A bipartisan bill proposed Friday would require the Interior Department to create a permanent program to support tribal governments ongoing efforts to reestablish wild bison herds.

Proposed by Sens. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Markwayne Mullin (R-Oka.), the bill would mark a major step toward confronting one of Americas most glaring wildlife conservation failures.

The program would allocate $14 million annually toward efforts to shuttle wild buffalo from federal public land to tribal reservations. It would also offer grants and technical assistance to help tribal efforts to expand buffalo habitat.

The bison has been a critical part of our culture for many generations, in New Mexico, across the West, and especially in Indian Country, Heinrich said in a statement. The growth of Tribal buffalo herds over the last few decades is both a symbol of the enduring resilience of this iconic species and a major economic development opportunity I hope that within my lifetimethanks to a broad coalitionwe will see bison return to the prominent place they once occupied as the keystone species on American shortgrass prairies.

Leaders of the Inter-Tribal Buffalo Council, an 82-nation coalition working to restore wild bison to tribal lands, applauded the bill.

It is simply impossible to overstate both the importance of the buffalo to the Indian people and the damage that was done when the buffalo were nearly wiped out, ITBC President Ervin Carlson said in a statement. By helping tribes reestablish buffalo herds on our reservation lands, the Congress will help us reconnect with a keystone of our historic culture as well as create jobs and an important source of protein that our people truly need.

This will be the third time the bill appears before Congress. Former Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), who died last year, first proposed a version of the law in 2019.