Update: Bison hooves hit the ground in Banff National Park
March 1, 2017
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March 2017 Wildlands Advocate article, by Andrea Johancsik
By the time you read this Banff National Park will have welcomed a new herd of plains bison. It’s been more than a century since these magnificent mammals have roamed the lands set aside in Canada’s first national park. You’re not likely to see the herd of 16 plains bison, as they’re in an enclosed pasture in the remote Panther Valley, in the eastern area of the park. The herd will calve twice in this “soft release” pasture for the first year. On January 29, Treaty 6 and 7 First Nations held ceremonies for the bison move and their hooves hit the ground the first week of February. In July 2018, Parks Canada plans to release the bison from their enclosure to freely roam throughout more than 1,000 square kilometres of the Park, their full re-introduction zone.
