Banff’s Bison Reintroduction Project: A Cultural Update
by Bill Snow
In April 2022, the Stoney Nakoda completed a report, “Enhancing the Reintroduction of Plains Bison in Banff National Park Through Cultural Monitoring and Traditional Knowledge” (The Stoney Bison Study), that considers the bison reintroduction to Banff National Park (Mînî Rhpa Mâkoche) from an Indigenous cultural perspective. In 2017, a plains bison herd (of sixteen head) were translocated to the backcounty of Banff National Park (BNP) from Elk Island National Park. The herd at Elk Island National Park is the most healthy, disease-free bison herd in the world, and thus it is the origin herd for numerous bison reintroduction programs around the world. Five years on, the Banff herd has expanded to over approximately eighty head – an exact number remains unknown, as a few late calves are still expected to arrive this year. The Stoney Bison Study was conducted by Stoney Nakoda Nation, in partnership with Mount Royal University, the University of British Columbia, independent contractors, and the Canadian Mountain Network.
The bison herd at Stoney Indian Park at Morley, Alberta, where many of the Stoney Elder Interviews took place for the Stoney Bison Study.
In 2016, an environmental assessment – largely based on non-Indigenous, western science – was completed for BNP’s bison reintroduction project. Within the assessment, there was little consideration given to the Indigenous cultural importance of bison on the BNP landscape. To fill this gap, the Stoney Nakoda sought out the capacity to conduct a cultural study on the keystone species that now roam in a 1,200-square-kilometre Reintroduction Zone. Funding was secured in 2019 through the Canadian Mountain Network, an initiative of Canada’s Research Granting Agencies. Despite the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, the Stoney Nakoda were able to complete the study in April 2022, albeit at a slower pace than originally planned.
“To fill this gap, the Stoney Nakoda sought out the capacity to conduct a cultural study on the keystone species”
The Stoney Bison Study began by creating an ethical space, a foundational concept developed by Elder Willie Ermine that is critical to opening cultural discussions between differing groups. The Study starts out with a reflection on the traditional knowledge shared at the Indian Ecumenical Conference, spiritual gatherings that were held at Stoney Indian Park, on the Stoney Indian Reserve, in the 1970s and 1980s. At these cultural gatherings, stories about places and wildlife – and bison in particular – were shared by Elders, and circulated to the wider community. The cultural reflection on this traditional knowledge at the outset of the Study was critical in creating the “ethical” space needed to open further discussions about bison today.
The Study also begins with a discussion about Indigenous methodologies and a brief description of their backgrounds, as well as a discussion on the Stoney methodology on “Biculturalism.” There is also a discussion on the “Cultural Monitoring” process that was used to combine Western Science and Traditional Knowledge, whose steps include: Ceremony, Planning, Elder Interviews, Fieldwork, Elder Reconnection, Final Report and Outreach. Elder Interviews took part at the Bison Paddock at Stoney Indian Park, where the Stoney Nakoda have been managing a bison herd since 1970. These gatherings took place in a tipi, where cultural protocols were followed. The Study concludes with eleven recommendations, which focus on the continuance of the reintroduction, conducting ceremony at major stages of the project, the continuance of Indigenous cultural monitoring and harvesting.
In the five years since the start of Banff’s bison reintroduction program, we are seeing the adaptation of the plains bison to the mountain landscape, a place where they have roamed for over 12,000 years. At this stage of the bison reintroduction, we are also seeing the impact of bison on landscape and wildlife, other mammals, avian species, insects, rodents, vegetation and soils.
“There are many pressures on our mountain landscapes today – wildfires, flooding events, and desertification are just some of the climate change effects that we are seeing. New and challenging issues require new and innovative solutions.”
Just as the bison are bringing increased biodiversity back to the land, they’re also bringing cultural connections to the land, and to the region’s Indigenous people. During the fieldwork section of the Cultural Monitoring process, the “Bison Riders” spoke of having a “spiritual” experience while being in the bison reintroduction zone. Bison Rider Conrad Rabbit would share that “[T]he creator set the sunshine on us until we were heading back – it was very humbling. Way on top of the ridge, you could feel it – 200 years ago, this is where the buffalo roamed and we were in our ancestor’s footsteps.” These cultural connections to land and wildlife are largely what is missing from much of current “standard” non-Indigenous environmental assessments.
The Stoney Bison Study marks many “firsts.” It marks the first time that the Stoney Nakoda have completed a cultural study on bison. Another first was the Bison Blessing Ceremony, held at Elk Island National Park in 2017 in advance of the relocation. Elk Island National Park had never before conducted such a ceremony. Members from Treaties Six and Seven First Nations were all on hand. And in 2022, the completion of the Study marks the first time that Stoney Tradition Knowledge on bison has been considered by Banff National Park.
There are many pressures on our mountain landscapes today – wildfires, flooding events, and desertification are just some of the climate change effects that we are seeing. New and challenging issues require new and innovative solutions. In the words of Jessie Potter, “If you always do what you’ve always done, you always get what you’ve always gotten.” The Stoney Bison Study is an example of how we can understand differently, how we can understand landscapes and the wildlife they sustain as having important cultural contexts. Having a wider, more holistic understanding of wildlife will add to our collective knowledge base, add to our policy and strategies, and add to our management practices, so that we are enacting this new understanding rather than watching it sit on a shelf. If this looks and sounds different from a normal wildlife study, then that is a good thing.
Bison Rider Toby Dixon looking out at the Red Deer River Valley in the bison reintroduction zone in September 2020.
Hopefully, the Stoney Bison Study will be one of many Indigenous wildlife studies that are produced to assist regulators in their land-management efforts. Considering the Indigenous cultural context alongside the environmental context should be commonplace if we are to manage wildlife and landscapes differently, holistically, and with an eye towards and more diverse and inclusive future, especially in the face of the ever increasing impacts of climate change.
Bill Snow is a member of the Wesley Band of the Stoney Nakoda Nation, and is the Consultation Manager for Stoney Consultation at the Stoney Tribal Administration, Morley, Alberta.