indigenous plant restoration
  • Foodways cultural knowledge regeneration
  • Indigenous food environment assessment
  • Indigenous seed stewardship
  • Buffalo Nations seasonal round

Education

Degrees at MSU 

  • PhD in Indigenous and Rural Health
  • Individual Interdisciplinary PhD
  • MS in Sustainable Food Systems
  • MA in Native American Studies

Certificates

  • Graduate Certificate Indigenous Foods Systems (launching Spring 2025)
  • Seasonal-ecological model
  • Tribal College & Community Instructors
  • Land-Based Education
  • Buffalo Caretaking: Certificate in Buffalo Husbandry
  • Tribal College Certificate in Indigenous Food Systems

Buffalo Nations Food System Fellowships and Leadership Opportunities: 

May – October Indigenous collaborative work building/nurturing:

Indigenous Gardens

  • MSU American Indian Hall Indigenous & Culinary Garden
  • MSU Horticulture Farm Ancestral Seed Garden
  • Story Mill Indigenous Learning Garden in collaboration with Montana Indigenous Food Sovereignty Initiative
  • Thirteen Mile Farm Indigenous Garden & Indigenous plant re-introduction
  • Ancestral Seed Bank at MSU
  • Living seed bank
  • Indigenous seed distribution center
  • Teaching and learning space