Blackfeet
Swift Fox Reintroduction Program
A significant part of the spiritual and cultural regeneration of native peoples is based upon the restoration of their tribal lands and the indigenous species which once occupied them. This fact is recognized by the mandate of ecosystem restoration of Tribal Fish & Wildlife Departments in the U.S Great Plains. The swift fox (Vulpes velox/V.v.hebes) a species unique to the great plains, was classified as extirpated over its Canadian range in 1978 and extirpated over 90 percent of its U.S. range in 1995. The species was declared extirpated in Montana in 1969.
The only source for swift fox is the Cochrane Ecological Institute-Cochrane Wildlife Reserve (CEI), which holds the world’s only captive colony of swift fox. The CEI also has a proven record in ecosystem restoration through the reintroduction of this species, as shown by the downlisting of the swift fox in Canada from extirpated (1978) to endangered (1998).