This week I look at the exciting release of the new bison herd of Banff and add to last week’s discussion on bears, people, and buffaloberry.
Wild Bison Once Again Roaming the Mountains
Parks Canada has just announced that it has opened the gates and finally allowed its growing herd of wild bison out of their enclosure and, for the first time, letting them wander somewhat freely within the park, at least within a 1,200 sq km release zone.
If you’re a regular listener to this podcast, you’ll already be very familiar with the story. Way back in Episode 19, I introduced you to the first 16 bison to land within the Banff National Park boundaries in 130 years. In Episode 27, we met the first bison to be born in the park in more than a century. Finally, in Episode 55, I talked about the impending release of the bison into their 1,200 sq km release zone.
The release has happened a little later than planned. The calving season was delayed and while last year saw its first birth on Earth Day, this year calving only began on July 15. In a recent article in The Province, Banff’s Resource Conservation Manager was quoted as saying:
“We’ve been expecting calves this spring, but it’s certainly been a little later than we saw last year, but because these are young cows, we also anticipated the calving dates might be stretched out over a longer period this year.
“The first two calves were born July 15 and the last of the three was born on the 19th.”
As of July 23, Park staff were hoping to see as many as 6 more additional calves.
This story has gained increased relevance to me over the past month. Spanning episodes 62, 63, and 64, I shared the story of the greatest of the Blackfoot Chiefs, Crowfoot. Prior to reading his story, I had only an inkling of comprehension regarding how intimately bison were connected to the history and culture of the first nations of the plains.
As a storyteller, I’m always trying to find the most important aspect of the story and in this case, bison were the thread that connected everything.
The loss of bison, along with diseases like smallpox, decimated all the nations of the plains, on both sides of the 49th parallel. Every aspect of the identity of the many proud peoples of the prairie was connected to bison.
One of my great regrets came in August of 2014. I was wrapping up a tour of Banff when I noticed a large number of people and teepees on the area known as the Indian Ground adjacent to the Town of Banff. I thought it might be significant but I was in the heat of my summer rush and I did what we often do, I headed home without giving it a second thought.
What I didn’t know was the gathering that I had dismissed was significant on a massive scale. At this seemingly simple event, something that hadn’t happened in at least 150 years was taking place.
In a video posted by the CBC, Blackfoot elder Leroy Little Bear, stated:
“We haven’t signed a treaty amongst ourselves in approximately 150 years…a lot of times there’s reports about traditional enemies…but those days are gone. The first nations all realize that they have to work together; so the treaty itself is using the buffalo as the centerpiece, as the portal to cooperation, restoration, and renewal, with regard to education, economics, health, research, and culture.”
In the same video, Chief Ernest Wesley of the Wesley First Nations of the Stoneys stated:
“For me it is historic. It talks about buffalo. And when we’re talking about buffalo, and reintroducing them into Banff, we’re becoming brothers again with the buffalo. For buffalo have been our provider; in terms of food, shelter, clothing, and religion.”
In a recent story in Alberta Views, Kevin van Tighem asked Leroy Little Bear about the importance of bison. Little Bear replied:
“What would happen if you took the cross away from Christianity? The buffalo was one of those things. The belief system, the songs, the stories, the ceremonies are still there, but the buffalo is not seen daily… The younger generation do not see buffalo out there, so it’s out of sight, out of mind.”
Little Bear also adds:
“With the return of the buffalo, those things that were part of those regularly occurring patterns in nature, the buffalo was part of it. So we’re bringing back those regularities, and those regularities are part of what anchors our societies.”
“But there’s a whole lot more. There’s also their larger role in the ecosystem. As a human species, we play a very small role in that ecosystem. And it’s a big job to bring about an eco-balance. So we need help and the buffalo will do that. Is Alberta ready for that? Probably not.”
Another elder, Chief Wesley of the Stoney-Nakoda indicated the many ways in which the bison were important:
“Think of it as our Walmart, but think of it also as our Church.”
I love this analogy. It’s so simple, yet so profound. The bison was more than simply food, it permeated every aspect of the spiritual and cultural life on the plains. It’s impossible for a non-indigenous person to really understand the impact of losing both their means of living AND their cultural identity.
From the very beginning, first nations involvement has been integral to the plans of Parks Canada to bring wild bison back to the park.
The real tragedy reveals itself when we look at this in the historical context. As bison were rapidly removed from the plains, people, like Crowfoot could see those changes. Now while it is often blamed on non-indigenous people, not all of the bison were hunted by whites.
One of the province’s earliest residents was John (“Kootenai”) Brown who settled in the Waterton area in 1865. He noted:
“The prairie as far as we could see east, north and west was one living mass of buffalo. Thousands of head there were, far thicker than ever range cattle grazed the bunch grass of the foothills… None of our party up to this time had ever seen a buffalo.”
Unfortunately, he saw the bison at the tail end of their peak population. Subsequently, Métis hunters involved with the pemmican trade killed so many bison that they were able to fill more than a thousand Red River carts with meat each year. South of the border, the American Cavalry were slaughtering them by the millions.
As the numbers dwindled, indigenous peoples scrambled for the few remaining animals.
It seems inconceivable that an animal so prevalent could be decimated so quickly, but just as the bison were being wiped out from the west, the equally endless populations of passenger pigeon were also being wiped out by endless hunting.
In 1831, naturalist John J. Audubon described a migration that he witnessed in 1813:
“I dismounted, seated myself on an eminence, and began to mark with my pencil, making a dot for every flock that passed. In a short time finding the task which I had undertaken impracticable, as the birds poured in in countless multitudes, I rose and, counting the dots then put down, found that 163 had been made in twenty-one minutes. I traveled on, and still met more the farther I proceeded. The air was literally filled with Pigeons; the light of noon-day was obscured as by an eclipse; the dung fell in spots, not unlike melting flakes of snow, and the continued buzz of wings had a tendency to lull my senses to repose… I cannot describe to you the extreme beauty of their aerial evolutions, when a hawk chanced to press upon the rear of the flock. At once, like a torrent, and with a noise like thunder, they rushed into a compact mass, pressing upon each other towards the center. In these almost solid masses, they darted forward in undulating and angular lines, descended and swept close over the earth with inconceivable velocity, mounted perpendicularly so as to resemble a vast column, and, when high, were seen wheeling and twisting within their continued lines, which then resembled the coils of a gigantic serpent… Before sunset I reached Louisville, distant from Hardensburgh fifty-five miles. The Pigeons were still passing in undiminished numbers and continued to do so for three days in succession.”
While bison once darkened the plains, passenger pigeons darkened the skies. Both were considered to be without number. Both were considered a bounty without end until, well…it ended. By the 1870s the decline in pigeon populations was becoming evident, and before the end of the decade, populations were on their last legs.
The last wild egg was seen in 1895 near Minneapolis, Minnesota. In less than 50 years, like the bison, they were gone. In today’s conservation-minded world it seems inconceivable that efforts were not made earlier to protect and preserve these amazing creatures, but these were different times. Nature was seen as simply something to be used and consumed. The forests were endless and there would always be more forests, more animals, and more birds.
Today we realize the folly of those Victorian attitudes. We look at the ways we manage our resources and wonder at the ignorance that was so rampant only a little over a century ago. Don’t forget, that Canada’s first Prime Minister was happy to see the last of the bison disappear. As he was quoted:
“I am not at all sorry. So long as there was a hope that bison would come into the country, there was no means of inducing the Indians to settle down on their reserves.”
To him, bison were a tool of control. They were an expeditious way to force the first nations of the plains to sign treaties that essentially took all of their territories and gave them a tiny plot to keep them out of the way of the great western expansion of Canada. The vast prairies were nothing without cattle and ploughs to make them profitable. We were a growing country, and the land was meant to be used – natives and bison be damned.
The loss of the bison was unimaginable, yet just like the passenger pigeon, it was accomplished in just a few years. The prairies were left empty and the first nations were forced to sign treaties and settle on reserves.
All of that changed on August 1st when Parks Canada staff opened the gate to allow the growing herd to leave the enclosure and begin to explore their 1,200 sq. km soft-release zone.
Almost immediately, the bison zigged when the Park’s staff wanted them to zag. According to the Rocky Mountain Outlook:
“The bison reportedly headed toward Scotch Camp, but were stopped on the Snow Creek Summit before being herded back towards the upper Panther River Valley.”
Park staff realized they would need to guide the bison during the early part of their release. They don’t want them to move east towards the plains because they have no legal status there.
Since bison have not existed in the wild for more than 130 years, on provincial lands, they have no legal status. According to the province, bison were extirpated, or locally wiped out, and so would likely be considered to be livestock as opposed to wildlife.
There are two herds of wood buffalo in northern Alberta that ARE protected, the Ronald herd and the Hay Zama herd. The Hay Zama’s population is controlled through a limited hunt in order to keep the herd from spreading to an area where they might encounter other bison populations that carry tuberculosis and brucellosis.
According to a Jan 11 story in the Rocky Mountain Outlook, the Director of the Fish and Wildlife Policy branch for Environment and Parks, Sue Cotterill was quoted as saying:
“Those two populations of bison are recognized under the Wildlife Act and regulations, and until more recently, we have not really had any discussions about plains bison because they have not been wild by nature in the province and not subject to natural processes that might affect wildlife populations like predation and weather,
Part of the process is to try and rectify that, but we are only part-way through the process…
The one piece of the puzzle that influences all of this is that the Endangered Species Conservation Committee is advisory to the minister and established under the Wildlife Act, which is part of a government-wide review of agencies, boards, and commissions,” she said. “We are waiting for a decision on that and if the committee is re-established, and I feel fairly confident that will happen, it is the way we would move significant species at risk business forward to the minister.”
Basically, the ability of the government to change the status of wild bison is stalled and until they finish a review of its current agencies, boards, and commissions, everything is at a standstill.
I reached out to the Member of the Legislature for Banff-Cochrane, Cam Westhead, and he confirmed the status. He stated:
“Your assessment of the current situation is correct. I’ve been working closely with Minister Phillips on this file and she is carefully considering the various options in consultation with stakeholders. I’ll continue to monitor this and provide updates as they come.”
Parks Canada will use a combination of fencing, baiting, and hazing, along with some old-fashioned cowboying, to urge the bison to explore more and more of their new home, while discouraging them from being tempted to move in the wrong direction.
The adult bison are satellite collared and the calves have ear tag transmitters. This will allow officials to keep an eye on their movements and intervene should they begin to feel the pull to the plains.
For thousands of years, bison were important to the first nations in the mountains as well as the plains. According to Parks Canada archaeologists, bison represented 47% of the animal bones found in ancient campsites. This compares to 37% for bighorn sheep, 7% for deer and elk, and less than 1% for both moose and mountain goat. Even in the high country, bison ruled the pantry.
It amazes me that bison and bighorn sheep accounted for 84% of the animal remains in archaeological sites within Banff National Park. This would also represent differing distributions of animals historically. There may have simply been fewer elk and deer in historic times.
Like the bison, elk were wiped out in many parts of their range and by the turn of the 20th century, the population in the Canadian Rockies was quite small. Between 1917 and 1920, the population was supplemented by several hundred animals translocated from Yellowstone National Park.
Another question that Park staff are trying to understand with the reintroduction is just how much time did bison spend in the mountains? Did they spend their entire lives here, or move upslope only seasonally?
Cliff White, a retired Parks Canada biologist has looked into bison ecology during historic times. There are many ideas as to how they may have used the mountains. One involves a seasonal migration while the other speculates that small herds may have moved upslope to avoid native hunters and escape the competition of large herds on the plains.
At this time, the mountain forests were very different than what they are today. The forests weren’t the dense, endless forests of old trees we see today. Those are the result of a century or more of fire suppression. They would have encountered stands of trees separated by grass-filled meadows supplemented by much more regular forest fires.
The grazing bison helped to maintain those meadows by browsing any young trees that might have tried to encroach on the plentiful grasses.
Karsten Heuer, the man in charge of the reintroduction for Parks Canada, had the bones of six bison found in the Panther valley tested for isotope analysis. If we assume that we are what we eat then our bones reflect our connection to a particular landscape.
Bison feeding on the plains would eat different foods than bison feeding in the mountains. The analysis indicated that the bison were living their entire lives in the high country as opposed to migrating seasonally from the prairies.
All of that changed on August 1st when Parks Canada staff opened the gate to allow the growing herd to leave the enclosure and begin to explore their 1,200 sq. km soft-release zone.
Almost immediately, the bison zigged when the Park’s staff wanted them to zag. According to the Rocky Mountain Outlook:
“The bison reportedly headed toward Scotch Camp, but were stopped on the Snow Creek Summit before being herded back towards the upper Panther River Valley.”
Park staff realized they would need to guide the bison during the early part of their release. They don’t want them to move east towards the plains because they have no legal status there.
Bears, Buffaloberry, and Bikes
Well, it’s already happened this year! On Saturday, July 21 a mountain biker collided at high speed with a black bear at the Canmore Nordic Centre. Just last week, I warned that the buffaloberry season was upon us and that we need to begin to be extra vigilant.
According to a story in the Rocky Mountain Outlook, Alberta Environment and Parks human-wildlife conflict specialist Jay Honeyman stated:
“They were coming downhill at a fairly good clip and came over a rise and there was the bear…He literally hit and flattened the bear and got knocked off his bike.”
Luckily, the rider had bear spray on his person and he got ready to deploy it, but the stunned bear took off before he needed to spray it. He also saw a second bear that also ran away from the commotion.
This is a classic buffaloberry season encounter and while this incident ended well, future collisions may not. Every encounter with every bear is unique and there may come a case where the bruin doesn’t back down. Collisions like these aren’t necessary. As much fun as it is to scream down a hill on your bike, during berry season it’s just too risky.
Black and grizzly bears are completely engrossed in feeding at this time of year. They have 18 hours of time to chomp down some 200,000 berries. This means they aren’t the normally wary animal we think they are. Since the berries need openings in the canopy to grow, the bears are forced to come out to trail and roadsides in order to feed.
Despite the dangerous character of this encounter, the cyclist did everything right. They had bear spray, it was ready to be deployed, and in the end, the bear also made the right choice and fled the area.
The likelihood of encountering bears on trails is exponentially higher at this time of year. They are interested in only one food, and that one food grows beside roads and trails, along with other areas of open canopy such as areas around the townsite margin.
Here are 10 tips for staying safe while riding and hiking during buffaloberry season:
- Make lots of noise. Since bears are not paying attention to what’s happening around them while they’re busy mowing down their berry feast, it’s important that we make lots and lots of noise; and not all noise is created equal. The best sound is the sound of your voice. Bears know that humans mean danger and if they know you’re coming before you arrive, then they’ll usually move away from the trail until you pass. You probably won’t even know they were there. Bear bells are just marketing hype and they won’t keep you safe. Just throw them in the garbage. You’re more likely to be killed by your hiking companions for the sheer irritation they provide.
- Remember that sound may not travel as fast as you do. Much like the sound of an approaching train, it isn’t always as evident when the train is approaching. The bear may not hear you if you’re flying down the hill. Slow down, and if possible, stop before the descent and give a loud “Hey bear” before you slowly go down the hill.
- Learn to recognize buffaloberry. If you learn one plant in the mountains, make it buffaloberry. If the trail is lined with these tasty morsels, then the chance of meeting a bear goes up dramatically. If the trail is berry free, it doesn’t mean there won’t be a bear, but the odds at this time of year will have the bear focusing on berry-rich sites.
- Make sure you have bear spray and know how to use it. It’s also critical that the spray is on your person and not on your bike. This recent encounter really brings this to the forefront. The rider collided with the bear and was ejected from his bike. Had the spray been on the forks or handlebars of the bike, he would have been separated from it just when he needed it most. The same goes with spray on or in your pack. Encounters happen fast and without warning. Have it on your body and you’ll have it when you need it. You also want to practice so you don’t have to think about how to deploy it when the time comes.
- Head to the high country. While this tip may not apply to mountain bikers, it definitely is a good one for hikers. Since the berries happen at lower elevations, this is a good time to go high. While the berries are more common in the valley bottom, they can extend into the subalpine as well. This is a great time to bag those peaks and passes. Trails like the Centennial Ridge Trail (the highest trail in the Canadian Rockies), Ha Ling (check the trail report as they are doing trail maintenance), and scrambles like the East End of Rundle are perfect choices. Keep in mind that the approaches will likely be at a lower elevation so keep an eye on the foliage and if buffaloberries are present, make a ton of noise.
- Watch for droppings. When bears are mowing down massive quantities of berries, let’s just say, it keeps them regular. Watch for dark red piles of former buffaloberries. If it looks fresh, then it’s likely the bear may still be in the area.
- Look for moving bushes. Very large bears can completely disappear behind a buffaloberry bush. Sometimes the easiest way to spot the bear is to not look for the bear. Look for something that doesn’t belong – like one bush moving when none of the others are. On a still day, this can often be a sure sign that something is hanging out behind the bush.
- Keep dogs on leash; or better yet, leave them at home. I know you want to hike with your dog, but every encounter with wildlife has a worse outcome when a dog is involved. They are likely to be perceived as a threat by a bear and now you are also perceived as a threat. Take Fido to the off-leash area and give him a good run there. Be aware though that the margins of the Grassi Lakes off-leash area are also a great habitat for buffaloberries so watch if he’s playing too close to this area.
- Leave your earbuds at home. One of the most dangerous things you can do in bear country is to wear earbuds when walking on trails – even within the townsite boundaries. When you wear earbuds, you’re not aware of the sounds around you. You are not paying attention to what’s happening around you. Earbuds put you at a much higher risk of a negative encounter, and you won’t even hear it approaching. When you’re out in nature, pay attention to nature, and stay safe.
- Respect closures. During buffaloberry season, it’s much easier to manage people than bears. Unfortunately, in the recent past, locals and tourists alike have violated closures with the mistaken belief that they don’t apply to them. Alberta Environment and Parks, Parks Canada, and the Towns of Canmore and Banff take these closures very seriously. If you’re caught you will be charged! Don’t put a bear’s life at risk simply because you were too lazy to walk around the closure. Always remember that you are also a risk by ignoring closure signs.
These are just a few tips to keep you safe this berry season. It’s up to us to slow down and be extra cautious. It’s not the bear’s fault that it’s attracted to the trails and valley bottoms. The berry season only lasts 6-8 weeks. With the first frost of autumn, the berries will fall from the branches and the bears will disperse to look for other fall foods. For grizzlies, these will include the roots of members of the pea and lily family. For those, they’ll begin to move back upslope.
Here is a great example of what it looks like when grizzlies dig for roots,
Related to this was a story on Global News about a woman that was charged near Jasper when she, along with a bunch of other cars, stopped to watch a black bear feeding on buffaloberries. They did everything wrong.
They got out of their car and walked to within a few metres of the hungry bear. As witness Stefan Jenart recalled:
“All of a sudden we see someone running around the car and a bear charging towards a woman. Fortunately, the bear doesn’t follow through and the woman is able to walk away,”
Luckily, the incident ended without injury. The bear simply wanted to let them know they had approached too closely. All too often this situation replays itself over and over. A hungry bear is attracted to roadside berry bushes, a single car spots it and slams on its brakes, and within minutes, dozens of naïve tourists are moving ever closer for photos.
Please don’t put the safety of yourself or the bear at risk for a simple photo. All too often, it’s the bear that pays the price for our ignorance. When you’re out on the mountain highways this month, slow down, and if you see a bear, please stay in your car.
Never forget that selfies can kill – either you or the bear.