The Political Economy of Bison Management in Wood Buffalo National Park

Abstract

Nearly a century ago government initiatives saved Canada's wild bison from extinction, and in the 1920s Wood Buffalo National Park (WBNP) was established as a preserve for wood and plains bison. Today new government initiatives threaten these northern bison with extermination as a "game management" strategy. This paper outlines the history of bison management in WBNP and addresses critical issues for the 1990s. It is argued that until the mid-l960s, when the park came under the jurisdiction of Parks Canada, management strategies were presented as biologically based but were conditioned by external political and economic considerations. Similarly, an analysis of current proposals to "replace" the bison of WBNP concludes that contemporary issues of political economy are obscured by attempts to justify the plan on biological grounds.

ABS Working Paper 3 - A review of best practices and principles for bison disease issues: Greater Yellowstone and wood buffalo areas.

“…In short, the presence of those infected wild bison populations that occur primarily within national parks and have real and potential overlap with domestic livestock and other free-ranging wildlife (including other healthy bison herds), presents complex, wicked management problems (sensu Rittel and Webber 1973) 4 because the solutions are not apparent, the conflicts are often deep and entrenched, and the fundamental issues are perceived differently by various government agencies and stakeholders (Connelly et al 1990, Peterson 1991, McCormack 1992, Keiter and Froelicher 1993, Wobeser 1994, Ferguson and Burke 1994, Keiter 1997, Bienen and Tabor 2006, USGAO 1992, 1999. Consequently, the diseased bison issues pose significant challenges for reasons that cannot be simply or conventionally explained as poor implementation or delivery of management programs by government agencies (Head 2008) 5 .…”

“…9200 to 2200 animals for an average rate of decline of 5% per year. The combined effect of wolf predation and disease (ie., bovine brucellosis and tuberculosis) is hypothesized to have played a key role in the decline and persistent low densities of bison in WBNP (Gates 1993, Messier and Blyth 1996, Joly and Messier 2005, Heisey et al2006, and see Peterson 1991, McCormack 1992, Carbyn et al 1993, Bradley and Wilmshurst 2005. The population has since increased to ca.…”

Suitability of boreal mixedwood clearcuts as wood bison (Bison bison athabascae) foraging habitat in north-central Alberta, Canada

“…The almost exclusive dependence on these species and their respective habitats makes winter forage quality and availability a critical limiting factor for wood bison. The availability of preferred habitats is further limited by fire suppression (Jeffrey, 1961;McCormack, 1992;Quinlan et al, 2003), reduced grazing by wood bison (Campbell et al, 1994), changes in flood regimes (McCormack, 1992;Gates et al, 2001), and climate change (Jeffrey, 1961). Agricultural expansion has also reduced habitat availability (Gates et al, 2001, p. 24).…”

Effects of a recent founding event and intrinsic population dynamics on genetic diversity in an ungulate population

“…This recommendation proved to be highly controversial largely due to a fundamental conflict of mandates and opinions on the need for management action (see Peterson 1991;McCormack 1992;Gates 1993;Gates et al 1997). Although additional research has been conducted on the diseased bison population (Joly and Messier 2004a;2005), there has been little management progress made on this contentious issue.…”