History of bison conservation in Canada information
Distribution of wood and plains bison populations in North America. 2003
Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, the plains bison and wood bison in Canada were hunted by nomadic indigenous hunters and white hunters alike. By the 1850s, the bison was nearly extinct, spurring a movement to save the few herds that remained. Federal government wildlife policy evolved from preservation of wilderness to utilitarian, scientific conservation and management of bison populations. The goals of these policies were often contradictory: to simultaneously preserve wildlife, promote recreation, commercialize the bison, and assert state control over Aboriginal Canadians. Bison conservation efforts were shaped by the federal government's colonialist and modernist approach to Canada's North, the management of national parks and reserves, and the influence of scientific knowledge.
Government preservation efforts began with the passing of the Unorganized Territories Game Preservation Act of 1894, which restricted legal hunting to certain times of the year. Bison herds were tracked down and moved to reserves where hunters were banned from operating.
In 1909, Buffalo National Park in Alberta was established with a herd of 300 plains bison. By 1916 more than 2,000 bison lived in the park, which was now overpopulated. As a result, many were moved to Wood Buffalo National Park in north-eastern Alberta (est. 1922). There, the plains bison and wood bison mingled and created a hybridized species of bison. The plains bison carried new diseases that were transmitted to the existing wood bison population.
When bison populations collapsed in the mid-19th century, Aboriginal groups that relied on the bison had to find new ways to support themselves. In the 20th century, the Canadian government's conservationist policies that restricted hunting and requisitioned land to preserve as national parks made it even more difficult for Aboriginals to remain self-sufficient. Ultimately, Canadian bison would go extinct and Aboriginals had to find other ways to survive.
Government efforts to conserve the bison are ongoing. Parks Canada has plans to reintroduce the plains bison to Banff National Park, in order to restore the species and to promote tourism. The commercial bison industry still breeds bison for food, which conflicts directly with wild bison conservation efforts. Approximately 400,000 bison live in North America today; only 20,000 of those are considered wild. Many activists believe that conservation efforts must go beyond simply increasing population size and focus on the restoration of the bison to its wild, undomesticated state.
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