HISTORICAL HIGHLIGHTS
From 1940 onward, the Wood Buffalo was believed to be extinct. But in 1957, Dr. Nick Novakowski of the Canadian Wildlife Service was making an aerial survey in the northwest corner of Wood Buffalo National Park when he spotted a small herd in a remote area near the Nyarling River. Ten years had passed, then seventeen without a sighting and extinction seemed increasingly certain although the biggest conservation park in the world did offer countless hiding places. With nigh hysterical hope an investigation was conducted. Skins and skulls and other parts were studied and specimens were forwarded to the National Museum in Ottawa for further study. Finally, it was confirmed that the Nyarling River buffalo were, indeed, the closest remaining representatives to the original pre-1925 Wood Bison left on earth.
The immediate challenge was to make these buffalo secure against crossbreeding with hybrid stock. Eighteen head were captured and transplanted to a still more remote and isolated refuge which became, in 1963, the MacKenzie Bison Sanctuary, an area outside the park. A second transplant consisting of 23 of the same Nyarling River herd was taken to an equally well-sheltered home at Elk Island National Park, far from the danger of interbreeding with the hybrid buffalo and safely distanced from any current threat of anthrax. In 1975, Elk Island became the source herd for a recovery program.
Grant MacEwan; 'Buffalo - Sacred and Sacrificed', 1995
SUPPLYING EXPLORATION
In 1821 the Hudson Bay Company and the North West Company merged to construct a fur trading post along the North Saskatchewan River on a site known today as Edmonton's Rossdale Flats. The site was ideal as the Flats were near a natural ford in the river, was almost equidistant from Fort Assiniboine and Athabasca Landing . . . allowing overland connections and yet was the most westerly point that a brigade from York Factory could reach before freeze-up. Consequently, Fort Edmonton was rapidly pressed into service as the principal supply route.
John Rowand, HBC Chief, turned Fort Edmonton into a 'fur trade entrepot'. Breaking the fertile ground, he successfully grew large crops of potatoes and barley, and experimented with wheat. Fort Edmonton also raised horses and supplied the pack trains over the Rockies, as well as other posts, and produced York boats by the dozens. The months long trip to York Factory was hard on the boats and most lasted only a season or two, though old, recaulked boats were filled with water and placed strategically about the fort as fire prevention aids.
But mainly, Fort Edmonton was a supplier of buffalo products. The Fort traded for the light weight, preserved Pemmican produced primarily by the Blackfoot Confederacy. Pemmican was adopted as the preferred 'traveling food' which allowed exploration brigades to concentrate on paddling rather than hunting and fishing. Other buffalo products like fresh and frozen meat and pickled buffalo tongues were produced by the Fort. Prior to 1870, when the vast herds of buffalo were hunted to near extinction, the entire Fort community between 120 to 150 individuals lived mainly on buffalo meat.
Barbara Huck et al. ; " Exploring the Fur Trade Routes of North America ", 2002
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Wood Buffalo National Park
Parks Canada
Elk Island National Park
Parks Canada
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Conservation History
HISTORICAL WOOD BISON POPULATION SIZE
Scientist admittedly are uncertain about pre-19th century Wood Bison populations; however, consensus notes that Wood Bison herds never reached the staggering figures given for Plains Bison. Historical estimates suggest a Wood Bison population of approximately 168,000. These historical populations likely declined due to heavy hunting and severe winters. Hal Reynolds, Canadian Wildlife Services, supports the low population theory and notes that approximately 250 head remained by the year 1891.
Hudson Bay Freight Canoe - 1869
HISTORICAL RECORDS
1789 Alexander McKenzie encounters Wood Bison in the Mills Lake, Horn River, Vermillion Falls and Sinew River regions of northern Alberta and southern NWT.
1795 Hearn reports Wood Bison south of Great Slave Lake and east of Slave River.
1808 Harmon observes Wood Bison along both sides of the Peace River, from Vermillion Falls west toward the Rockies.
1820 Franklin records seeing Wood Bison along the Salt River, northern Alberta.
1821 - 23 Butler describes thousands of Wood Bison dead because of severe winters north of Hay River, northern Alberta.
1831 Reports of large numbers of Wood Bison dead from anthrax in and around current Wood Buffalo National Park.
1848 Richardson sees great numbers of Wood Bison near the Birch Mountains of northern Alberta and west of lower Athabasca.
1875 William Hornaday observed Wood Bison in the Birch Hills area between the Athabasca and Peace Rivers.
1887 Canada enacts legislation making it illegal to kill bison.
1889 Hornaday survey finds only 500 Wood Bison.
1893 Dominion of Canada passes a law to protect the last surviving Wood Bison.
1897 Enforcement mandate was assigned to the North West Mounted Police.
1897 English sportsmen added the $200.00 fine in Canada for killing a bison to their fee for a guided hunt of Wood Bison.
1920 Approximately 1500 Wood Bison reside within their historical range.
1922 Government of Canada passed an Order in Council to create Wood Buffalo National Park, Canada's largest national park ( 17,300 sq.miles or 44,000 sq.km ).
1923 264 Plains Bison from Buffalo Park, Wainwright, slaughtered for testing. Dr. A.E. Cameron and Dr. Seymor Hadwen reported 75 percent of the bison slaughtered had some form of tuberculosis lesions.
1925 - 28 6,673 Plains Bison, most young, gathered and shipped from Buffalo Park to Wood Buffalo National Park.
1930 - 40 Panmixis assumed in Wood Buffalo National Park, with most authorities declaring that Wood Bison, as a species, had been hybridized out of existence.
1957 Canadian Wildlife Service biologists discover a small remnant herd of pure Wood Bison in the Needle Lake, Nyarling River region of northwestern Wood Buffalo National Park.
1962 Anthrax outbreak causes mortalities in eastern Wood Buffalo National Park and posed a threat to the few remaining Wood Bison in the western region of the park.
1963 77 Wood Bison captured from the Nyarling River herd. Disease testing showed only 21 were disease free. 18 healthy Wood Bison were moved north of Fort Providence, NWT to establish the
MacKenzie Bison Sanctuary.
1965 40 more Wood Bison captured from the Nyarling River herd of which 23 were translocated to Elk Island National Park, due to its geographical isolation from diseased hybrids in and around
Wood Buffalo National Park.
1978 Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada ( COSEWIC ) assess Wood Bison as 'endangered'.
1988 COSEWIC changes the status of Wood Bison from 'endangered' to 'threatened' as the population increases to the levels that support other Wood Bison recovery programs.
1990 The Environmental Impact Assessment and Review Panel conclude, . . . " eradication of the existing bison population ( WBNP ) is the only method of eliminating the risk of disease transmission.
1995 Government of Canada announces $5 million in funding to research bison ecology.
2004 COSEWIC recommends listing Plains Bison as a 'threatened' species based on habitat loss. This prompts collaborative interest between the Canadian Bison Association and
Environment Canada to further secure the preservation of both Plains and Wood Bison.
2005 The Canadian Bison Association initiates the development of a pedigree committee to research and develop a national registry which would be inclusive of all public bison herds and
inspected private ranched herds.
2006 Hook Lake Wood Bison Recovery Project is terminated upon discovery of Tuberculosis in founder bison members.
2006 30 surplus EINP Wood Bison calves are transfered to the Lenski Stolby Nature Park near Yakutsk, Sahka Republic, Russia for global security of Wood Bison in a geographically separate population.
2006 3 male and 15 female Wood Bison from EINP sent to Western College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Saskatoon to further collaborate work with the University of Calgary, Calgary Zoo,
Government of NWT and Parks Canada Agency. The Objective of the program: to characterize and understand the reproductive cycle in bison and to further develop reproductive technologies
for the conservation of valuable genetic material from diseased Wood Bison populations.
2007 The Wildlife Conservation Society initiates a plan to restore the ecological role of bison across their traditional range by collaborating with multi-stakeholders across the USA, Canada and Mexico.
2008 Wes Olson, Senior Park Warden, Grasslands National Park, completes development of a morphological measurement system which analytically assess percentage of Plains and Wood Bison.
2008 The Canadian Bison Association Pedigree Committee defines the National Bison Registry goal, . . . " to establish a sustainable reservoir of bison subspecies for the benefit of conservation and
commercial production", and begins pilot herd inspections.
2008 53 surplus Wood Bison from EINP are transported to the Alaskan Conservation Wildlife Centre. The goal is to restore Wood Bison to their natural historical range within the Alaskan Interior.
2009 Providence Wood Bison participates in the Canadian National Bison Registry by registering 4 Wood Bison bulls and 45 Wood Bison cows.
2009 Providence Wood Bison provides 14 young heifers for the Wood Bison Recovery - Advanced Reproductive Technology Project over seen by Dr. Murray Woodbury, Western College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Saskatoon.
2008-11 All public herds are recognized as pure and surplus stock qualify to be registered as foundation bison. Private herds are inspected for subspecies purity and included as foundation stock in the Canadian National Bison Registry, thereby ensuring preservation of bison subspecies genetics.
REFERENCES
Environment Canada / Parks Canada
Wes Olson: "The Bison of North America - Their Evolution, Behaviour, Physical Characteristics and Role as a Keystone Species", 2008
Grant MacEwan: "Buffalo - Sacred and Sacrificed", 1995 |
