BANFF – The Piikani Nation took the first bison in the new Indigenous hunt in Banff National Park.
In a Facebook post, Waylon Yellowhorn said Piikani hunters shot and killed a young male bison within the boundaries of Banff National Park on Oct. 9.
“It was a momentous event, as Piikani hunters haven’t hunted bison in this area of our ancestral territory in over 150 years,” he said.
“These young Piikani men exemplified the spirit of the Piikani People, by demonstrating their spirituality, courage, determination and strength during this hunt. It is a proud moment for the Piikani Nation.”
The Indigenous hunt initiative is led by the Indigenous Advisory Circle for Banff National Park – made up of the Bearspaw, Chiniki and Goodstoney First Nations of the Îyârhe Nakoda First Nation, the Siksika, Kainai and Piikani First Nations, the Tsuut’ina First Nation and the Rocky View Métis District of the Otipemisiwak Métis Government.
One bison has been allocated per Indigenous Advisory Circle member, for a total of eight bison.
In the days following the Piikani’s scheduled hunt, Yellowhorn said the Piikani hunters processed the bison kill.
“All the bison meat will go to the Piikani Foodbank,” he said.
“We’ll keep some back for a community meal of bison stew, frybread, berry soup and mint tea.”
In collaboration with a diverse group of Indigenous leaders, Parks Canada developed an indigenous stewardship policy, which was released on Oct. 15, to better support Indigenous stewardship at places Parks Canada plays a role in administering.
The policy reflects what Indigenous Peoples have said is needed to strengthen Indigenous connections with protected lands, waters and ice within their traditional territories, treaty lands and ancestral homelands.
Part of that is allowing harvesting for food, medicinal, and other purposes.
The Red Deer River Valley of Banff National Park is closed from Oct. 6 to Nov. 18 to facilitate the Indigenous bison hunt. While Indigenous hunting of bison was once commonplace, this is the first time bison are being hunted in Banff National Park since its establishment 139 years ago.
Karsten Heuer, a retired Parks Canada biologist and the initial project manager for the $6.4 million reintroduction project in Banff National Park, welcomed the Indigenous hunt.
“This is very traditional. It’s just a small step but a very important step, especially when thinking about the ceremonial importance, the cultural importance of bison,” he said.
“Let’s celebrate because if even one animal is hunted this fall, it is going to be a success in my mind.”
However, Heuer said the bigger picture is how the reintroduced bison herd is managed into the future.
“For this to be biologically sound, right from the start we struggled with how do you reintroduce bison when the neighbouring jurisdiction doesn’t accommodate them?” he said, noting containment fences keep bison inside the national park.
“We have to think as a society about how do we live with bison over the long term and it isn’t in just a park, in an inaccessible part of the park. The bison are going to continue asking us for more and how are we going to answer that as a society, as Albertans … that’s the key issue.”
Heuer’s answer is to allow the population to grow beyond a few hundred animals to more than 1,000, which means transboundary management and the government of Alberta allowing bison on provincial lands.
He said an expanded hunt on provincial lands could be accommodated as part of future herd management if numbers grow beyond a few hundred bison kept solely in the national park, and if bison numbers were such that a hunt wouldn’t have an impact from a conservation perspective.
“You need a population approaching 1,000 individuals to be kind of guaranteed that it’ll survive influences like climate change-driven wildfires and floods, and disease outbreaks, and inbreeding and all the things history has shown us,” Heuer said.
“You need about 1,000, at least at a minimum, to have that persistence over the long term … it’s unsustainable how it exists right now, with a growing population contained in one part of the world.”
Under transboundary management, Heuer said bison would be protected when inside the national park other than the Indigenous ceremonial hunt, but could be hunted on provincial lands when they leave the park, just like ek, deer or sheep.
“Part of the year, there’s a regulated hunting season with a certain number of tags issued so you know the maximum number of animals that will be taken,” he said, noting he believes such transboundary management might get more buy-in from Albertans to allow bison to expand their range to the province.
Parks Canada isn’t providing any additional information to the Outlook on the ceremonial Indigenous hunt in Banff National Park at this time, including whether an Indigenous hunt will be extended to other wildlife beyond bison.
“This is a historic step being taken to strengthen Indigenous partnerships, Indigenous connections to the land, and supports the revitalization of ceremonial and cultural hunting practices,” said Natalie Fay, external relations manager for Banff National Park.
“This pilot year offers a learning opportunity for both Parks Canada and Indigenous Nations as we work together to shape future management practices.”
In February 2017, 10 female bison and six young bulls were translocated from a disease-free herd in Elk Island National Park east of Edmonton to a soft-release fence pasture in the Panther River Valley of Banff National Park.
For the first 16 months, bison were held in the fenced paddock in an attempt to anchor them to their new home before they were released into the greater 1,200-square-kilometre reintroduction zone in the remote eastern slopes of Banff National Park in summer 2018.
After the 2024 calving season, the bison population had grown to approximately 138 animals.
The bison are said to be thriving and using a range of habitats throughout the reintroduction zone, typically using a high subalpine/alpine meadow area during the peak of summer. At certain times of the year, the population is increasingly spread into different groups, but membership in these groups is fluid.
This is thought to most likely be a result of the growing population and more diversity in the age and sex composition of the bison herd compared to the early days of the project when the animals were of a similar age.
Parks Canada is still developing a bison management plan for the future as per the Banff National Park Management Plan, but it is not yet complete.
This plan will include longer term monitoring and adaptive management, including range and population targets, and will be produced through ongoing collaborations with the province of Alberta, Indigenous groups, and other key stakeholders.
“The long-term bison management plan is not yet completed but is being developed as indicated in the management plan,” said Kelly Veillette, a public relations and communications officer for Banff National Park.
According to Parks Canada documents, the bison population growth during the pilot project averaged 33 per cent per year and natural mortality was less than one per cent per year. The removal of four dispersing males over the five-year pilot was also approximately one per cent.
Growth rates are expected to moderate somewhat as the predominantly young and female founding animals age and the sex ratio balances. The average growth rate for wild herds in North America is about 20 per cent per year.
The population and range of every modern free-roaming plains bison herd in North America is limited by surrounding development. As a result, populations are managed either through Indigenous and non-Indigenous hunts such as Pink Mountain, B.C. and Henry Mountains, Utah; frequent roundups, relocations, auctions and removals such as in Grasslands and Elk Island national parks, or both, such as in Yellowstone National Park.
“The Banff National Park situation is no different: although opportunities to expand bison range may exist within and outside the park, they will ultimately be limited by outlying agriculture, other human developments, and active management,” states Parks Canada’s overview of the 2017-22 pilot program.