Sacred Storm Buffalo Unfiltered: Healing Lives, Restoring Ecosystems

In this column with NPQ, LandBack for the People, NDN Collective builds on their podcast of the same name, sharing stories from Turtle Island and beyond about Indigenous people organizing in community, advocating for social justice, and fighting for the return of Indigenous lands.

Buffalo—stewards of the land—are figuratively, if not literally, creating a path to survival for those in need. One of the most important aspects in achieving self-determination for Indigenous peoples is providing access to nutritious food. In other words, regaining food sovereignty, which means breaking away from a food chain reshaped by colonizers who stole not just land, but a way of life.

This was the theme of a June 2025 podcast interview by Nick Tilsen, CEO of NDN Collective with Chris White Eagle, founder of Sacred Storm Buffalo. They discussed empowering young Lakota adults—particularly at-risk men—through traditional buffalo harvesting, butchery, processing, and product development to talk about their growth and success. Tilsen and White Eagle were joined by four Sacred Storm Buffalo coworkers—White Eagle’s son Chance, Will Brave Bird, Jose Arguello, and Franky Frazier.

As Tilsen described in the interview, Sacred Storm Buffalo is “a social enterprise, founded right here in Mni Luzahan [also known as Rapid City, SD]…to create jobs to teach young people how to process buffalo, get reconnected back to the land, get reconnected back to identity, and create some opportunity. Economic opportunity, mobility.” Sacred Storm powerfully illustrates how LandBack can seamlessly integrate economic empowerment and workforce development to create transformative, community-led change.

Broadly speaking, Sacred Storm is building sustainable jobs, training Lakota youth in ancestral skills, and strengthening food sovereignty.

The focus on buffalo is driven by tradition and culture. “I mean, our housing came from buffalo, our clothing….Buffalo was what we ate, we’re buffalo people,” Tilsen said. “Without the buffalo, we wouldn’t even be here.”

During the 12-month period from June 2024 to November 2025, Sacred Storm distributed over 55,000 pounds of buffalo products to the people, addressing food insecurity and economic disparities in nearby local Native communities.

Sacred Storm Buffalo Origin Story

Sacred Storm Buffalo emerged from Wambli Ska Okolakiciye (Eagle Nation Society), a Native nonprofit founded in 2014 by Chris White Eagle’s father Daron to reconnect youth and families in Rapid City with traditional songs, dances, and, as the organization puts it, “the path of a good road.”

Drawing from his own experience, both of learning meat cutting from his father and teaching his son, White Eagle expanded Wambli Ska into a community teen center in 2021, offering homeschooling, gang diversion, and violence intervention amid issues like substance abuse and racial tensions.

Sacred Storm Buffalo arose as the “natural next step” to sustain alumni long-term: a hands-on apprenticeship in buffalo herd stewardship—providing jobs, housing, and cultural depth to interrupt cycles of incarceration or street life. Broadly speaking, Sacred Storm is building sustainable jobs, training Lakota youth in ancestral skills, and strengthening food sovereignty.

“It started with the conversation at one of NDN’s events…about how much food sovereignty means to our people,” White Eagle said. ”I mean, being able to have our own food locally is monumental; it’s huge.”

NDN Fund, an affiliate of NDN Collective, ended up making a $1.6 million loan to White Eagle to purchase Wild Idea Buffalo Company. This facility allowed them to process 25 to 30 buffalo a week.

Once they were up and running, Sacred Storm Buffalo collaborated with a food program located on Lakota land in Pine Ridge, SD, called Pejuta Waste O’Tipi/Good Medicine Lodge.

“They had a grant and they were purchasing buffalo meat from us,” White Eagle said. “So, we did four meat giveaways, which we boxed up, and we gave it out to the community of the North Side. Last year, I think that we gave away $1.8 million in food.” And each box was more than a meal—it was enough food to feed a family. “I think it was like a 40-, 45-pound box in each giveaway. We were giving away 500 to 550 boxes.”

These boxes contain quality cuts like rib-eyes, or ground meat, plus the more processed, longer-lasting selections like chorizo, Italian sausage, breakfast sausage, hot dogs, snack sticks, bapa (dry meat), jerky, and brats.

More Land, More Buffalo

With money from their product sales, Sacred Storm Buffalo purchased land. “We ended up getting 40 acres outside of Rapid City and we fenced it,” White Eagle said. But rather than merely replace the buffalo they processed, an opportunity to purchase a larger herd of buffalo arose.

The store has…buffalo products from local Native entrepreneurs. The Sacred Storm Buffalo retail store celebrated its grand opening on June 7, 2025.

“I kind of got happy at the auction,” White Eagle shared. “I have seen yearlings on there and I actually won the bid. So, I was like, ‘How many can I get?’ They’re like, ‘There’s 50 of them.’ So, it was like a spur-of-the-moment deal.”

Now Sacred Storm Buffalo is raising buffalo in a self-sustaining manner, as well.

Then, when an empty retail space became available in Rapid City, White Eagle knew they had to have it for Sacred Storm’s growth. “So, you got the land, you got the buffalo, you got the processing, you got the people to process it, and now you’ve got a retail store that you’re opening,” Tilsen reflected.

“No one in Rapid City or around the area does fresh buffalo.” White Eagle said. “We will be able to have a display case, a deli, a meat case with fresh buffalo.”

Plus, the store has winter hides—tanned and stretched—and painted drums and other buffalo products from local Native entrepreneurs. The Sacred Storm Buffalo retail store celebrated its grand opening on June 7, 2025.

Mentoring Indigenous Youth

When asked about who works butchering and processing the buffalo meat, White Eagle answered, “Nine young men.”

White Eagle elaborated on how the nonprofit works with Indigenous youth: “These are young men straight off the streets, straight coming in with their problems. We just took one in today, you know what I mean? And we bring them in, sober them up, and get them going with a plan. We smudge them down and go over rules and regulations. And all these boys, it’s kind of like a family, a brotherhood, and they all lean on each other. And they all hold each other accountable.”

You can watch the full conversation in LANDBACK for the People’s episode “Sacred Storm Buffalo.”