Canada released 26 bison into Banff National Park in 2017; the herd grew rapidly as scientists tracked its return to the wild

In 2017, Parks Canada released 16 plains bison into Banff National Park, beginning a carefully monitored effort to restore the animals to a landscape where they had been absent for more than a century. The herd was initially kept in a soft-release pasture before being allowed to roam across a 1,200-square-kilometre reintroduction zone in 2018.