Corraling buffalo in Wainwright Buffalo Park (20752653102)

Buffalo National Park was created near the town of Wainwright in east central

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

on . It was closed in and delisted in 1947 when the land was transferred to the Department of National Defence. The park land was developed for use by

Canadian Forces Base Wainwright 3rd Canadian Division Support Base Detachment Wainwright, commonly referred to as Canadian Forces Base Wainwright or CFB Wainwright, is a Canadian Forces Base located in Denwood, Alberta, adjacent to the town of Wainwright. Military Camp Wainw ...

and comprises the majority of its space. The first Park Warden was Bud Cotton, who served from 1912 through 1940. Buffalo National Park, with a focus on

plains bison The Plains bison (''Bison bison bison'') is one of two subspecies/ecotypes of the American bison, the other being the wood bison (''B. b. athabascae''). A natural population of Plains bison survives in Yellowstone National Park (the Yellowstone ...

(often referred to as buffalo), was one of several national parks created in the

Canadian Prairies The Canadian Prairies (usually referred to as simply the Prairies in Canada) is a region in Western Canada. It includes the Canadian portion of the Great Plains and the Prairie Provinces, namely Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. These provin ...

expressly to protect and regenerate dangerously low populations of bison and

pronghorn The pronghorn (, ) (''Antilocapra americana'') is a species of artiodactyl (even-toed, hoofed) mammal indigenous to interior western and central North America. Though not an antelope, it is known colloquially in North America as the American a ...

s. Other 'regeneration' parks, which were considered to have achieved their goals by the 1940s, were also delisted in 1947, including

Wawaskesy National Park __NOTOC__ Wawaskesy National Park was created north and west of the South Saskatchewan River, north of the city of Medicine Hat, Alberta, Medicine Hat in southeastern Alberta, Canada, on May 31, 1922. It was closed on June 24, 1938, and delisted in ...

Nemiskam National Park Nemiskam National Park was created north of the community of Nemiscam, Alberta, Nemiskam (today a ghost town) in south central Alberta, Canada, in 1922. The park was closed and delisted in 1947. The first Park Superintendent was Edgar McHugh. Nem ...

(both in Alberta), and

Menissawok National Park Menissawok National Park was a national park established in 1922 southeast of the town of Maple Creek, Saskatchewan, in the southwest part of the Canadian province. It closed in 1930, and was delisted in 1947. The park land had functioned as a pr ...

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...

. The Canadian government populated Buffalo National Park with a herd of roughly 700 plains bison purchased from the

Flathead Indian Reservation The Flathead Indian Reservation, located in western Montana on the Flathead River, is home to the Bitterroot Salish, Kootenai, and Pend d'Oreilles tribes – also known as the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Nation. The ...

in the U.S. state of

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...

. The herd was transported by train to the new park. The park also received smaller populations of

elk The elk (''Cervus canadensis''), also known as the wapiti, is one of the largest species within the deer family, Cervidae, and one of the largest terrestrial mammals in its native range of North America and Central and East Asia. The common ...

and

moose The moose (in North America) or elk (in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is a member of the New World deer subfamily and is the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is the largest and heaviest extant species in the deer family. Most adult mal ...

. During its thirty-one years of operation, the park produced 40,000 bison, 3000 elk, and 300 moose. The park suffered from its breeding success and the limited understanding of how to manage such wildlife populations. As numbers grew, the herd suffered from disease and starvation, as the bison had to compete for food on the park's limited space. Sanctioned slaughters in the late 1910s brought public outcry. But

culling In biology, culling is the process of segregating organisms from a group according to desired or undesired characteristics. In animal breeding, it is the process of removing or segregating animals from a breeding stock based on a specific tr ...

continued on an annual basis, and some bison were transferred to sold to other parks. About 6000 to 7000 head were sent to

Wood Buffalo National Park Wood Buffalo National Park is the largest National Parks of Canada, national park of Canada at . It is located in northeastern Alberta and the southern Northwest Territories. Larger in area than Switzerland, it is the second-largest national park ...

between 1925 and 1928. With its mission accomplished, the park was closed in 1940. In 1980, to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Alberta and the legacy of the former Buffalo National Park, four bison from

Elk Island National Park Elk Island National Park is a national park in Alberta, Canada, that played an important part in the conservation of the Plains bison. The park is administered by the Parks Canada Agency. This "island of conservation" is east of Edmonton, alo ...

were moved to Wainwright. Today, about a dozen bison reside on CFB Wainwright in Bud Cotton Paddock, named for the first Park Warden.

References

Lothian, W.F. ''A History of Canada's National Parks'', Volume IV, Chapter 7, Parks Canada, 1987."National Parks Established for the Protection of American Bison and Pronghorn Antelope", map, from W.F. Lothian, ''A History of Canada's National Parks'', Volume IV, Chapter 7, Parks Canada, 1987.
{{Coord, 52, 50, N, 110, 54, W, display=title National parks in Alberta 1947 disestablishments in Alberta Parks in Alberta Protected areas established in 1909 Municipal District of Wainwright No. 61 Bison herds 1909 establishments in Alberta Former national parks of Canada

See also

References