User:Chaereankim/sandbox

Responsibilities
On the "American Bison" wikipedia article, I will be reponsible for the following sections: 1.2 Wood bison (describing the historical decline of the Wood bison in North America), 2 Origins of wildlife preservation in Canada (the development of the conservation movement in Canada), and 6. Contemporary bison conservation (significance, legacies, and success stories). I will also be making contributions to section 3.Canadian federal wildlife policy (changed title), which the group has agreed to work on together.



* Environmental history of bison conservation in North America
Wildlife preservation was a not a priority for the federal government during the 19th century due to belief in the superabundance of natural resources, the presence of a wilderness frontier, and a political climate the emphasized development and exploitation [19]. However, between 1900 and 1920 Canada saw a dramatic change in national attitudes such as the creation of the National Parks Branch--world's first governmental organization dedicated to parks--and the development of other governmental organizations like the Commission of Conservation [20]. Due to the efforts of Canadian government officials, environmental movement became institutionalized and solidified.
 * 1. Historical decline of the North American bison population
 * 1.1 Plains bison
 * 1.2 Wood bison importance and symbolism (why is importance and symbolism is under historical decline of the North American bison population on the article talk page? I wrote my 80 words about the historical population decline of the wood bison: By 1957, Woodbison was thought to have been extinct in Canada due the hybridization with the plains bison that took place in Wood Buffalo National Park between 1925-28 (Gates and Larter, 1990). With the relocation and breeding conservation program in 1963, the bison population steadily increased. From 1970s to the 90s, however, the population began to decline again with the spread of bovine tuberculosis (Joly and Messier, 2005). In case of Wood Buffalo National Park, the number of wood bisons declined from 10 000 bison in the late 1960s to 2200 bison by the late 1990s (Joy and Messier, 2005).
 * 1.3 Social ecology: importance to indigenous people
 * 1.4 Evolution of hunting practices
 * 1.5 Implications for preservation efforts
 * 2. Origins of wildlife preservation in Canada
 * 	2.1 Ideological development of the wildlife conservation movement
 * 2. Origins of wildlife preservation in Canada
 * 	2.1 Ideological development of the wildlife conservation movement

Canadian Commission of Conservation that established in 1909 was intended to be independent body dealing with questions of natural resource conservation in Canada[21]. In the early years of the Commission, the question of wildlife preservation was seldomly raised, and wildlife investigations were mostly focused on resource species such as fish and fur-bearing animals.

Similarly to British conservation movements, the Canadian wildlife preservation first began with the protection of wildlife for tourism. Howard Douglas, an appointed super intendent of the Rocky Mountains Park in 1897 first began to expand and preserve wildlife in parks to attract more visitors [22]. However, the true ideological development of the wildlife conservation movement began with the institutionalization of environmental protection, and through a number of government bureaucrats such as Robert Campbell, a Canadian Forestry Branch Director, Gordon Hewitt, a Dominion entomologist, and James Harkin, the first Parks Commissioner expressing strong conservationist philosophies[23]. These bureaucrats actively sought administrative support from the government and intensively engaged in their own research to pass numerous environmental protection policies[24]. While personal experiences and encounters with environmental threats account for the efforts of these civil servants, the influence of American experience was also a strong factor: the loss of the frontier, the impact of civilization with its resulting decline in wildlife numbers, and the establishment and success of American national parks[25]. James Harkin was especially influenced by the American preservationist John Muir and his wildnerness preservation theories, while both Harkin and Douglas were well aware of the developments in American wildlife protection movements.[26].

Canadian society and government experienced a greater awareness and sense of responsibility that led to the development of a wilderness consciousness and preservation ethic. Wildlife began to be protected as an intrinsically valuable international resource. Canada's history of wildlife conservation movement demonstrates how a small faction of dedicated civil servants transformed their own goals of preserving endangered species into active government policy [27]. In addition to the contributions of lower Canadian civil servants, there were other groups in society that sparked the first Canadian interest in conservation. The lumber industry in Canada, for example, realized that Canada would soon follow the American path into depletion of forests, and published pamphlets warning of such threats, calling for policies that would curb over-cutting and control forest fire[28]. Ontario lumbermen who reached out to the federal government for support were key actors to the development of wildlife preservation policies, as forest preservation aided the preservation of wildlife species. Additionally, the Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier who was an advocate of wildlife protection and other upper-level civil servants contributed heavily to the progress of wildlife conservation[29]. Contemporary bison conservation is informed by the legacy of historical efforts by the Canadian federal government. Parks Canada plans to reintroduce a breeding population of the extirpated plains bison to Banff National Park. Goals include conservation of the plains bison, a native keystone species, ecological restoration, inspiring discovery, and providing an “authentic national park experience.”[83] According to Parks Canada, the bison remains “emblematic of the wild Canadian west.”[84] The American Prairie Foundation is planning to create the American Prairie Reserve in Montana to restore the native prairie ecosystem and bison populations. Plains bison will be transferred to the reserve from the Elk Island National Park in Alberta.[85] These current bison conservation initiatives do not discuss Aboriginal use of subsistence resources in national parks and reserves. It is unclear whether Aboriginal participation and Traditional Ecological Knowledge will be incorporated into reintroduction plans.
 * 2.2 Contradictions --> Other Contributions
 * 3. Canadian federal wildlife policy
 * 3.1 Trajectory: preservation utilitarian conservation  rational, scientific, 	bureaucratic management that promoted domestication of wildlife and Native people
 * 3.2 Goals: preservation of wilderness and wildlife, recreational, commercialization, 	assertion of state authority and control over wildlife and Native people
 * 3.3 Contradictory policies
 * 3.4 Social, cultural, and political forces
 * 3.4.1 Internal colonialism – disdain for Native hunting cultures, assertion of state authority, influence of scientific knowledge, modernization agenda for Canada’s north
 * 3.4.2 Colonial implications
 * 3.5 Significance and legacies over the long term – historical & cultural implications
 * 4. National Parks
 * 4.1 Buffalo National Park in Wainwright, Alberta
 * 4.2 Wood Bison National Park in northeastern Alberta and southern Northwest Territories
 * 4.3 Between 1925-28: The transfer of 6670 plains bison from the overpopulated range in Buffalo National Park to the supposedly understocked range in Wood Buffalo National 		Park resulted in hybridization between the species and the infection of the northern 		herds with tuberculosis and brucellosis (Sandlos, 2002, 95).
 * 5. Implications for Aboriginal Groups (What do you think of this title instead?)
 * 5.1 Cultural and ecological interactions between Native Americans and Euroamericans 	in the Great Plains
 * 5.2 Historical conflict between Native hunters and conservationists over bison
 * 5.3 Assertion of state authority over the traditional hunting cultures of the Cree, Dene, and Inuit peoples = Colonialism
 * 5.4 Social, cultural, political, and economic implications for Aboriginals
 * 5.5 Ecological implications for bison populations
 * 6. Contemporary bison conservation
 * 5.4 Social, cultural, political, and economic implications for Aboriginals
 * 5.5 Ecological implications for bison populations
 * 6. Contemporary bison conservation
 * 6. Contemporary bison conservation
 * 6.1 Significance and legacies

In direct conflict with the wild bison conservation efforts is also the commercial bison industry that continues to breed bison for food. Because of this view of bison as commodity, bison's role as an important species for the ecology of grassland ecosystems remain largely theoretical [86]. Today, of the total 400,000 plains bison in North America, only about 20,000 are considered “wildlife.”[87]. As such statistics show, contemporary bison conservation is more complicated than simple efforts to increase the species' population; modern conservation meaures need to focus on returning the bison to its wild state through engineering more natural ecosystems. According to the Canadian Bison Association--the Canadian bison producer association with over 1,500 producers and 250,000 bison--, the CBA and conservation groups are working together to develop strategies that help return bison to its natural, wild state[88].
 * 6.2 Success stories
 * Commercial Bison Industry and Contemporary Bison Conservation