Tens of millions of bison, commonly known as buffalo, once roamed the Great Plains and Eastern Slopes but the rapid decline of this population more than a century ago almost led to their extinction. In 2017 Parks Canada initiated a five year project to reintroduce this keystone species into Banff National Park*. This presentation will provide a progress report and update on this important project. 

Speaker: Karsten Heuer

Karsten Heuer, Bison Reintroduction Project Manager, Banff National Park, has had a long and notable career in the great outdoors. He is an award winning author of several books including Walking the Big Wild: from Yellowstone to the Yukon on the Grizzly Bears’ Trail and Being Caribou: Five Months on Foot with a Caribou Herd. He is a Fellow of the Canadian Geographic Society, recipient of the Alec Munro Award for Wildlife Preservation and past President of the YtoY Conservation Initiative. His long association with Banff National Park began in his student days. He is currently the Project Manager for the Bison Reintroduction Project.

* See www.parkscanada.gc.ca/banff-bison for more information.