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Buffalo Lessons: How Bison Returned to Banff National Park

Greystone Books recently sent me Buffalo Lessons: How Bison Returned to Banff National Park by the late wildlife biologist Karsten Heuer.  Buffalo Lessons chronicles the remarkable story of the reintroduction of wild bison to the Canadian Rockies in 2017. For thousands of years, plains bison roamed the mountains of what would become Alberta until hunting pushed them completely out of the area and almost to extinction.

buffalo lessons, banff national park, rewilding, nature


Buy it on Amazon: https://amzn.to/4441T5d

I was excited to read this book because Banff National Park is just down the road from me, and I followed the reintroduction of the bison into the Park closely. But like all news reporting, the story was fragmented and I never really heard much about the bison after that initial period of their introduction. And so, I was really looking forward to reading about the entire story.

The book itself is relatively short, written for a general audience and includes a lot of beautiful photographs of bison in the area, as well as the staff involved.  And so, you don’t need to be a wildlife biologist to be interested and get something out of the book. If you love nature, the mountains and the thought of bison roaming free then you will really get into this book.

Heuer starts the story near the end as he is traveling into the backcountry by horse to shoot a male bison that has strayed from the Banff National Park into Alberta’s jurisdiction. Part of the deal between Parks Canada and Alberta was that the bison were to stay in the Park due to concerns about the transmission of diseases into cattle country.

Springboarding from those dramatic moments, Heuer then takes us into the entire story of the reintroduction of bison into Banff. From the initial building of the political coalition, to the research into the failed reintroduction experiment in Jasper National Park, to the logistical and site preparation, Heuer takes us through the process with the passion of a person who clearly wanted to be part of a process to heal some part of the wild and restore a little balance in nature.

Ultimately, 16 plains bison were airlifted into an enclosed pasture in Banff National Park. The reintroduction was supported by local indigenous peoples who worked with the Parks Canada staff throughout the process.  And so in many ways, the reintroduction process was also an act of faith and reconciliation.

 Although Buffalo Lessons ends with the successful reintroduction of the bison into Banff National Park, this is a story that’s not over. As the herd grows, there will inevitably be conflict between the bison and local ranchers, predators and potentially users of Banff. This is a story that I look forward to following over time.

This book was provided free by Greystone Books. Greystone books "is a leading independent publisher of books about nature, science, health, and social issues, with a commitment to environmental stewardship. Greystone Books is a proudly Canadian owned and operated company."


Publication date: March 2026 | Publisher: Greystone Books   | Page Count:  192


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