Northern bison sanctuary or big ranch?: Wood Buffalo National Park

Abstract

Wood Buffalo National 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. These accolades may lend themselves to a popular image of remote wilderness, but the park’s wildlife has also been subject to some of the most intrusive and ill-conceived management interventions in Canadian history.