One of the last free-roaming plains bison herds in Canada is seeing signs of renewal after over a decade of population decline.
The Sturgeon River Plains Bison Herd roams on the southwest side of Prince Albert National Park. The park has adjusted its monitoring methods over the years and has settled on observation to determine estimated populations every year, according to wildlife ecologist Digit Guedo.
She said this year’s aerial survey and counts from people on the land show a minimum population of 98 bison, but the herd is likely sitting at around 120 animals – that’s up from an aerial survey in 2016, which showed a minimum of 58 bison.
Guedo said the count is rewarding after so many years of working to conserve the herd.
“You don’t get into conservation for a paycheck. You do it because you feel like it’s the right thing to do and often times the environment doesn’t change on a human timeline,” she said.
“We do something, we want to see immediate results, when in all actuality it could be decades or it could be past our lifetime before we start to see the benefits and the change.”
The Sturgeon River Plains Bison Herd reached its peak population between 2006 and 2008 at over 450 animals. The population started declining in 2008, when an anthrax outbreak hit the herd and killed about 60 bison.
https://beta-ctvnews-ca.cdn.ampproj...s.ca/local/saskatoon/2021/4/15/1_5389386.html
The Sturgeon River Plains Bison Herd roams on the southwest side of Prince Albert National Park. The park has adjusted its monitoring methods over the years and has settled on observation to determine estimated populations every year, according to wildlife ecologist Digit Guedo.
She said this year’s aerial survey and counts from people on the land show a minimum population of 98 bison, but the herd is likely sitting at around 120 animals – that’s up from an aerial survey in 2016, which showed a minimum of 58 bison.
Guedo said the count is rewarding after so many years of working to conserve the herd.
“You don’t get into conservation for a paycheck. You do it because you feel like it’s the right thing to do and often times the environment doesn’t change on a human timeline,” she said.
“We do something, we want to see immediate results, when in all actuality it could be decades or it could be past our lifetime before we start to see the benefits and the change.”
The Sturgeon River Plains Bison Herd reached its peak population between 2006 and 2008 at over 450 animals. The population started declining in 2008, when an anthrax outbreak hit the herd and killed about 60 bison.
https://beta-ctvnews-ca.cdn.ampproj...s.ca/local/saskatoon/2021/4/15/1_5389386.html