The Stoney Nakoda First Nations have lived within mountain landscapes in and around Banff National Park for millennia. However, following the creation of Banff National Park in 1885, Stoney Nakoda People were forced out of the park and excluded from their ancestral territories and hunting grounds. Plains bison, a culturally important species for the Stoney Nakoda, once covered a vast area of North America. Due to hunting and habitat loss, bison were nearly extirpated from much of their home range, including central Alberta. As a keystone species, the loss of bison was immeasurable with severe impacts to Indigenous People’s lifeways, cultures, and ecocultural systems. Within the past 10 years, The Stoney Nakoda People have resumed ceremonies in Banff National Park as part of a Bison Cultural Project to reintroduce bison to Banff National Park. In 2017, 16 plains bison were relocated to the Bison Reintroduction Zone of Banff National Park. In 2020, the bison herd was observed by the Bison Riders, Toby Dixon, Conrad Rabbit, and Ollie Benjamin for the Bison Cultural Project. Today’s herd numbers more than 36 animals.

Wildland fire management within Banff National Park plays a key role in restoration and maintenance of bison habitat. The history of fire exclusion in and around Banff National Park is similar to other parts of western North America and is strongly tied to a loss of cultural burning practices and fire suppression. Based on fire scarred trees , most historical fires were ignited in the dormant and spring seasons. To restore and enhance fire-adapted vegetation and allow fire to return as a key process, Banff National Park initiated an active prescribed fire program in 1983. Prescribed operational crown fires have been managed to create fuel breaks near the border of Banff National Park and adjacent lands. They have also been conducted to reduce the dominance of lodgepole pine forests and restore aspen forests, aspen woodlands, and native grasslands.

Contributor: Bill Snow