WATCH VIDEO
Thursday, December 1 7:00 p.m. at the Whyte Museum. Limited live seating available or sign up on Zoom
There was a time, not so long ago, that 30 million plains bison roamed on more than 146 million square kilometers of North America. They share that vast landscape with almost 3 thousand vertebrate animals, 19 thousand plants, and tens of thousands of invertebrates. Virtually everyone of these species was influenced by the presence of bison on the landscape, but within a period of just 20 years those ancient relationships came to a crashing end. By the time the bison genocide was over in the late 1880s, only 23 wild plains bison remained in all of North America.
All of the plains bison alive today owe their existence to the capture of about 84 wild plains bison by a half dozen repentant bison hunters between 1873 and 1889, and the 23 free-ranging bison left in Yellowstone National Park. That small nucleus has grown to about 500,000 today on farms, ranches and in conservation herds. While insignificant compared to the historical number and distribution, modern bison continue to provide their keystone ecological services to the species they share space and time with.
Wes’ presentation, combined with the stunning photography of Johane Janelle, will introduce you to some of the incredibly complex relationships bison have with wildlife species, with a focus on the northern mixed-grass prairie.
Wes Olson
Wes grew up in Black Diamond, along the east sopes south of Calgary. Wes has been drawing and painting from an early age, but writing is a talent he began to explore only later in life. Following a 40 year career working with wild species in wilderness areas he has been provided with a lifetime of experience upon which he draws inspiration for his art, books, and presentations. He and Johane travel extensively to give presentations to a wide range of audiences, with the goal of helping people understand the complexities of nature, and how inter-related all wild beings are to each other, and how incredibly important it is for us to help protect these places and the species that inhabit them.
Johane Janelle
Ever since Johane’s childhood in the small Quebec village of Cap Sante, on the north shore of the St. Lawrence, Johan has loved being in nature and capturing special moments and places on film. This passion for wild places brought her west on a backcountry horse trip in 1983, and from then on she was hooked on the west.
Her photography has graced the covers of dozens of equestrian magazines from across North America, in journal articles, in books and museums. Her first collaboration with Wes was the publication of their first book, Portraits of the Bison in 2005, and then A Field Guide to Plains Bison in 2012.
Their new book, The Ecological Buffalo, is perhaps the best showcase of her work to date. With over 180 stunning photos, her talents are easily recognized. The presentation tonight features her photography from Florida to Alaska, from New England to the desert sourthwest and all across Canada.