![]() In Alberta, the historical range of the plains bison was centred on the Grasslands Natural Region, extending north into the Parklands and west into the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. The non-migratory wood bison was historically distributed from northern Alberta to Alaska, whereas the migratory plains bison was vastly more abundant and its main distribution was on the grasslands from the Great Plains continuously to present-day Mexico. bison by the Canadian Endangered Species Council, which lists the species as At Risk in Canada. Wood bison and plains bison are aggregated under the taxonomic designation B. Wood bison remain listed as Threatened under the Species At Risk Act and plains bison are unlisted a decision on the recommendation to down-list wood bison to Special Concern remains pending. The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) assessed wood bison as Special Concern and plains bison as Threatened in 2013. Elsewhere in the province (outside of WBNP and wildland provincial parks), free-ranging bison do not have status under the Wildlife Act. In another defined area adjacent to the southeastern border of Wood Buffalo National Park (WBNP), bison are designated as Subject Animals under the Wildlife Regulation, which prohibits bison hunting by non-Aboriginals. Within a designated management area in northwestern Alberta, bison are listed as Endangered under Alberta’s Wildlife Regulation, and can only be legally hunted through a limited entry draw in a designated hunting zone and season. bison) are considered At Risk and Extirpated/Extinct, respectively. Under the General Status of Alberta Wild Species, wood bison (B. The American bison (Bison bison) is the largest terrestrial mammal in North America and is represented by two subspecies. We also discuss the benefits and necessities of working within a co-management framework to achieve meaningful progress on a contentious wildlife management issue. We provide a synopsis of the northern bison disease issue, an overview of the rationale ofHLWBRP, and a report on the progress of this pilot project. Through the HL WBRP we are pursuing a phased approach to the long-term objectives of habitat management, disease eradication, genetic conservation, and recovery of wood bison in the Slave River Lowlands. The overall objective of the HLWBRP is to establish a captive, disease-free herd of wood bison (Bison bison athabascae) from a wild herd infected with bovine tuberculosis (Mycobacterium bovis) and brucellosis (Brucella abortus), and use the captive herd as source stock to establish a disease-free wild popUlation. The Hook Lake Wood Bison Recovery Project (HLWBRP) is a wildlife conservation project run cooperatively between the Deninu Kue' First Nation, Fort Resolution Aboriginal Wildlife Harvesters' Committee, and the Government of the Northwest Territories, Canada. Such livestock management approaches based on anti-predator behaviors of wild ungulates may directly and synergistically reduce predation risk-while simultaneously establishing a management context in which other predation-prevention practices and tools can be used more effectively. Short calving seasons can increase livestock production and reduce labor inputs, especially when timed to coincide with peak availability of forage quality. Grazing management involving high stocking density and frequent movement, such as rotational grazing and herding with low-stress livestock handling, can improve rangeland health and livestock production, by managing the distribution of grazing across time, space, and plant species. They also have their young in short, synchronized birthing seasons (predator satiation). The central anti-predator behavior of wild grazing animals is to form large, dense herds that then move around the landscape to seek fresh forage, avoid fouled areas, and escape predators. This paper synthesizes evidence from the rangeland, wildlife, and animal sciences into a cohesive argument: modeling livestock management after the grazing patterns and reproductive cycles of wild ungulates in the presence of their predators can improve rangeland health and livestock production-and increase the ability of ranching operations to coexist with native carnivores. Ranchers can apply many of the same approaches that work for rangeland health and livestock production to reduce conflicts with large carnivores. Livestock – large carnivore coexistence practitioners can be more effective by expanding from a direct focus on carnivores and predation-prevention tools to the broader social-ecological context of ranches and rural communities, especially livestock management. ![]()
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