Man's relationship with his surrounding nature is also the tale of his evolution. Across the globe, civilizations evolved by depending on animals, land, and how humans chose to interact with our environment. A new documentary by Ken Burns, The American Buffalo, will tell the biography of the US national animal tracing its near demise and ultimate return and will examine the species’ connection to Indigenous Communities. The two-part series has been in production for four years, and will take viewers on a “journey through more than 10,000 years of North American history and across some of the continent’s most iconic landscapes”

“It is a quintessentially American story,” Burns said. Adding, it is “filled with unforgettable stories and people. But it is also a morality tale encompassing two historically significant lessons that resonate today: how humans can damage the natural world and also how we can work together to make choices to preserve the environment around us.” For the director, the story of the American buffalo is also the story of Native nations who lived with and relied on the buffalo to survive and developed a sacred relationship.

For long, the American buffalos have evolved alongside Indigenous people who relied on them for food and shelter. These stories of Native people anchor the series, featuring the Kiowa, Comanche and Cheyenne of the Southern Plains, the Pawnee of the Central Plains, the Salish, Kootenai, Lakota, Mandan-Hidatasa, Aaniiih, Crow, Northern Cheyenne and Blackfeet from the Northern Plains, among many others. Historian Rosalyn LaPier divulges in the documentary,

“The story of American bison really is two different stories. It’s a story of Indigenous people and their relationship with the bison for thousands of years. And then, enter not just the Europeans, but the Americans…that’s a completely different story. That really is a story of utter destruction.”

The American buffalo from Ken Burns
Image via PBS

RELATED: Natalie Portman to Narrate James Cameron's 'Secrets of the Elephants' Documentary

The voice cast of the feature includes Adam Arkin, Tantoo Cardinal, Tim Clark, Tokala Clifford, Jeff Daniels, Hope Davis, Paul Giamatti, Murphy Guyer, Michael Horse, Derek Jacobi, Gene Jones, Carolyn McCormick, Craig Mellish, Jon Proudstar, Chaske Spencer and Richard Whitman.

The film will present interviews with leading Native American scholars, land experts, and Tribal Nation members including LaPier, Gerard Baker, George Horse Capture Jr.,N. Scott Momaday, Marcia Pablo, Ron Parker, Dustin Tahmahkera and Germaine White. The series is written by Dayton Duncan, who is also the author of the companion book, Blood Memory: The Tragic Decline and Improbable Resurrection of the American Buffalo to be published by Knopf timed to the broadcast.

The feature is produced by Burns’s longtime colleague Julie Dunfey, while Julianna Brannum, a member of the Quahada band of the Comanche Nation of Oklahoma, served as consulting producer. Furthermore, serving as senior advisor on the feature is W. Richard West Jr., a Cheyenne, and founding director and director emeritus of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian.

The American Buffalo will premiere on October 16 and 17 on PBS. Check out more photos from the documentary below: