Northern Bison Sanctuary or Big Ranch? Wood Buffalo National Park : Arcadia: Explorations in Environmental History 2013, no. 19: Northern Bison Sanctuary or Big Ranch? Wood Buffalo National Park

• Main Author: Sandlos, John
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society, Munich, Germany 2013
• Subjects: Environmental Politics; cranes; hydroelectric power; bisons; conservation; indigenous peoples; management; national parks; wildlife; Wood Buffalo; Wood Bison; Wood Buffalo National Park
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5282/rcc/5651; http://www.environmentandsociety.org/node/5651/

In 1922, the Canadian government established the Wood Buffalo National Park in order to protect a remnant herd of the wood bison. The park claims many distinctions: it is North America’s biggest national park (and the world’s second biggest at 44,807 km² ), a UNESCO World Heritage site, home to the largest free-roaming herd of wood bison, the first federal park in Canada’s territorial north, summer home to the last major migratory flock of whooping cranes, and the largest dark-sky reserve on the planet. However, the park’s wildlife has also been subject to some of the most intrusive and ill-conceived management interventions in Canadian history.