Wood Bison Health Management in WBNP
The Project
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Our work is intended to help inform the future management of wood bison health in Wood Buffalo National Park. The outcome of the project will be a socioeconomic analysis of potential options for managing the health of wood bison within the park. Our analysis will include stakeholders’ and right holders' perceptions of wood bison, the disease problem, and opportunities for community driven co-management of the animals and their environment.
We will be conducting open houses, online questionnaires, and workshops that include the communities around the park, cattle producers, environmental organizations, the general public, and other stakeholder groups. The results of these activities will inform the potential value of strategies for managing wood bison health in the park.
Project Objectives
This research project has three inter-related goals:
1) Acknowledge right holder and stakeholder voices and potential roles in addressing bison health.
2) Understand values, attitudes, and preferences regarding the landscape and bison health management.
3) Assess the economic value of different bison health management strategies.
Funding
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This project is currently funded by Parks Canada, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, and the Results Driven Agriculture Research organization.