BIG RIVER, Sask. – Corman Gates thinks Canada’s only free-ranging Plains bison herd in Prince Albert National Park is a model of success that could be adapted for other national parks in Canada.“Why should it be that Yellowstone National Park is the only place on this continent where you would go to see a lot of bison and a lot of visitors enjoying bison? There’s a lot of history there, but I would say that we have opportunities here in Canada as well,” said the professor from the University of Calgary.From June 8-10, the Sturgeon River Plains Bison Stewards, Prince Albert National Park and Saskatchewan Environment hosted wildlife managers, scientists, ranchers, farmers and First Nations from across North America for the Bison on the Edge conference in Big River, Sask.Gates was impressed and encouraged by what he saw.“If there can be that much energy generated around so few animals, what’s the potential? I’m talking in terms of not just ecological potential, but in terms of rural communities,” he said.In the 1960s, Saskatchewan’s natural resources department acquired 50 bison from Elk Island National Park in Alberta and released them as a food source for First Nations in the Montreal Lake region.At least 10 bison settled in Prince Albert National Park and formed the nucleus of what is known as the Sturgeon River Plains bison. Bison numbers dropped to 200 from 400, mainly due to an anthrax outbreak last year and predation by wolves.The bison range freely in the park, forest management lease areas, neighbouring provincial forest land and private farmland in the rural municipalities of Big River and Canwood.The bison herd wandering onto agricultural land has caused crop and infrastructure damage for producers bordering the park and resulted in the creation of the Sturgeon River Bison Stewards in 2006.The stewards oversee compensation, strategic fencing and returning animals to the park.Keith Aune, who has been involved with the Yellowstone herd of bison that now numbers about 3,000 head, has seen a host of problems and issues surrounding that free ranging herd. As a scientist for the Wildlife Conservation Society, Aune is en-couraged by what he sees in Sturgeon River.“This is about wildlife and people living together and bison is one actor on this stage. There are values in bison and there are values in the people here. They are all being spoken about and discussed and that’s really valuable here.”Aune noted that cattle and bison have co-existed for 500 years. In the 1500s, Spanish cattle were released in Mexico and migrated to southern Texas, where they grew into what became the Texas Longhorn.“I think what it comes down to is the two species have and can live with each other. What it means is changing management and changing different approaches and how you do it,” he said.Aune sees opportunities for cattle producers through biodiversity and conservation efforts.“It makes it possible for a cattle producer to think about that more and realize that his economic future isn’t in jeopardy but in fact could be enhanced,” he said.He sees the rise of tourism and benefits and spinoffs associated with it.“There’s a real interest in experiential sort of tourism. People want to come out and enjoy the mystique of the West and a little western adventure.”Society needs to think about valuing this as an important part of a wild prairie landscape, said Aune.“Nobody’s suggesting that the whole of the western plains of Canada and the U.S. are repopulated with millions of bison. Are there places, can we find those places and can we manage in those places? Can we do it in those places so that agriculture does not have to disappear? It’s an important part of the economy and should remain.”Gord Vaadeland, the executive director of the Sturgeon River Plains Bison Stewards, said his small group is providing a model for others.“The presentations might have been done by a lot of scientists but it was really a room full of people who were trying to connect and trying to learn,” said Gates.“There’s nothing like these types of meetings, like the one we’re at today for creating a network and forging relationships and that’s how the future’s built,” he said.
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