Ken Burns on Why ‘The American Buffalo’ Documentary Is ‘Quintessentially American’

Documentarian Ken Burns has reached national treasure status for his absorbing explorations of U.S. history. The Emmy winner does it again with The American Buffalo, a heartbreaking but hopeful two-night, four-hour portrait of our national mammal, the buffalo (called bison by scientists).

“It’s quintessentially American, filled with unforgettable stories and people. It has two lessons: how humans can damage the natural world and how we can work to preserve the environment,” Burns says. “The story of the buffalo is also the story of Native nations who relied on it to survive, developing a sacred relationship that evolved over more than 10,000 years but was almost completely severed in fewer than 100.”

Tonight, learn how the buffalo population shrunk from an estimated 30 million in the 1800s to the brink of extinction by 1900. Over that century, businesses and the U.S. government committed a calculated mass culling, both to collect valuable hides and to deprive the Native population of a resource on which they depended.

Tomorrow’s second half, focusing on efforts to restore the population and place herds on Native lands, includes joyful images like calves frolicking with their moms. Says Native American historian Rosalyn LaPier: “This summer on the Blackfeet reservation, we did release a few dozen bison to be free-roaming.”

Oh, give me a home…

The American Buffalo, Documentary Premiere, Monday, October 16, 8/7c, PBS (check local listings at pbs.org)