Why We Made Native — and Why It Needed Its Own Channel
Native the Prodigies of an Icon a documentary about the American Bison
There are some stories that don’t fit inside an episode.
They don’t compress well.
They don’t like timelines.
And they don’t survive being reduced to a talking point.
The story of the American bison is one of them.
That’s why Native: The Prodigies of an Icon exists. And it’s why we’ve launched a dedicated channel — Native — to house the work surrounding it.
This isn’t a rebrand.
It’s a recognition that some stories deserve space.
The Bison Story We Don’t Tell Anymore
The bison has been turned into a symbol so often that we’ve forgotten it’s an animal.
A working animal.
A ruminant.
A keystone species shaped by grazing, pressure, movement, and management.
In modern narratives, bison are often framed as:
a rewilding tool
a political symbol
a creature that existed before people, not with them
That framing skips the most important part of the story.
Bison did not survive because humans stepped back.
They survived because some humans stayed.
Ranchers saved bison.
Private land saved bison.
Working landscapes saved bison.
That reality doesn’t fit neatly into today’s conservation messaging — but it’s the truth.
Why This Became a Documentary
Native started with a simple question:
What if we told the bison story honestly — without pretending people aren’t part of the ecosystem?
That question took us to ranches, grasslands, tribal buffalo programs, and conservation operations thatdon’t look anything like the caricatures people argue about online.
Places like West Bijou Ranch in Colorado — a working ranch affiliated with the Savory Institute — where bison aren’t a theory or a headline, but part of a managed system that includes land, livestock, and people.
What we found over and over again was this:
Healthy grasslands don’t happen by accident.
They happen because someone is paying attention.
Why Ranchers Matter — Even When That Makes People Uncomfortable
There’s a growing tension in agriculture and conservation right now.
Some producers worry that bison are being used as a wedge — a rewilding argument dressed up as ecology. Others are understandably skeptical of conservation language that seems to remove people from the land instead of supporting them on it.
Those concerns aren’t paranoia. They’re rooted in real policy outcomes happening in real places.
But the answer isn’t to avoid the conversation.
The answer is to tell the full story.
Bison thrive today largely on private land.
They are managed by ranchers and land stewards who understand grazing, pressure, timing, and recovery — because those same principles apply whether you’re running cattle, bison, or sheep.
Ruminants don’t destroy grasslands.
Poor management does.
And good management requires people.
Why Native Needed Its Own Channel
As this project grew, it became clear that it didn’t belong as a sidecar to Yanasa TV.
Yanasa TV investigates policy, lawfare, land use, and the systems putting pressure on rural America.
Native does something adjacent — but different.
It documents:
behind-the-scenes filmmaking
travel between working landscapes
conversations that don’t fit into a news segment
the slow, often unglamorous reality of stewardship
That work needed a place where it wouldn’t be rushed or repackaged.
So we launched Native — now live on YouTube at @NativeBison — as the canonical home for:
behind-the-scenes footage from the documentary
educational videos on bison, ruminants, and grasslands
travel vlogs from ranches and conservation sites
trailers and updates as the film series moves toward release
Yanasa TV will continue to cover the policy battles.
Native will show what’s actually happening on the land.
Those two things need to talk to each other — but they don’t need to live in the same room.
Who This Project Is For
This film isn’t made at ranchers.
It’s made with respect for them.
It’s for:
producers who know land doesn’t manage itself
conservationists willing to acknowledge working landscapes
students who want more than simplified narratives
anyone who senses there’s more to this story than slogans
It’s also made in collaboration with organizations like the National Buffalo Foundation, whose mission is rooted in real-world conservation, not abstraction.
A Final Note
Native is not an argument for removing people from the land.
It’s an argument for remembering who kept it alive.
If you want to follow the documentary as it unfolds — the travel, the filming, the conversations that don’t always make the final cut — you’ll find that work on the Native channel.
If you want to understand the policies and pressures shaping the future of farming and ranching, Yanasa TV will keep doing what it does.
Different channels.
Same respect for the land.
Same belief that rural stories deserve to be told accurately.
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Yanasa TV