Killing the Canadian Buffalo, 1821-1881

Long Term Effect of Major Disturbances on the Northern Mixed Grassland Ecosystem—A Review

“…But it still remains a challenge to understand the grazing effect on biophysical factors and the ecosystem processes in grasslands [26]. Before Euro-American's settlement, the whole prairie region saw the First Nations people living among "buffalo in great droves" [27], which literally "blackened" the prairie and can be dated back to at least 12,000 years [28]. For tens of thousands of years the history of grazing on the prairie has been centered on bison herds.…”

“…Native Americans periodically burned grassland intentionally to modify local habitats and to aid in hunting activities by both driving and attracting wild game [51] [52]. A study [27] shows that the extent of grassland reached farther north in 1800s than today, because of the historical fire regime. However, fire occurrence on the prairie has greatly declined ever since, when early Euro-Americans started to populate and cultivate the Great Plains.…”

“…Efforts are being made continuously to understand the significant mechanisms of disturbances in grassland ecosystems, without a whole picture of historical conditions as a reference. For example American Bison once roamed in the prairie region in massive herds, functioning as a keystone species; but were driven to extinction by hunting and slaughtering in 19th century [27]. Lots of other native species share similar fate, especially under the pressure of the invasion of exotic species.…”

“Most Fruitful Results”: Transborder Approaches to Canadian‐American Environmental History

“…While a study of the history of the plains bison might take a purely bioregional approach to 1820, it must become increasingly comparative for years when the destruction of the bison in the Hudson's Bay Company Territories/ Canada differed increasingly from the extirpation in the United States. Some important factors in the decline of the bison in the Mississippi/ Missouri River drainage -the coming of the railroads and the activities of white hide hunters, to name two -were unimportant in the Hudson's Bay drainage, yet the bison disappeared from the prairies in Rupert's Land/ Canada slightly before they did from the United States (Foster 1992;Dobak 1996). A comparative study for that period might still incorporate bioregional considerations, but a comprehensive study of the post-1890 efforts to restore the North American bison in captive breeding programs would demand a far more comparative than bioregional approach.…”

When All the Cowboys Are Indians: The Nature of Race in All-Indian Rodeo

“…Contemporary ignorance about acquired resistance to disease meant that this reality was easily translated into a manifestation of inherently weak Indian constitutions. Similarly, the vulnerability of the Indian way of life (singular) was seen to be indisputably apparent when the disappearance of buffalo herds, commonly attributed to the superior technology of white society, was enough to destroy the Plains Natives' resource base in one fell swoop (Marty 1991, 32;Dobak 1996).…”