At age 17, Jason Baldes took a trip to East Africa with his father that changed his life: On a 100-mile drive, he witnessed the wildebeest migration for as far as his eye could see—including 30 other species and predators in every direction—and was reminded of the 30 to 60 million buffalo that roamed North America less than 200 years ago.

Native American issues have made Wyoming headlines this year, whether it’s news about repatriation efforts to return hair samples of Shoshone and Arapaho people from a university museum or state legislation’s attempts to create an alert system that could help Indigenous people who go missing.