Canada's parks have relocated to 16 wild bison from Elk Island National Park to the remote Panther Valley in Banff National Park.
For 16 months, the bison will be kept in closed calvings in the valley 40 miles north of Banff, and will be monitored by Parks Canada. In the summer of 2018, they will be released to a 1.200 square kilometer area in the Red Deer and Cascade River valleys where they will remain free to interact with native species.
It is expected that natural and wildlife barriers, serve as the best way to discourage the bison from leaving the area.
El Superintendent Dave McDonough of Banff National Park says:
It's a great event to have key species return to one of the most iconic places in our nation. It's the perfect way to mark 150 years of the Confederation of Canada.
More than a century ago, bison grazed on the land that is now Banff National Park. Bringing them back restores one of the key species to the landscape and provides a cultural connection to the first nations that hunted the animal. There was a time, there was about 30 million bison on the plains, but were on the verge of extinction due to overhunting.
The Canadian government bought one of the last herds in the early 1900s and were protected at the base of Cascade Mountain for about 100 years. They were taken from there in 1997.
With a $ 6,5 million trial project, park staff will assess the health of the herd, their movements, rates of reproduction and survival, and how they will adapt to the environment and the predation of bears and wolves.
Ten pregnant females and six young bison wearing radio collars were transported in three-meter-long containers from Elk Island to Ya Ha Tinda Ranch in late January. They were dropped by a helicopter. Within hours they were feeding and drinking nearby water.