IN MAY 2017, THE FIRST BISON IN OVER A CENTURY WAS BORN IN BANFF. NOW THERE ARE MORE THAN FOUR DOZEN \u2018LOCALS\u2019 ROAMING THE BACKCOUNTRY<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
And there\u2019s the age-old link between bison and Indigenous peoples who relied on them for food, warmth, spiritual connection and kinship. As the bison vanished, as the prairies were colonized, as Indigenous families were torn apart by government fiat and severed from their hunting grounds, those connections became that much more prized.<\/p>\n
Then there\u2019s Banff. Canada\u2019s first national park, it was established in 1887 in concert with the forces that drove the bison to the edge of extinction and Indigenous peoples off their lands. It is a heartbreakingly beautiful site. With its iconic snow-capped Rocky Mountains, lush valleys, jewel-like lakes and sacred hot springs, it holds a special place in the hearts of Canadians. I once read \u2014 perhaps an apocryphal story \u2014 that it was a more favoured Canadian honeymoon destination than even the mighty Niagara Falls.<\/p>\n
These metaphoric forces merged in February 2017. Indigenous representatives at Elk Island National Park sang blessings for the safe journey south to Banff of 16 bison \u2014 offspring of those animals bought more than a century earlier from Montana. By May that year, the herd had grown to 26 as calves arrived in a paddock in Panther Valley, the first bison born in Banff for more than a century. Today, there are about four dozen, and they\u2019re out of the paddock and roaming free in Banff\u2019s backcountry.<\/p>\n
They make up one of just a handful of wild subpopulations in Canada, each of whose numbers is fewer than 1,000. Though small, this Banff herd is considered a globally significant addition to the wild bison population. It could become more important. Eventually, Banff could support as many as 1,000 bison, potentially becoming one of the largest wild herds in North America, according to a paper published in the scientific journal PLOS One.<\/p>\n
Banff now has every single large carnivore that was there before Europeans settled North America: wolf, grizzly bear, black bear and cougar. Now that the bison has returned, it has every big grass-eater except the caribou. That tapestry of creatures, which evolved to co-exist, is nearly whole once more. Once again, the bison, such a superb landscape engineer, is shaping the land. Banff is getting a little closer to ecological balance.<\/p>\n
And some Indigenous peoples are making trips back to Banff to bear witness to the bison, including filmmakers from the Napi Collective and the Nakoda. They\u2019re telling stories about how Indigenous ancestors and the bison were connected with each other, reminding us how things used to work. Listening to the stories is one way the non-Indigenous can honour the past. That\u2019s a balance of another type.<\/p>\n
To me, all of this feels like healing. It\u2019s a symbol of what\u2019s possible when we decide, as a society, to make things right.<\/p>\n
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<\/figure>\n<\/div>\nReprinted from <\/em>Canadian Wildlife magazine. Get more information or subscribe now<\/a>! Now on newsstands! Or, get your digital edition today<\/a>!\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"