Comments on: Bringing Bison Back to Banff (Who Doesn’t Love Alliteration?)

By: Ev Gilmar

Ev Gilmar — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:23:49 +0000

Buffalo Roam – sure they were native to the Park area, but only seasonally. The same with the Natives and the elk. In the summer they would roam into the high country to get away from the heat and flys on the prairies but come winter they all roam back down out of deep-snow country to open grasslands. Now those open grasslands have been taken up by farms and ranches.
There is not enough grassland in one place in BNP to sustain a herd year round so they would have to be fed if fenced in, as they were for many years until the l970′s when that was given up as a bad job. It was more of a zoo for the tourists than a native-species habitat.

The elk still migrate but are a big problem to ranches along the foothills and other facilities that are on their migration paths. ie the Trans Canada Highway.

We fenced in the Natives but because we stopped their seasonal migrations for food we have to feed them.

They are a migrating animal so if we can’t accomodate the whole of the migration we had better leave things as they are.

By: Rob Ferguson

Rob Ferguson — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 03:31:52 +0000

Bison in Banff is not a bad idea. Whether it is necessary is a different matter.

As for whether they will leave the park or not, you can build a paddock like is built for them in Waterton Lakes National Park. It is a massive enclosure with a WILD Buffalo herd enclosed in it. It keeps them from wandering outside the park. Something like this could be incorporated in Banff.

I would not be too concerned about the negative reaction on the elk population. In Elk Island National Park you have the highest concentration of ungulates (mostly elk and buffalo) in North America. They can co-exist.

The only other negative effect on the elk is that they may push more of them into town. Some say this is bad, but tourists love it. So it is probably a risk worth taking.

It is probably a good idea. I think it is worthwhile anytime that we have an opportunity to reintroduce a native animal into its native habitat.

By: Greg Farries

Greg Farries — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 02:23:56 +0000

From the hunting standpoint – it would certainly open up an interesting opportunity to hunt buffalo in southern Alberta. Providing they even allowed hunting of the buffalo that wandered outside of the park area. There would be an economic benefit to this type of hunt – However, I doubt it would be enough to counter the management cost.

By: Powell Lucas

Powell Lucas — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 02:03:29 +0000

The problem, as I see it is confinement for protection of the cattle industry. buffalo are very susceptible to brucellosis which could be devasting to the cattle industry if an infected bison got into a cattle herd.