HISTORICAL QUOTES
Kelsey on the Plains - 1691
Rex Woods, Artist
August 20,1691 "To day we pitcht to the outtermost Edge of the woods. This plain affords Nothing but short Round sticky grass and Buffillo and a great sort of Bear... silvered hair'd like our English Rabbit."
Henry Kelsey c.1667-1724
First European to see the Canadian Prairies
September 15,1754 "Traveled 7 Miles W.S.W. Level land, no woods to be seen: passed by a lake: the Buffalo so numerous obliged to make them sheer out of our way. Also Wolves without number, lurking Indians killed a great many Buffalo; only taking what they choosed to carry."
Anthony Henday fl.1750 - 1762
First HBC contact with the Architinue (Blackfoot)
October 23, 1772 Every person repairing the Beast pound. It is a circle fenced round with trees laid one upon another, at the foot of an Hill-side about 7 feet high & an hundred yards in Circumference: the entrance on the Hill-side where the Animal can easily go over, but when in, cannot return: From this entrance small sticks are laid on each side like a fence, in the form of an angle extending from the pound; beyond these to about one & half mile distant. Buffalo dung, or old roots are laid in Heaps, in the same direction as the fence: These are to frighten the Beasts from deviating from either side. This pound was made by our Archithinue friends last spring, who had great success, many Skulls & Bones lying in the pound. Several Buffalo seen near at hand, & the Young men endeavoured to drive them beyond the pound but without success.
Matthew Cocking 1743 - 1799
HBC Master/Chief, York Factory
1789 "... In the early part of August the Bison came from the southward and crossed the river to the north side, herd after herd, day and night, until these solitary plains where a chance deer was all that was to be seen became literally a moving mass of black cattle; they appeared very hungry and devoured the tender grass ..."
David Thompson 1770 - 1857
Canadian Explorer / Geographer / Cartographer
September 21,1857 "... Buffalo sometimes fed close to our horses at night, and the bands of wolves howled piteously along the plains above. We could plainly distinguish them passing backwards and forwards by the light of the moon which shone on the bluffs above us."
John Palliser 1817 - 1887
Royal Geographical Society Expedition Leader
1858 "The buffalo were fast disappearing before the encroachments of white men, and although they (Plains Cree) acknowledged the value of fire-arms, they thought they were better off in olden times, when they had only bows and spears, and wild animals were numerous."
Henry Youle Hind 1823 - 1908
Geologist, Canadian Government Red River Expedition
Canadian Exploration Literature - An Anthology: 1660 - 1860
Edited by: Germaine Warkentin, Oxford University Press Canada 1993
David Thompson at Hanford Reach
July 8, 1811
Artist: Don Crook |
Natural History
WOOD BISON - Bison bison anthabascae
"It is not enough to understand the natural world; the point is to defend and preserve it."
Edward Abbey 1927 - 1989 American Author
 DESCRIPTION
- largest North American land mammal
- bull weights average between 650 - 1000 kg with average heights of 1.8 m and lengths of 3.8 m
- cow weights average 500 - 570 kg
- a dominant hump slopes well ahead of the forelegs
- long, dark brown hair at the front becomes gradually shorter toward the rear
BIOLOGY
- a long-lived species of 40 plus years
- males and females reach sexual maturity approximately 2 - 4 years of age
- due to size and strength of mature bulls, younger bulls (under 6 - 8 years) rarely mate
- the rut period begins in August; ending mid September
- gestation lasts 270 - 300 days, with birth of a single orange calf; cows give birth twice in three years
 HABITAT
- frequent northern open boreal and aspen forests, interspersed with wet meadows and glacial depressions
- feed consists mainly of sedges and grasses, supplemented with tree leaves and bark, willow shrubs and
lichens
- Timber Wolves are primary predators of young, old, weakened or diseased bison; occasionally bears will prey
on bison calves
 DISTRIBUTION
- historical range covered sub-arctic low-lands, northwestern boreal forest and aspen parkland
- geographical range included Alaska, Yukon, western NWT, northeastern British Columbia, northern Alberta
and northwestern Saskatchewan
- a zone of overlap, during winter, occurred with Plains Bison in the aspen parkland eco-region
- endemic to Canada; extirpated from Alaska (1900) but re-introduced June 2008
 LIMITING FACTORS
- disease introduction by transplanted Plains Bison (brucellosis, tuberculosis) and periodic anthrax outbreaks in
wet years
- cross-breeding with transplanted Plains Bison
- habitat loss due to development (agriculture, forestry, oil, gas and mining)
- drowning during spring floods and venturing on thin ice
POPULATION SIZE
- May 2000 Committee On the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) classifies Wood Bison as
a 'threatened' species
- 2006 census: estimates 4188 Wood Bison in seven free-ranging herds; 6216 in 4 diseased, free ranging
herds; and 1029 in captive public and private conservation and research herds
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