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

I never thought this would be a top story in a major newspaper, but the first item on National Post‘s website details Parks Canada’s plan to re-introduce bison to Banff National Park.

Parks Canada wants a home where buffalo can roam. They’ve got their eyes on scenic Banff, Alta., but the Alberta government is cool to the idea.

The recently released draft of the Banff National Park Management Plan calls for the reintroduction of a breeding herd of plains bison into the front ranges of the park.

Park officials say the idea essentially is to complete efforts to bring back large species native to the Banff region, which was home ground for massive herds of bison for thousands of years following the end of the last ice age.

The province of Alberta isn’t so bullish:

Dave Ealey, spokesman for Alberta Sustainable Resource Development, said the province is concerned bison would wander out of the national park.

“Bison, of course, would not end up confining themselves to a national park and that would create fairly significant management issues for us,” he said.

Mr. Ealey said reintroducing bison into Banff would have impacts on the province’s elk population, raise concerns for public safety and affect outdoor recreation.

I’m not exactly sure where to come down on this, so I thought I’d throw this out to the readers of ThePolitic; I know a lot of you are from Alberta.  Personally, I’m inclined to think it’s a well intentioned but ultimately misguided idea… that will no doubt waste a lot of money.

Of course, if we’re not going to be wasting it on the gun registry any longer, we might as well waste it on Bison.