Two Plains bison herds reintroduced to the Saskatchewan prairie in the past several years are flourishing.
Babies abound this year at both Old Man on His Back Prairie and Heritage conservation area and Grasslands National Park.
Bob Santo of Nature Conservancy Canada said 33 calves were expected at Old Man on His Back this year.
Fifty bison were first moved to the area in 2003. There are now about twice that many on 13,000 acres.
“The herd is performing naturally,” Santo said.
The NCC plans to keep the herd at about a 150-head maximum.
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“We don’t want to impact on other patrons,” he said, referring to the cattle also grazed in the conservation area.
Bull calves are sold to other conservation herds and bison ranchers to keep the population in check and prevent territorial fighting among the males. One customer includes Grasslands National Park, which released 71 head into the park in spring 2006.
That herd has also nearly doubled and ranges through 45,000 acres in the park’s west block.
The park plan calls for a herd of about 350. Officials are considering how best to keep the population under control.
Santo said 12 conservation herds in North America are involved in a bison genetics project at Texas A and M University.
Testing has shown that both Saskatchewan semi-wild herds are free of cattle genes, he said.
This is significant from a scientific and conservation perspective, he said, because bison did mix with cattle in the past.
Although managers strive to keep both herds as wild as possible within their fenced confines, this past winter was difficult.
Extra feed had to be set out at OMB. In a wild setting, the animals would have moved elsewhere to feed.
The heavy snowfall also meant the bison could climb over fences.
A project underway at GNP involves tracking bison that are wearing GPS collars to learn more about their grazing behaviour and land use.
