BANFF NATIONAL PARK – About 20 bison calves have been born this spring in Banff’s backcountry, pushing the population of the thriving introduced herd to more than 100.
Parks Canada does not have an exact count of the new little reds, as they are nicknamed for their orange-red colour when born, but officials say the bison herd is estimated to be more than 100 animals strong following the 2023 calving season.
“Over the first six years of the program, the bison herd has grown from 16 animals to over 100, including the 2023 calves,” said Kira Tryon, a spokesperson for Banff National Park, in an email.
“Overall, the bison are doing well in the 1,200-square-kilometre re-introduction zone.”
In the fall, Parks Canada estimated the herd had swelled to about 80, with only two newborn calves suspected of falling victim to wolves since the start of the bison program in 2017. Two bulls were relocated and two other determined males were killed for wandering onto neighbouring provincial lands.
There is no information being provided by Parks Canada at this stage on how many of the ‘little reds’ – as they are known for their red coats – have survived so far this spring, or the survival of other members of the herd.
Tyron said the herd has thrived within the Banff National Park landscape and bison are naturally moving more fluidly between groups within the population.
“Parks Canada continues to monitor the bison herd and will have an updated calf count closer to the fall, once we’ve gathered more complete information from across the large reintroduction area and growing population,” she said.
In Banff National Park, where wild plains bison had been missing for about 160 years, 12 pregnant cows and four bulls were reintroduced into Banff’s remote backcountry as part of a $6.4 million pilot project in 2017.
Parks Canada is expected to release the final and approved version of the report on the bison reintroduction pilot 2017-22, which was publicly released last November and summarizes learnings, impacts, and concerns related to the pilot, in the not-too-distant future.
Over a 30-day period from Nov. 9 to Dec.14, 2022, the federal agency sought public input on the draft report, which determined that keeping North America’s largest land mammal on Banff’s landscape is feasible into the future.
A summary of what we heard throughout the engagement process was to be posted on Banff National Park’s website in spring 2023 but so far nothing has been posted.
“The five-year bison reintroduction pilot set a strong foundation of knowledge and practice to support long-term feasibility,” states the report.
“With these positive findings, it is recommended bison remain on the landscape in the area in a controlled and measured form.”
Overall, the draft report concluded, overall, the goals and objectives of the reintroduction pilot were achieved, with bison remaining healthy and achieving a solid growth rate with minimal deaths.
There were also no negative impacts to other species observed and there were no threats to human safety or property damage reported.
“They appear to have adapted quickly to the mountain habitat, and they remained, for the most part, within the park,” states the draft report.
The initial 16 healthy, disease-free bison came from Elk Island National Park, and spent the first two calving seasons in an enclosed pasture, allowing them to bond to their new home before being released into the greater 1,200-square-kilometre reintroduction zone in summer 2018.
Mountain ridges and short stretches of wildlife-friendly fencing discouraged bison from leaving the zone while still allowing other wildlife to pass freely. The bison, considered an umbrella species for many plants and animals sharing the same habitat, have primarily stayed within the Panther and Dormer valleys.
Specifically, population growth was recorded at an average 33 per cent a year, while the natural mortality rate was less than one per cent. The removal of the four dispersing males onto provincial lands accounted for another one per cent.
The growth rate is expected to slow in the coming years, but even the average growth rate of about 20 per cent for wild herds in North America would result in more than 200 animals within the next eight years in Banff.
“The robust growth rate suggests the population could reach a point in the next 10 years where extinction from random catastrophic events such as disease outbreaks or extreme weather events, or genetic drift is improbable,” states the draft report.
“This is a significant accomplishment given plains bison occur in only five other isolated wild subpopulations, currently occupy less than 0.5 per cent of their original range in North America, and are rarely subject to natural selection.”
The population and range of every modern free-roaming plains bison herd in North America is, however, somewhat limited by surrounding development, and is ultimately managed by people either through Indigenous and non-Indigenous hunting, or frequent roundups, relocations, auctions and removals.
Parks Canada has been investigating what a managed Indigenous hunt could look like in Banff National Park, but no details are available at this time.
“Although opportunities to expand bison range exist within and outside the park, they will ultimately be limited by outlying agriculture, other human developments, and active management,” states the draft summary report.
The draft report states the health of the bison herd was closely monitored over the course of five years, with “reassuring results.”
The body condition of all of the original animals averaged “good to very good”, fecal parasite counts were low, and calving rates were very high with an average 33 per cent herd growth rate per year.
“Despite intensive monitoring and frequent field and remote camera observations, no sick animals were detected,” states the report, noting GPS collars were maintained on at least 10 per cent of the herd.
“Only two natural bison mortalities were recorded in the five-year pilot due to wolf predation of newborns in spring 2020 and 2021.”
Efforts to track how wolves reacted to the initial reintroduction of bison were hampered by a high number of wolf deaths from trapping on neighbouring Alberta provincial lands outside the national park.
However, two wolves were fitted with GPS collars and survived for a few months before being trapped outside the park in the first winter of 2018-19 after bison were released. The wolves approached the bison repeatedly, but their advances did not elicit any fear or cause the GPS-collared bison to flee.
Parks Canada’s remote cameras also show a similar lack of response from the bison to the presence of wolves.
“In a couple of instances, curious juvenile bison males actually chased wolves,” states the report.
According to the report, bison generally fled up to five kilometres whenever they encountered the occasional hiking group. They never fled from nor approached horseback riders within the park.
A lone bull did venture into horse camps outside the park, which caused concerns among campers, according to the draft report.
“It was euthanized as it continued to wander east, as per the bison excursion response plan,” states the document.
Although the times bison did venture beyond the reintroduction zone or the park boundary were rare, lone bulls did disperse east of the reintroduction zone and the park on four different occasions.
Three of these ventured onto livestock grazing allotments in the summers of 2018 and 2019 but did not mingle with cattle or damage any fences.
“Allotment holders were contacted immediately and (Parks Canada) successfully recaptured or removed the bison within days," states the report.
By almost all measures, Parks Canada says strategies to encourage bison to anchor to the established 1,200-square-kilometre reintroduction zone, such as holding them in a fenced pasture for the first 18 months, worked.
“The rate of bison exploration diminished with time since release,” states the report.
“The reintroduced Banff bison have developed a home range with predictable travel paths between preferred areas in the reintroduction zone, suggesting a learned fidelity for the area.”
The report states, however, that this fidelity to the area and bison movements have been heavily influenced by management interventions, most notably two drift fences in the Panther and Red Deer valleys.
“These two fences have prevented northeasterly bison movements outside of the reintroduction zone on 50 occasions since the animals were released, and the frequency of these visits has not diminished with time,” states the report.
Hazing the animals back into the reintroduction zone using low-stress herding techniques has also been necessary, albeit on fewer occasions. These forays have also been in a northward direction towards the Clearwater Valley from Divide Creek.
“Because of the remoteness of the region, crews have required helicopters to get people on the ground to herd the animals in a timely manner,” states the report.
