Welcome back to this monthly meeting of the parks Arts and Culture Committee of Denver City Council.

Join us in the Parks Arts and Culture Committee starting now.

Good morning, everyone.

Happy Tuesday.

I'm really excited to be here at Parks Art and Culture Committee talking about our bison transfer.

But before we get started with our great presentation, we'll start with introductions from council members.

We'll start with committee chair, Councilman Heinz to my right.

Vice Chair, you're the chair.

Committee vice chair.

Chris Heinz.

Good morning, Stacey Gilmore, District 11.

Good morning, Manisanne, Northwest Denver District.

One.

Good morning, Darrell Watson.

Fine District 9.

And we have no council member.

Oh, we have one council member online.

Hi.

Thank you for joining us.

Shannon, do you want to introduce yourself and take it away?

We're really excited to hear your presentation.

Absolutely.

Thank you so much for having me this morning, Council members.

My name is Shannon Denison.

I'm the director of Denver Mountain Parks.

We also have our executive director at Denver Parks and Rec Joel and Clark here as well, as well as a few other members of the DPR team.

We also have Lewis Talbull online from Denver Mountain Park staff as well.

Well, I'm very excited to present to you this morning.

You all ready to go?

All right, I will jump right into it then.

This morning we have two items for council consideration.

We have Council Resolution 260398, which is a concessionaire contract at Pahhaska at Lookout Mountain Park, and Council Bill 260422, which is the bison transfer ordinance.

You all can let me know if you want me to take a break to talk about questions for each one, or if you'd like to address them separately.

As I mentioned, uh these are both for the Denver Mountain Parks.

Just a quick refresher.

We're gonna be talking about two specific parks today, uh, or two specific items.

We're gonna be talking about uh bison transfer, which is applicable to Genesee Park and to Daniels Park, uh, as well as Lookout Mountain Park, uh, which is located just west of Golden.

We'll start with Council Resolution 260398 for the concessionaire contract of Pahaska at Lookout Mountain Park.

Uh lookout Mountain Park.

Uh, if you've grew up in Denver, you're probably very familiar with it.

It's uh one of our more popular mountain parks.

It sees about half a million visitors per year.

At the site, we have Buffalo Bill's Grave, the Pahasca Cafe and Gift Shop, and the Buffalo Bill Museum, all uh within a central complex.

Uh the building, the uh concession building dates back to 1921 and was operated by a concessionaire through the end of 2024.

The Buffalo Bill Museum was constructed in 1977 and is entirely operated by City and County of Denver staff.

And over the last several years, it's been a key opportunity to reimagine the space to advance the uh game plan for a healthy city.

There's a significant need for transformation at Lookout Mountain Park.

Uh currently we have aging infrastructure, uh, underutilization of the site, underrepresented history and culture, lack of revenue diversity, and limited operations space, and we'd really like to move this in a different direction and achieve a future condition of having historic inviting mountain charm, daytime and evening activation, improved reflection of native history, a new event facility and transportation someday, um, and uh someday a new facility for public and staff.

Uh but at this point in time, this is really the first step in that direction.

I want to share sort of a photo tour of what we're looking at, uh, the historic condition of Pahaska uh from 1921 and the more recent condition.

Uh again, the historic condition, and then the recent condition with the uh last concession era at the site.

You can see that the character and a lot of the uh uh interior of the building is not as visible.

Uh the historic veranda that looked out over the city and county of Denver was enclosed uh probably in the 1950s or so uh and was used for um entertainment machines and retail space.

Uh the uh conditions of the dining room are very different than the original character.

And then uh here's some current conditions in the lobby and retail area.

You can see that the building is is looking a little bit shabby and really needs a lot of investment and love.

Again, we'll just do a visual tour.

Uh this is the dining room and kitchen.

You can see that the floor and ceiling need pretty substantial work.

Uh some general conditions and areas that need repair.

Again, some condition issues in that space.

This was the basement dormitory where the concessionaire housed employees.

Some more photos of the basement dormitory.

So that kind of gives you a sense of the conditions of the building.

Another condition issue that we've been trying to deal with is the septic system.

Within the city and county of Denver, we all operate on a sewer system where when you flush the toilet, it goes into a water treatment plant.

In the mountain parks, we have several different septic systems where we have to treat the wastewater on site.

And the septic system was not designed to receive half a million visitors per year.

So we have a lot of mechanical limitations in the septic system and other areas that we're working on as well, and trying to figure out how we adjust those to meet higher demand.

Here are some photos again of merchandise that was previously sell that did not necessarily align with city values.

And here's a quick overview of the prior concessions contracts.

From 1957 with a gap in there, and that contract ended in 2024.

We provided the contractors, city council, and the mayor's office with 15 months' advanced notice of the contract expiration in September of 2023.

And we went through a process that I'll describe here in a moment for an RFP, and we're proposing a new contract that would go from 2026 to 2036.

This is a timeline of our RFP that we put out.

We published an RFI on May 12th of 2025, looking for a vendor with the capacity to bring in Native American food and retail.

The idea there is that Buffalo Bills Wild West is a uh has a strong connection to the American West and was closely connected to Native performers, and there has not been strong native representation at the park and in the story.

And the goal here is to bring more contemporary native voice.

Buffalo Bills Wild West also did a lot of communication and interpretation of food and used food as a way to connect to people.

And the goal here is to do that in a contemporary way.

Invite a concessionaire that can do both to better connect visitors to the native history and to the history and theme of the park.

We then published a request for proposals in October.

It closed on November 24th, and we received three responses.

And we went through a scoring evaluation committee that involved mountain park staff and two non-voting community members, one of whom is in the room today.

Thank you very much.

And I think the other is online.

So there were members of the native community who were present to provide their input on the applications that we received.

The successful bidder was Explore Us, and they are a company that does concessions contracts throughout national parks, national forests, and state and local parks throughout the country.

Here's a quick a brief sample of their retail at White Sands National Park and in other parks throughout the country that really reflect the local culture and indigenous artisans, and so we were really happy with the proposal that they presented and the work that they've done with local communities.

The agreement terms at Pahaska, and you will see this come up as Explore Pahaska LLC and not just explore us.

It's a 10-year contract term.

The reason that we proposed a longer term is the amount of investment that they're putting into the building.

You saw in some of those photos that the condition of the building really needs a lot of love and investment.

They propose to do that, and in uh exchange for uh making that upfront investment in the building, uh we agreed to, or we we recommended a tenure term.

It includes 9.5% of gross receipts, including a guaranteed annual minimum payment equal to 50% of the previous year's fees, and 2% of gross receipts for capital improvement into the building, and that is projected at about $330,000 every 10 years.

It also involves a one-time upfront investment of close to 400,000 for kitchen equipment and infrastructure, retail infrastructure such as displays and inventory, and technology and operations.

And so it's a pretty substantial upfront investment to get that space up and running.

A couple of things to note is that uh the new concessionaire will only use an estimated one-third of the space of the former concessionaire.

Uh one of the challenges we had is that uh the former concessionaire used the basement as an employee dormitory and storage, and the upstairs as residential space and storage, and we really need access to be able to get in and do a full assessment of the building.

Um, and with only utilizing the main floor of the building, that will give us that full access.

Uh, they will also have a shared program space with the Buffalo Bill Museum.

Uh the Buffalo Bill Museum would love to do more programming, but the building does not have space, so this will be a great opportunity for shared space with the concessionaire in the Buffalo Bill Museum.

Uh we are occupying a caretaker space within the building as well.

There is one apartment on the main floor, and you all approved an agreement for uh a park ranger residential caretaker on space uh on site.

Uh and then of note there will be no employee dorm in the basement or residential use of the upstairs.

Uh this part is really exciting.

Uh the proposed partner with Explore US is Tekabe, uh a local American Indian eatery based in Denver.

Um they submitted a letter of engagement and support for the Explorers proposal, and Explorers is in active discussions with Takabe to determine exactly uh what this partnership is going to look like, and it's our understanding that they're pretty close to finalizing their agreement, and we're very, very excited uh to have Takabe up there in whatever uh form that Explorers and Takabe come to agreement on.

Um and that may include things like ingredient sourcing, menu integrations, uh broader collaboration, and having a really strong uh um Takabe presence at Lookout Mountain Park, which I'm very excited about.

Uh for timing, the contract review is going on right now.

So we've done contract negotiation, we're here for city council review and mayor's approval.

Uh the build out would be in May and June, uh, where they would uh uh work on building improvements and infrastructure installation, and then would be open for business in June and July for the public uh summer season.

It may have to be a phased opening.

The kitchen really does need a fairly substantial amount of work, so it may be that they would open up the retail space first and then continue to work on the kitchen and dining area.

So today we're asking for your approval of council resolution 260398, which approves a concessions concession license at Pahaska with Explore Pahasca LLC based on a percentage of gross revenues and for a term of 10 years for indigenous focused food and beverage, retail marketplace, and cultural programming, concession services in the mountain parks.

And with that, I'm happy to take a break now for questions about this, or uh Chair, if you'd like me to move on with the bison transfer, I'm happy to do that as well.

We'll break here for some questions.

Um thank you for that information.

Um definitely glad that we requested that briefing.

Councilman Parady, did you want to start?

Um yeah, I just I also got a personal briefing on this, and I'm glad that we're um moving the even just the content and also everything about the space in a in a better direction.

Um I know it's taken a ton of work to get to this point.

I I care I'm curious.

Um I don't know that I have a really specific question.

I just would um like to hear a little bit more about um what the process will be to actually think through the content of what's there and even up to an including like are we reconsidering um the framing like the name, whether we really highlight Buffalo Bill as much as we have in the past.

Um would love to know more about what the plans are for engagement and how that's gonna unfold.

Yeah.

Those are uh two different scales and two different things.

So we've got the building and this contract that will go into the Pahaska building, but then we've got some broader questions about the site in general that includes the name.

Um and that's something we're not quite ready to tackle yet.

As you mentioned, that will require uh, I think a substantial amount of community outreach to decide what are the best next steps.

Uh so we're not tackling the name of the Buffalo Bill Museum Engrave as part of this process, but we do recognize the need for that, and that will hopefully unfold over the next couple of years.

Okay, thanks.

That's that's exactly the answer I was looking for.

Um I'll get out of two and I'll come back in if I have more, but thank you.

Um great.

Uh I I do have a couple of questions, which is is the Buffalo Bill Museum still operational?

I thought it was not operational.

There's been a uh yes, the Buffalo Bill Museum is still operating as normal.

There's been some confusion.

I'm not sure where that came from in the media.

Uh we've tried to correct that, um, but it's only the concession building that's closed.

The Buffalo Bill Museum has been open this entire time and has actually seen an increase in visitation.

Sorry, the what is closed?

The the Pahaska, this uh uh the concessionary, there are two different buildings on site.

Uh there's the museum, and then there's this historic concession building.

It's only the concession building that has been closed, and the museum is still operational and has received more visitation, interestingly, uh, since the concession closed.

Interesting.

And how long has the concession been closed?

Uh since the end of 2024.

Okay.

And what is the word Pahaska mean?

Forgive me.

Uh Pahaska, there uh I I'm gonna butcher this, so I'm not gonna say it.

It's uh a Lakota word, and there's some debate about the translation, but uh basically it was a nickname given uh to Buffalo Bill by the Lakota.

Great.

Um Noah about oh Councilman Watson.

Uh thank you so much, committee chair.

Um Shannon, thank you so much for the presentation.

You're always so succinct um and clear.

Um the contract itself, uh the negotiated um contract seems uh very solid as far as the upfront cost to the vendor coming back to um uh the city to upgrade the center, which I've never seen uh at this level, this percent of direct impact from uh uh a vendor.

My question as far as the viability of the explorer us to be able to meet these numbers.

What's kind of the fallback process if, for example, they're not able to hit the 330,000 um target?

Um does that have any impacts on kind of the upgrading of the internal um the pieces that they're responsible for.

Talk me through really kind of if these forecasts aren't met, what should be expected from the city as far as a give back and does that extend the time for their repairs, remodel, all of the other stuff that they have to do.

Yep.

Um I think I understand your question.

So the the question is what happens if they're unable to meet that amount and invested in the building.

Does that then become our responsibility?

Yeah, yeah.

Uh yes.

Uh and I I think our goal here is really to take a broader look at Lookout Mountain Park in general and the Buffalo Bill Museum and try to figure out what the future of that place is.

And we're expecting to put in a fairly significant investment in that building eventually anyway.

Yeah.

Um I think that even the amount of money that they're proposing for improvements is really not going to hit the high points of structural stabilization in the amount of investment needed in the building.

This will be enough to keep the building in good condition until we can get to that point.

So even if they don't meet that full number, we're still anticipating in the long run a significant uh capital improvement that will be needed in that building, as we would in any building that's over a hundred years old.

Thanks so much, Shannon.

I appreciate the requirement in the contract of upfront dollars as well.

So that it would say partnership is not simply a taxpayer funded or even our dedicated funding source um paying for this all that we are actually asking for up front.

So I appreciate that being a part of it.

Thank you, committee chair.

Thank you.

Uh Councilwoman Gilmore.

Uh thank you, madam chair.

Uh thank you for the um great presentation, Shannon, and all your work on this.

Um I wanted to um note that uh the three community members were Rick Waters, who's here today, um, Richard Williams is online, and then I believe Del Marie uh Bradfield also um talked about it as well, and and with her family history um with the Buffalo Bill um show as well.

And then um just wanted to note um how long did that process really go from the time that you um alerted the concessionaire, um, kind of worked through all that.

It was about it was over a year, wasn't it?

That they knew that they were going to be asked to leave and that there was a process outlined, etc.

About how long was it?

Yes, that was 15 months.

Okay, okay, great.

All right, thank you.

Appreciate it.

Thank you.

Um I do have one last question, which is you know, obviously it needs a lot of upgrades, and I'm sure my assumption is that it'll be a totally new vision for the building.

Um and who what's that process going to look like?

Is that the vendor gets to decide?

Is parks very involved?

What does that look like?

Yes, we will be very involved in any proposed changes.

Um they will be required to propose those to us and we'll be able to approve them.

Um I don't know that I would characterize this as a full transformation of the building.

This will be more like bringing the building up to basic standards and then full transformation of the building, we hope to achieve in the in the long run with um further investment.

But this will be more about bringing the building up to make sure it's clean, presentable, and uh can communicate its rustic architecture and sense of place.

Okay.

Um, because when I look at the you know, building, it seems to be very Western and not honoring of the indigenous, and with an indigenous vendor, I would imagine that it would become more telling to the indigenous story.

Is that part of the goal or yes, and I think that that will come to life a little bit more as we learn exactly what the uh concessionaire uh agrees to with their contract with Takabe and whether that's a a full brand and Takabe branding, and they bring their their color and design palette, but that will all be proposed to DPR and DPR will uh will be able to approve that.

Do they need to have building permits for something like this?

No, this is not requiring uh anything that would trigger a building permit.

Uh it's mostly repair at the interior space, it's not construction.

Okay, great.

Um we'll just move these as a block for net unless anyone opposes and we'll go ahead and go into the next presentation.

Thank you.

Well, thank you so much for your support of this.

We're all really excited about this and would love to have you um uh come visit Lookout Mountain.

All right, the next one, uh, which is another one that I'm also very excited about and uh uh very excited to tell you about is Council Bill 260422, uh, which is a bison transfer ordinance.

Uh the history of the Denver Mountain Parks uh bison herd is really interesting.

It's actually one of the oldest conservation herds in the United States.

Uh the city and county of Denver was uh far ahead of the Bronx Zoo and other conservation organizations in terms of um working to conserve bison.

Of course, we know that the first bison uh uh conservationists were the native community, uh, including those who saved some bison from the uh from the brink of extinction.

So we know that we're only uh uh a piece of this puzzle.

Uh but here are pictures of the Denver Mountain Parks bison at City Park on the left where they were kept, and it turns out bison don't really like being in the middle of City Park, and they were moved out to uh Genesee Park in 1914 and then expanded to Daniels Park in 1938.

And I get asked a lot why does the city and county of Denver have bison?

Uh it's very unusual, and it's something that I'm very proud of.

And we have bison because of their genetic value.

Uh our herd was established in 1898 and is genetically significant for the ecological value.

Bison are a keystone species in north in the North American shortgrass prairie, and they're very important in terms of interacting uh with uh prairie dogs, grasslands, dung beetles, as many of you have heard me talk about before.

Uh and most importantly today, their cultural value.

Uh the work that we do with bison acknowledges indigenous trauma and sovereignty through Buffalo Restoration, and that's something we've had the opportunity to do over the last five years.

Historically, we used to uh auction bison off, and I did a little bit of research and found that the bison auction started in 1985.

The reason for that is that in the state of Colorado until last year, bison were strictly considered livestock, and livestock is considered property.

Um just like a uh a desk or an excess uh vehicle, uh the bison would go through uh an auction process when they were considered surplus.

So the city and county of Denver held an annual bison auction from 1985 through 2020 in order to uh maintain a healthy herd size.

We'd love to keep all of our buffalo, but unfortunately we don't have enough space for that, and so this helps us keep um uh our herd at a manageable size.

Uh the auction did have some value in in getting the uh genetics of our herd out into the ranching community, uh, but it wasn't necessarily reflective of what we do as land managers and the values we hold as a city.

Uh in 2021, with your support, you all passed uh an ordinance that allowed us to transfer bison to tribal communities, which was a huge sea change for us.

And it started in 2020 when City Council adopted a land acknowledgement that's read before every weekly council meeting.

In 2021, uh City Council approved a bill that allowed for bison transfer to American Indian tribes and American Indian nonprofits uh without additional council action.

Um that is currently scheduled to sunset in 2030.

It was a 10-year ordinance.

Uh the uh the the way it was set up is that the executive executive directors of DPR and General Services consult with the Denver American Indian Commission, the Talbot Memorial Council, and Intertribal Buffalo Council, uh, and American Indian tribes or nonprofits to select uh designees to receive donation.

Here's just a little overview of the trend the tribal transfers we've had since 2018, starting with um a partnership with the Tallbill Memorial Council where uh one bison was given uh every year on site but didn't actually leave the property.

And then in 2021, you can see those numbers uh go uh significantly higher when we were allowed to then transfer animals to uh American Indian tribes and nonprofit organizations uh through this existing ordinance.

And uh to date we've donated and transferred 174 animals, which I think is really astounding and could not have happened without the support of City Council.

Uh the impact of the tribal transfer ordinance has been significant.

I know many of you have joined us and we're up there this year for the for the tribal transfer.

Um it's a uh a really moving experience to be there and to watch these buffalo go back home with their relatives.

When I started uh and we held the the annual auction, it wasn't a great feeling watching the animals uh leave, knowing that they were strictly going to to commercial herds for meat production.

It didn't feel aligned with our values and with our purpose.

And now when I watch the buffalo go home in trailers and know that they're going back home to tribal land to be with their people and to be with our relatives, I get choked up every year.

And many of you have been on site with us when this happens.

This year was magnificent in the snow.

It is incredibly meaningful for the city, it's incredibly meaningful for the local community, and it is really, really important work.

Uh I'd like to share where some of the buffalo from the Denver Mountain Parks have have wound up.

Uh this is Woju on the Standing Rock uh Sioux Reservation in North Dakota.

Uh we were able to help the Kiowa tribe uh start a brand new herd in Oklahoma.

And then those of you who are there for this year's transfer, the animals on the right now are on the Navajo Nation, Wolf Springs Ranch in Colorado.

So it's it's really meaningful to see these animals go back to their relatives and get pictures of it.

I've maintained, and many of our staff have maintained relationships with the uh tribes and nonprofits that these animals go to.

They send us pictures and videos and updates, and it is amazing to see that this work radiates beyond just Denver and how much of an impact this has had.

This has even been picked up nationally, and Denver has been in the news.

Uh this is from 2021, and this has made national news.

I've gotten calls from Washington and Wyoming and all across the country from people who have heard this story and ask how Denver is doing this amazing work and why uh we are on the forefront of this.

And so this has really been um in a uh it's really demonstrated to other cities, uh other governments and other organizations what's possible through partnership.

The proposed ordinance would strengthen the city's commitments by removing the sunset date.

As I mentioned, this was a 10-year ordinance, and it's scheduled a sunset in 10 years.

Uh, this would remove that sunset so that we don't have to worry about it expiring um uh within that time year 10 year time frame.

It also has some slight adjustments to the language about consultation.

Um, and uh we're very excited about making this a long-term commitment from Denver Parks and Recreation and from the city.

And uh in summary, we're requesting approval for Council Bill 260398, which approves a bill for annual donation of bison to American Indian tribes and American Indian nonprofits.

Uh the program's prior sunset is rescinded.

And I know that we have some folks joining us online who I'd really love to invite to say a few words about the significance of this and meaning.

We have Lewis Talbull online uh from Denver Parks and Recreation, and I believe Rick Waters as well.

No, I'm sorry, Rick Williams, excuse me.

Wonderful.

Thank you, Shannon.

Um, yes, we can go ahead and Louis Talbold, if you're available, we could start with you.

Uh you're muted, Lewis.

Good morning.

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon.

Thank you so much for joining us.

Oh, it's an honor to be here.

Uh honor to uh be able to um express my thoughts and my um express my feelings towards uh you know be the voice of the bison today.

Um you know uh I want to express how important and how unique us Indian people have uh a relationship and interconnectedness with the bison, with the buffalo, um our relatives, you know, in our language, uh it's uh the pate oyate, the tonko oyate, the uh his own, the hottawa.

We want to uh acknowledge this four-legged relative and empower ourselves when we're amongst the bison.

It's uh it's medicinal.

Uh the trying to reintroduce bison into our diets.

It's the only way that our people are going to heal.

Being closer to the buffalo, having uh reconnection with the buffalo.

And uh and um grounding ourselves and and strengthening that that connection is the only way that our people are gonna heal.

So we have to return the bison to the land, and we have to return the bison to our minds and our hearts and our uh our diets.

It's like feeding our DNA.

You know, it's it's uh they're part of us.

We have the same DNA, the bison and the Indian, and without them, we're we are lost.

We're uh weakening.

Um and the only way to restore our culture, to restore our identity, is to welcome this bison back in all forms, whether it's we're singing bison songs, we're doing bison dances, we're doing traditional harvests of the bison, we are restoring bison to the landscape and um all aspects of the bison.

We need to restore that relationship that we once had.

And and that's the only way that we're gonna heal our mental health, our physical, our emotional, and our spiritual health.

So today, I just want to be the voice of the bison today and express to you how important it is for this four-legged relative to be amongst us once again.

And and when the land heals, the animals and the trees and the plants, everything heals, and then with that comes the healing of the human being because we're suffering from uh uh impact, a loss seven generations back.

And then and then maybe you're the seventh generation right now living, and then everything that we do right now is going to impact seven generations down the line.

So that's I just wanna um express that and I really appreciate you guys hearing me, giving me a voice, giving me a chance to speak.

And I I pray that we can all work together with one heart and one mind and one common goal to restore the land and the water and the fire and the buffalo and and our people and and together, you know, together we can do it.

It's just gonna take a lot of work and communication and then uh having an open mind and open heart.

So I really appreciate all the good work and all the hard work that everyone does, and thank you again for just giving me this opportunity to express myself.

Thank you.

Thank you so much, and thank you for that prayer.

I couldn't echo the sentiment more.

Um also Rick Waters, if you're on, and if you could unmute and maybe uh turn on your camera too.

That would be great.

Oh, Madalkoyapi.

Little bit to Rick Williams.

Did I say waters?

I apologize.

Thank you so much for turning on your camera.

Great to see you, Rick.

Um, first of all, uh Palami uh Wolpila Tonka.

Um greetings, friends and relatives.

And this is such a in a lot of ways, it's it's a very emotional experience for me and in a lot of ways, because um I want to just offer so much thanks to each of the the the council representatives, um, because it it means so much to our people, uh th these buffalo and and and having them to be able to go back to their communities.

Um and I also want to make sure I I thank Shannon and her and her team.

They love the the the buffalo up there and they take really good care of them, and we really appreciate that.

Um you know, the ceremonies um where these animals are going back to communities where they've been gone for 160 years.

That that kayak ceremony last year was just so emotional and so precious.

Um and and then the s and then that was outdone this year by the ceremony and that snow, just that blanket of snow was just it was it was comforting us, and um the mayor was there and it was wonderful to see him and and but you know what the the best part was the joy uh of the people to see to see that those animals were gonna be going back to their their homelands and their communities.

Um I I'm probably one of the rare people that has has had a chance to go and visit um the Arapaho Shoshone Nation in Wyoming and up on the Standing Rock, visit the Woju uh people up there and then to in South Dakota to Buffalo First.

Um Kiowa um in in Oklahoma.

I got to see I got to see our animals um there where they've been transferred to.

And I'll tell you just a real quick story.

So when we were in Kiowa, we pull in there and the put pickup and we're like we're sitting in the back of this pickup and and um the buffalo come and they look up over the hill and they're looking at us, looking at us for a little while, and pretty soon I don't know if they recognize us or what.

They all came running up there, and Rick Waters is in the audience, it was standing outside the pickup, and one of them came up and was eating out of his hands, and that is so I mean, you can see their joy, and they're they're you know, they're they were telling us how much they enjoyed being home.

Um I'm gonna shift gears for just a second because the first topic is important to me also.

My family, my my great-great-grandfather was um he he was non-Indian, but he was the uh stage coach driver for Buffalo Bill shows, and he helped bring my great grate-great-grandmother and our our family participated in in that Buffalo Bill um show that when they would go around and around the world and um we have lots of family stories, but um, there was a question asked, uh what was his name?

His name in Lakota is Paha Ska.

Uh and that means literally translated as paha is heels and ska is white, and but it means a specific area in Nebraska uh around Fort Robinson where they have white buttes.

And so his name was White Butte.

Um, but again, the thank you for for and and I I hope you uh uh know how important um what's happening in in our communities back away from here because of the buffalo is it's amazing.

Thank you.

Wonderful, thank you so much.

Um anybody else want to share anything?

Rick waters is Rick Waters here now.

Yes.

Since you were mentioned several times by accident, I feel like it's calling you to say some words.

Um they call us the two rigs.

Uh a lot.

Uh I think the the phrase has been adopted by the city of Denver, we are the land.

Uh we are the land.

And and as Lewis was saying, we are associated uh relative life family wild way with buffalo.

And I say buffalo.

I know bison buffalo, you know, when I was growing up, we were cowboys and Indians.

Okay, now it's uh indigenous and bovine administrators.

So Buffalo and Bison, they're they're they mean the same.

Um I I think telling a story is the one thing that's uh inherent with American Indian culture.

Honor is is another foundation of our our beliefs.

And I I believe the two uh topics and issues we were talking about today tie into honoring um and uh I think you know you heard the term give giving give back.

I think this is one way you you started with the land acknowledgement through city council.

Uh I think giving back this idea of giving back the Buffalo to the tribes as well as uh offering an opportunity up at Basca, the well uh Buffalo Bill Museum and concession, uh, a more credible and authentic storytelling of our community that that's here uh because I think that's a big part of it.

We are the land.

And I've said this when we are gone, so will the land.

So we want to take care of both.

And I think this is one effort uh that's doing that.

So thank you.

Great.

Um thank you for the presentation.

Couldn't say how honored that I am to be chairing this committee right now with such important work, and I do want to acknowledge how important um this is for the people of this land.

Um we'll start with council president Sandoval.

Thank you.

Just want to give um a shout out to Councilwoman Torres, she's not on this committee.

Um she's the one who brought the land acknowledgement, and then she was the sponsor in 2021 of the original license.

Um so it was through the work of her land acknowledgement in 2020, and then the work that she did in 2021 to bring all of this together.

And um, I was the first time I went up there with councilman Torres and um former Senator Lucia Guzman, who'd represented our the Senate district, and um it was snowing that year, and it was just magical experience.

Um I know I've talked to you many of you before.

My grandpa had animal um sound of all as native, and so it felt like we were doing him justice.

Um, and a lot of the work that we were doing was doing um my family and my lineage on the Sandoval side justice that had been done.

And I appreciate Rick, you saying honoring people.

I think that's so important is that term honor, and how do we show up as electeds and how do we honor um those who've come before us in our and our mentors and how do we honor people?

So I think that that is super important in this conversation.

So thank you for naming that, and thank you for taking care of the land.

I just drove by there um yesterday, and the pasture looks really great.

Um a lot of things are really dry right now.

I was up in the mountains and saw um the least amount of snow I've ever seen in my lifetime, and so that makes me worried about our parks, our mountain parks, and how are we going to take care of them and keep thinking about fires um and drought and how do we make sure that um the resources that we are supposed to take care of, um, including the bison and the buffalo, how do they have what they need?

Um I've talked to a lot of people who have um animals, horses and cows and the hay.

It's it they're really nervous about the hay because the hay comes from the mountains in these amazing areas where we get snow.

And so there is a concern in the agriculture community about that maybe there might be a lack of hay this fall, um, which has a huge impact on all of all of us on all of the resources that we have.

So just that that was um very present on my drive home yesterday from the mountains and thinking about that, and then when I got to the pasture, I was like, wow, it looks really great.

Um it doesn't it doesn't look as bad as I had thought it might be because that was the the mountains look super dry.

Um so just want to say thank you for that because I'm sure you're aware of that as well, thinking about fires and thinking about the drought and about how do we make sure that they have the hay and the water and the resources that we need.

Um so absolutely appreciate all of this and all of the people who took to get us here.

Um, as they mentioned seven generations, I really believe um it took for us to get here and um appreciate moving this forward.

Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you.

Councilwoman Gilmore.

Oh, thank you, Madam Chair.

Um yeah, I was um thank you so much for um Lewis and both of the Ricks, Rick Williams and Rick Waters for speaking.

Um, you know, uh back in 2020 uh when the land acknowledgement was adopted, I was council president, and so it was a great honor to support uh council woman Torres working with uh Scott Gilmore, who was then the deputy executive director of parks um to uh put forth that Buffalo Return Ordinance because uh Scott had listened to the folks that um the Buffalo are most important to and who consider them relatives, and so um honored uh as my time as council president to uh support that ordinance and to support the hard work that um not only um you know former employees of Denver Mountain Parks, but also the Tallbull family, um, the evergreening of the Daniels Park agreement with them, and now um seeing Lewis Talbull um working for Denver Mountain Parks and knowing that through traditional practices around utilizing fire and utilizing uh traditional knowledge that uh community does have the answers.

It's not something brand new that somebody else needs to come up with.

Um they already know how to manage the land, how to respect the land, and how to um listen to what the people are telling you that they want, and knowing um that it was kind of this ordinance was on the back burner for maybe about a year, and we kept pushing, kept asking questions about when was it gonna come forward, when was it gonna come forward?

And I think that it's very relevant that it's coming forward today in 2026, with it being the 250 150 solemn commemoration of not only the United States and the state of Colorado being founded, but it's also um the very definitive mark of the genocide of American Indian people and their relatives, the buffalo, and how 250 years since the country was founded and 150 years since the state of Colorado was founded, we all get to sit around this table and talk about what little we've done in the whole grand scope of what this is gonna mean uh for not only the buffalo but their relatives and uh those next generations.

It doesn't begin with us, it doesn't stop with us.

We are part of keeping that moving forward uh and uh I was honored to be on that road trip with the two Ricks and Scott when we went to um Oklahoma and uh actually got to see the buffalo out there um and how healing they are to um members of the community, especially when you talk about um the relocation, reservations, um, and then um the generational trauma of addiction and abuse and how that connection back to the land, back to natural foods, back to ceremony helps people in recovery, and that is the best gift I think that we can ever give those next generations is healing from great trauma and moving forward from that.

And so um that was part of that experience.

Um, and those Buffalo just would not leave Rick Waters alone.

They just loved um coming up to him, and it it was a very special experience, and so just honored to um have um small experiences that way to keep it moving forward.

So thank you, Shannon, very much.

Appreciate it.

Thank you.

Thank you for sharing that history.

Uh Councilwoman Romero Campbell online wanted to ask some ask some questions.

Um thank Yeah, thank you.

Um I too just wanted to um share just great appreciation for the council members and the vision and um Denver Parks and Rec parks and rec moving forward to um really think about how this gets started and and to have a more meaningful transfer and um again back to to have the buffalo go home.

Um I had the honor of the last couple years of going up and seeing the um transfer, and as it was stated earlier, it was I I think Rickett said it was just something that was so powerful and so moving um in this last year with that blanket of snow, um, just the peace.

Um and the and the quiet, it was it was absolutely amazing and incredibly moving and just honored to be part of that.

Um I do have a question about um and I don't know if you covered it at the process for determining um how will the you know where will the bison go and how is that determined moving forward?

Yeah, great question.

This has been a very community-driven um process based on uh connections to the Denver American Indian Um Commission uh through staff members and through uh um community members as well.

Uh this year we're very honored and appreciative of Rick Williams for his assistance in making connections.

And uh that's how we've done it so far.

Uh we will also continue working with the Intertribal Buffalo Council.

They are a nonprofit organization that's tribally run with a mission of returning Buffalo to tribal lands.

So we'll continue to work with our our staff members in Lewis Talbot, uh, with the local native community and with the Intertribal Buffalo Council and the Talbot Memorial Council as well to determine where the where the highest need is great.

Was that all you have, Council Councilman?

Um just one quick question.

So annually, how many um bison are transferred and do we expect to transfer in the future?

It's usually animals per year.

It can depend on a lot of factors.

It depends on how many calves we have per year.

Uh some years we have more calves, some years we have less.

Some years we keep more calves over um to make sure that we're replenishing our own herd.

Some years we keep fewer.

Uh this year it was 34, and that's uh among the higher numbers it's been.

Some year it can some years it can be lower, but it'll always be somewhere in the neighborhood of around 30 animals, as long as our herd is is at the size that it is now.

That's great.

Um, I don't have any other questions.

I just think that um it's a tremendous program and something that we as council um really have I just am so happy to support this.

This is great.

Thank you.

So much.

Yes, so we'll go to councilwoman parity.

Thank you.

Um you all know I grew up in Southwest Wyoming, not very far from the Wind River Reservation.

Um, and I my dad was in the mining industry, so I'm very much I mean, my heritage is the heritage of settlement and colonialism and um what brought the railroad there and what brought the buffalo hunt, the buffalo slaughter and off the buffalo hunt there.

Um, and I remember in elementary school um from seeing the images of the slaughter of the bison and having nightmares about that.

Um, and I did not have the words for that at the time, but that's a moral injury.

That's when um you know you see something that's happened and you know that you're um you're in the current of that in some way.

So um I have had no uh personal involvement in this process other than getting to you know vote on this ordinance.

Um, but I um I find it incredibly moving that 52 bison from Denver have gone um home to Wind River.

Um the the reservation, among many other things struggles with water um as we all do now, and the um Buffalo wallows and the vegetation that go with that um are part of the water ecosystem um on the reservation that you know that has been lost and is now um hopefully bit by bit being restored.

So I just want to just I just want to say thank you.

Um, and I'm hoping that I'll be able to make it to one of the transfer ceremonies.

I've had a few narrow misses of being able to go, but um I cannot imagine anything that would be a bigger honor than getting to see this happen.

So um just thank you.

Yes, I was I had the honor of being able to be there this year, and it was uh uh such a special it was such a special day and such a special event and uh yes I did cry and um but more than anything I was honored to just be able to witness such a thing.

Councilman Heinz.

Uh thank you, committee chair.

Um councilmember Gilmore, thank you.

You you mentioned the uh 250-150 commission, as you know, I'm a commissioner uh of the Sasquatchemic centennial commission have to say it, right?

Um and uh and when it was uh when commission was first created in 2023, I believe, they um they didn't really think as much about commemoration.

It was more just about celebration, and um, and so there was a new ordinance that was passed.

Actually, maybe that was when the new ordinance was passed.

Or uh, sorry, bill, because it was at the state level.

Um but uh but they expanded the number of commissioners to include more diversity, more uh inclusivity.

That's that's when they opened up uh a slot for um a member of the disability community, which is why I'm there, uh, and two slots for um uh for tribal nations to uh to to participate.

But your point about celebration and commemoration, not only is that the Sasquish semi-quincentenni, but I think that's what this is as well.

Is um uh neural council president and council Torres talked about um uh you know the uh the land acknowledgement, but also the um uh the the gifting of the herd that is both at the same time, I believe is um is commemorating the injustice that the white white person did on those who came who uh were here uh before us and um and then uh trying to undo uh some of that uh some of that atrocity.

So um I think that it is important for us to do both and um as uh as those who have been there, I'd love to go as well, but you know, having the celebration of of gifting bison to uh uh to various uh nations, I think that's uh that's fabulous.

And another commemoration slash celebration.

This is meant to sunset in 2030, but we're making it permanent today, is that right?

Yes.

So um I think that also is a bit of commemoration of how this really is something that is important for uh for the city of Denver to give back.

Very small small bit of give back for the uh incredible atrocities that the white person did uh for our indigenous nations and and communities, but um uh but doing it today I think is also a bit of uh commemoration and celebration.

So thank you for for bringing this forward far before 2030.

And thank you for comment, allowing me to come comment.

Yes, thank you for those thoughts.

And I think going to what councilwoman parody said when I was at the bison transfer, it was mentioned that bison were killed for sport, and it wasn't for sport, it was to murder the indigenous people.

It was to murder the indigenous beings of the land, and intentionally with the slaughter of those bison, they were taking the food source and the well-being of the people as well.

And that's why I think it's so powerful the way the indigenous people speak about it's not just you know whatever um the colonial eye sees it as.

It's a relative, it's a family member, and this is our duty.

This isn't something that we get to do that it's a gift, and we're being generous.

This is a duty that we have, and I'm really grateful that we are solidifying this into perpetuity.

So thank you so much for bringing this forward.

Thank you, Scott, for your work on this from the beginning.

Councilwoman Torres, Councilman McGillmore, Councilwoman Sandoval, Heinz, you were all here when those changes were made.

And I'm so grateful to be able to just be a small part of making sure that the work that you all have done is here for the future.

Thank you.

Um with that being said, I do want to remove one item from consent.

Um the um I am calling 26-0396 off consent agenda to get a briefing, and we'll be working with the mayor's office on the best path forward, and then would like to move these two action items forward.

Does anybody I'd like to move it, please?

Hines made a motion.

Councilman Parity seconds.

Any objection?

Great.

Thank you.

Awesome, wonderful.

And with that, this meeting is adjourned.