Time for Nature

Reviving the past: Plains bison on the move

September 13, 2004

Prince Albert National Park of Canada

Bison herd
© D. Fortin, Parks Canada

Hunted almost to extinction in the 1800s, the plains bison is making a comeback in central Saskatchewan . And it’s thanks to a successful 30-year experiment in Prince Albert National Park of Canada and to the support of local residents.

Once abundant in Canada and the United States, the plains bison, also called the American bison, were extirpated from most of North America in the late 19th century.

Making a comeback

Bison herd
© M. Syroteuk, Parks Canada

In 1969 the Saskatchewan government reintroduced 50 plains bison from Elk Island National Park of Canada into an area just north of Prince Albert National Park. Most of the animals were recaptured or died, but an estimated 10 to 20 migrated south into the park and flourished. Today, their 350 descendents range freely in a Canadian national park on the same lands where their ancestors roamed in the 19th century.

Some of these free-ranging animals move across the Sturgeon River, which marks the park’s southwestern border.

Heading off trouble

Much of the land bordering the park is owned by farmers and ranchers who make their living raising crops, livestock and game. “Intensive agriculture and free-ranging bison don’t easily coexist,” says Parks Canada conservation biologist Dan Frandsen. The bison have been known to wreck fences, roll in grain fields and make their way into the paddocks of commercial bison ranches. Among the threats to the bison are exposure to livestock diseases, interbreeding with domestic bison, loss of support from local residents, and more intensive and expanding agriculture and forestry activities.

So far, most local landowners have allowed the occasional trespasses of plains bison onto their lands, says Frandsen. In an effort to head off a potential conflict, in 2003 Parks Canada invited local landowners, rural municipalities, First Nations groups and provincial resource managers to collaborate on a strategy to reduce conflicts between farmers and bison and increase the benefits for all.

Reclaiming Saskatchewan's natural history

Female bison and young
© J. Benge, Parks Canada

Frandsen hopes that local residents will take pride in the bison’s success. “A free-ranging population of this size hasn’t been seen in central Saskatchewan since the late1800s,” he says. In addition to reclaiming Saskatchewan’s natural history, a free-ranging bison population in the region means new opportunities for ecotourism and the chance to recover and experience an important piece of our cultural heritage .

Note: To read the PDF version you need Adobe Acrobat Reader on your system.

If the Adobe download site is not accessible to you, you can download Acrobat Reader from an accessible page.

If you choose not to use Acrobat Reader you can have the PDF file converted to HTML or ASCII text by using one of the conversion services offered by Adobe.