4/21/26 Entry #12- Bison Reintroduction

Today in class, we watched a documentary about the reintroduction of wild bison into the Banff National Park in Canada. The film mentioned how there were many citizens who were hesitant about this project. This included the possible negative effects on the local wildlife populations, like elk and wolves, and disruption of overall vegetation due to over-grazing. 7 years after the project began, the project leads came out with news that shocked everyone. Through their studies, there was no overgrazing of the land; in fact, the effect was opposite. Because the wallows created bare ground, pioneer species could grow. The leads also shared that the populations of wolves and elk had no negative effects from the bison. I found this in particular to be really shocking. When we first started the film, my immediate thought was what about the native animal species, so it was relieving to find out they were unaffected. 


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