Race Reed April 21, 2026 The Bison Documentary and Landscape Engineers (Assigned)

 The bison documentary we watched in class genuinely surprised me. I knew bison had been nearly wiped out but I didn't fully understand what their absence meant for the landscape itself. Bison aren't just large animals, they are landscape engineers. Their unique grazing patterns, wallowing, and even their dung create microhabitats that entire other species depend on. When the bison disappeared, those processes disappeared with them.

The Banff reintroduction story was really moving to me. In 2017 bison from Elk Island National Park were transported to Panther Valley and not only survived but thrived, even moving to higher elevations which was historically normal behavior. What got me was the idea that they restored not just wildlife but cultural relationships too, since bison are a cultural keystone for Indigenous communities. Sixteen bison became a herd in just seven years. That's remarkable.


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