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Yukon Bison Management Plan
History of Wood Bison

In North America

Map: Prehistoric and Historic Bison Distribution

Bison are not "exotics" but have inhabited the Yukon for perhaps as long as 700,000 years. The Wood bison as a distinct subspecies evolved about 5,000 years ago in the Beringia Refugium - the ice-free area extending from central Yukon westward across Alaska, via the exposed Bering land bridge, into eastern Siberia. During and after the ice age they were one of the most common large grazing animals in the area. However, climatic changes in the following millennia brought about a decline in the extent of cold steppe with the accompanying invasion of spruce forests. Bison habitat shrank and bison numbers declined.

It is estimated that around the year 1800 there were about 160,000 Wood bison in North America. With the initiation of the fur trade and the introduction of firearms in the latter part of the last century, bison numbers declined rapidly; they became almost extinct with only 200 to 300 left by the 20th century.

Early this century, Wood bison conservation measures, such as the establishment of Wood Buffalo National Park, brought about a slow recovery of the Wood bison herd, with numbers climbing from 500 to 2,000 in the 1920s.

In an attempt by government to save the Plains bison subspecies, between 1925 and 1928, 6,673 Plains bison from Buffalo Park near Wainwright, Alberta, were shipped to Wood Buffalo Park and released there. Unfortunately, these two subspecies mixed readily and produced a hybrid bison herd that grew to a size of about 12,000 by 1934. Besides this genetic contamination, the introduction of Plains bison brought such diseases as tuberculosis and brucellosis and possibly anthrax. This has been a great handicap to Wood bison recovery efforts ever since.

By 1940, the Wood bison, as a taxonomically distinct type of bison, was assumed to be extinct. However, in 1959, a small herd was discovered in an isolated part of Wood Buffalo Park around the Nyarling River. Inspection of these animals revealed that they were indeed pure Wood bison that had escaped contact with the introduced Plains bison. To save this gene pool, two transplants were carried out: 18 bison were shipped to an area north of Great Slave Lake in 1963, which is now the Mackenzie Bison Sanctuary, and 24 were relocated to Elk Island National Park in 1965. Both these efforts were successful. This formed the beginning of the current Wood bison recovery program.

In the Yukon

Fossil evidence indicates that bison were widespread in the Yukon 2,000 to 3,000 years ago. Even as recently as about 500 years ago, bison still occupied the Fairbanks area of Alaska, the Baillie Island area of the Beaufort Sea in the western Northwest Territories and presumably adjacent areas in the Yukon.

Four Yukon bison skulls in private collections were dated for this Yukon Recovery Project. The bison of most recent origin lived about 930 years ago in the Cowley Lake area south of Whitehorse.

Reports by explorers from the turn of the century do not mention bison, but some more recent reports do make reference to them. In the early 1950s, anthropologist Catherine McClellan (1975) concluded, from Teslin elders, that bison were last hunted when their grandparents were small children. This is interpreted as being in the mid-to-late 18th century.

The most recent documentation comes from federal biologist C.H.D. Clarke (1945) who reported that "Indians at Lower Post near Watson Lake killed a bull buffalo about 1939." Recent interviews with First Nation elders in southeastern Yukon also support the assumption of bison still being present in the Ross River and Liard area last century, with the last bison disappearing early this century. While they were abundant, bison were an important food animal for First Nations (McClellan, 1975).

Why bison disappeared from the Yukon is not exactly known, but as already pointed out, habitat deterioration through the succession of grassland to forests, followed by the arrival of white people, the fur trade and the availability of firearms, are generally considered the most plausible explanation.

The Canadian Wood Bison Recovery Program

The small bison herd of 18 released north of Great Slave Lake grew at a rate of 20% per year. With a present population size of about 1,300, it is the largest free-roaming Wood bison herd in North America. The bison translocated to Elk Island National Park also did well. However, this is a fenced-in area and the herd has to be kept at a level of less than 300 to prevent range damage. This herd has been the source of Wood bison for various reintroduction projects carried out over the past 20 years.

Since 1975 a national Wood Bison Recovery Team has been active in promoting reintroduction projects to Jasper Park, Nahanni Park, the Waterhen area of Manitoba, the Hay Zama Lake area of Alberta and most recently the Liard area of British Columbia.

In 1980, the Yukon government decided to participate in the national effort to bring about recovery of this endangered species. In preparation, the Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS) did a range reconnaissance in 1982 and recommended the Nisling River watershed as the most promising release site with a carrying capacity of at least 400 bison.

An agreement for a cooperative Wood bison reintroduction project was signed by the federal Minister of the Environment and Yukon's Minister in charge of Renewable Resources in 1983. It stipulated the contributions of both parties to this joint undertaking with the long-term objective of establishing one additional, viable, free-roaming Wood bison herd as part of the national recovery effort. The Yukon made the commitment to build a two-square-mile enclosure, provide winter access to it, manage the captive herd and, after release of the bison, monitor the performance of the wild herd. The CWS provided the bison, arranged for their disease testing and transportation to the Yukon and contributed financially to such management costs as purchase of hay and radio transmitters.

Both the Yukon government and the CWS agreed that this project should only proceed if the bison were first kept in an enclosure to habituate them to Yukon conditions. Construction of the enclosure fencing in 1985, located in the Nisling River valley 80 km west of Carmacks, completed preparations for the return of Wood bison to the Yukon. When the Yukon's herd reached a size of about 200, as per agreement, CWS withdrew from the project.