Endangered Species Day
By Zach Maxwell
Choctaw Nation
Tvshka Homma - Choctaw Nation recognizes Endangered Species Day (May 15) with a success story about the Yvnnvsh. This is the Chahta Anumpa word for bison, the animal most of us refer to as the “buffalo.”
Pre-historic herds numbering some 30 million bison were reduced to fewer than 1,000 by the turn of the 20th century. The National Bison Association counts more than 400,000 of the animals today.
Choctaw Nation maintains a herd of 65 animals on tribal property at Tvshka Homma, near the town of Yanush (a variant spelling of the Choctaw word for “bison.”) Shannon McDaniel, executive director of tribal management, said the animals are fed a mixture of winter hay, commercial feed and pasture grazing. A breeding program is also in place.
These animals are a popular part of the Labor Day Festival experience; more importantly, they provide a living link to the Native American heritage that helps define Choctaw and numerous other native nations.
Here are the endangered and threatened species of the Choctaw Nation, listed by county. Information from www.wildlifedepartment.com.
Atoka County: American Burying Beetle, Piping Plover.
Bryan County: Interior Least Tern, American Burying Beetle, Piping Plover.
Choctaw County: American Burying Beetle, Interior Least Tern, Scaleshell Mussel, Piping Plover.
Coal County: American Burying Beetle.
Haskell County: American Burying Beetle, Interior Least Tern, Piping Plover.
Hughes County: Interior Least Tern, Piping Plover, Arkansas River Shiner.
Latimer County: American Burying Beetle, Piping Plover.
LeFlore County: American Burying Beetle, Indiana Bat, Interior Least Tern, Ouachita Rock Pocketbook Mussel, Scaleshell Mussel, Piping Plover, Leopard Darter (fish).
McCurtain County: Black-sided Darter, American Burying Beetle, Indiana Bat, Interior Least Tern, Red-cockaded Woodpecker, Ouachita Rock Pocketbook, Winged Mapleleaf Mussel, Piping Plover, Leopard Darter.
Pittsburg County: American Burying Beetle, Interior Least Tern, Piping Plover, Arkansas River Shiner.
Pushmataha County: American Burying Beetle, Indiana Bat, Interior Least Tern, Red-cockaded Woodpecker, Ouachita Rock Pocketbook, Scaleshell, Winged Mapleleaf, Piping Plover, Leopard Darter.