In many ways disillusioned by the confines of my library on the east coast, I headed west toward Yellowstone National Park - toward the Buffalo.

Once you acclimate yourself to the altitude and the January weather, Montana is beautiful, almost impossibly so. Evergreen forests atop in snow, criss-crossed mountains capped in white roll along the horizon, Hebgen Lake frozen over, where, at night, if you walk out far enough you can feel the crisp suspension of the air, nothing between you and the stars.

The interns I have lived with for the past two weeks have all dedicated their winter break to the Buffalo and to Buffalo Field Campaign.

Just outside of West Yellowstone, on the borders of the Park, the snow remains relatively untouched throughout the day, aside from the ski and snowmobile trails and the scattered tracks of the native wildlife. On our daily patrols, I have seen quite a few elk, the moose that wander around Baker’s Hole, and a river otter diving under the ice on Duck Creek. The sagebrush still peaks out from its pillowy duvet, and the Buffalo have not migrated out of the Park's boundary. As I have learned from the experts here, this winter has been relatively mild. The gravity of the snowfall has not reached the point of alerting bison that it is time to migrate to lower altitudes where they will be able to sustainably feed themselves through the winter. And why would they move through their usual corridors knowing that they may never return?

I came here hoping to film these native animals in the wild but I have not seen one outside the Park. In many ways, it is proof of the resilience of the bison; their intelligence and resistance...but it is a reality tinged with sadness.

Instead, I have shifted my focus for my film project toward the community we have built at the cabin. The interns I have lived with for the past two weeks have all dedicated their winter break to the cause of Buffalo Field Campaign. And, unlike many of our experiences at our academic bubbles on the east coast, here, we cannot avoid the issue at hand. We are constantly surrounded by stickers, comics, and old protest signs which serve as decorations in our little home in the mountains. Our days are structured around patrols in the protection of the Buffalo and we are told stories of heroism from the volunteers that came before us.

The intergenerational and diverse sharing of knowledge has been a deep source of inspiration for my own activism.

The principle of equity that the Campaign commits itself to has given me and my fellow interns the space to discuss the state of our current situations and the world we want to live in, building a community of like-minded students across America.

Reminiscent of gatherings of past revolutions, the cabin has become a haven for new and old ideas, all pointing in the direction of a better future.

Though it is easy to become pessimistic when faced with the precipice our world stands on, here, you are reminded that it is possible to take action. Small steps, maybe, but steps nonetheless.

My time with BFC has affirmed that as long as the Yellowstone herd is affected by management programs which attempt to hold them captive, there will be a community to advocate for them, to dedicate their time to their liberation, and to support one another in the pursuit of justice for all, across arbitrary borders of species and property.