Bringing Bison Back to Banff

A new study from the University of Calgary shows that there is much work that needs to be done before Bison will once again be able to live on plains in North America. The powers moving to get bison as a wildlife species has been growing strongly over the past 5 years says Cormack Gates, one of the co-authors of the study.

500 years ago the number of bison in North America were from 30 to 50 million, today that number has almost vanished and is down to 493,000. Most of these animals are in commercial herds though with only 31,000 animals living in the wild. Most of which are in carefully managed "conservation" herds in national parks.

The biggest problem facing the bison being re-introduced into the wild is the fact that the public no longer view them as wildlife, rather as livestock that produces meat. Kevin Van Tighem, Superintendant of Banff National Park says that bison basically shape the landscape and not having them in a Canadian National Park is something that you need to pay attention to. With that being said it will not be an easy species to re-introduce because they are a roaming animal and won't adhear to the boundaries of a park. Van Tighem says that while they are very interested in getting bison back in the park, they want to do it properly and will be a long, slow process. He also added that it will be a long time before we see bison in the park.

The study gives Harvey Locke, a trustee with the Eleanor Luxton Historical Foundation in Banff hope that one day the bison will return to the park. He says one of the biggest goals of the 21st century is to right the relationship humans have with nature, and untill there are once again bison in Banff National Park, the relationship isn't fixed.