The research explores the issues of sustainability within tribal buffalo programs. A case study approach was used to compare eighteen different tribal bison management programs throughout reservations in the Northern Great Plains (NGP). Each manager operated a buffalo program for one of the tribes within the NGP. Managers were interviewed to determine management styles, herd history, genetics, and economic importance. The objectives of this study were to compare management styles of tribal buffalo programs throughout the NGP region; determine how culture, population of buffalo, genetics of buffalo, and economics each play a role in the management of tribal buffalo; and to determine how a tribal buffalo program could reach sustainability.