A diver swims over the two-masted schooner Walter B. Allen, which sank in Lake Michigan 1880.
Credit: Tamara Thomsen, Wisconsin Historical Society

Off the lakeshore in Wisconsin, dozens of ships lie under the surface. In October 2015, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced a new national marine sanctuary. In June 2021, the NOAA officially designated the Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary in Lake Michigan. Marine sanctuaries are protected waters, habitats, and archeological sites. In this case, NOAA’s sanctuary protects archeological, cultural, historic, and prehistoric artifacts, along with all historic shipwreck sites that served an important role in maritime heritage. The NOAA and the state of Wisconsin are co-managing the sanctuary.

The area is 726 square nautical miles (962 square miles or 2,492 square kilometers) along the coasts of Manitowoc, Port Washington, Sheboygan, and Two Rivers. The sanctuary protects 36 known shipwrecks. Of those, 21 are in the National Register of Historic Places. Because of Lake Michigan’s cold temperature and lack of salt, these shipwrecks are preserved with more integrity than usual, and some remain mostly intact. Researchers believe there are up to 59 shipwrecks in the sanctuary. Wisconsin spent three decades preserving historic maritime sites against human and natural activities. The sanctuary provides opportunities for archeological preservation, research, and education.

The shipwrecks have historical significance. They include the two oldest known shipwrecks in Wisconsin. From the 1800’s through the 1900’s, the Great Lakes were used to ship such goods as coal, grain, and manufactured goods. Hundreds of thousands of settlers used the lakes to move to the Midwest and West of the United States. Midwestern cities, farms, and industries grew as a result.

Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg
Credit: © Alexandros Michailidis, Shutterstock

April 22 is Earth Day, an annual observance to increase public awareness of environmental issues. Each year on Earth Day, millions of people throughout the world gather to clean up litter, protest threats to the environment, and celebrate progress in reducing pollution.

Earth Day began in the United States. In 1969, the U.S. Senator Gaylord A. Nelson suggested that a day of environmental education be held on college campuses. The following year, the lawyer and environmentalist Denis Hayes, then a recent graduate of Stanford University, led hundreds of students in planning and organizing the observance of Earth Day on April 22, 1970. About 20 million people participated in this celebration.

The observance of Earth Day in 1970 helped alert people to the dangers of pollution and stimulated a new environmental movement. That same year, Congress created the Environmental Protection Agency to set and enforce pollution standards. Congress also passed the Clean Air Act of 1970, which limited the amount of air pollution that cars, utilities, and industries could release. Other new environmental laws soon followed.

One modern champion for the environment is the Swedish activist Greta Thunberg. She has worked to convince politicians to take action against climate change due to global warming. Global warming is an observed increase in Earth’s average surface temperature. As a teenager, Thunberg became known for her boldness in confronting adult politicians for their inaction on climate change. She has called upon leaders to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, mainly carbon dioxide. Such gases trap heat in the atmosphere, warming the planet’s surface.

Thunberg was born in Stockholm, Sweden, on Jan. 3, 2003. She was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder at a young age. As a child, she showed an interest in environmental issues. She convinced her family to reduce their carbon footprint by becoming vegan and giving up air travel. Carbon footprint is a measure of the greenhouse gas emissions associated with human activities.

In 2018, at the age of 15, Thunberg protested for action on climate change outside the Swedish parliament, inspiring other student protesters. Together, they organized school strikes to demand action on climate change. In August 2019, Thunberg sailed across the Atlantic Ocean from Plymouth, in the United Kingdom, to New York City, in the United States, on a “carbon neutral” voyage. Thunberg sailed aboard a yacht that got its electric power from solar panels and underwater turbines. While in the United States, she addressed the United Nations as part of its Climate Action Summit. During her speech, she announced that she and a group of other children were filing a lawsuit against five nations not on track to meet their emission-reduction targets under the Paris Agreement. The Paris Agreement is a global treaty designed to fight global warming.

Black-footed ferret in the wild
© Kerry Hargrove, Shutterstock

Have you ever wanted to clone yourself? Maybe you thought, “While I play video games, my clone can do all my chores!” Well, if you are a black-footed ferret, it’s your lucky day. (But, we’re pretty sure black-footed ferrets don’t play video games.)

In December 2020, the weasel world welcomed a cloned black-footed ferret named Elizabeth Ann. She became the first of any endangered native North American species to be cloned. In a few years, Elizabeth Ann might have siblings. The successful cloning is promising, because it offers hope that cloned animals could help save species from extinction. Extinction occurs when every member of a species of a living thing has died.

In the past, black-footed ferrets lived throughout much of the Great Plains. They depended on hunting prairie dogs for food and lived in the prairie dogs’ underground burrows. Since the late 1800′s, however, ranchers have eliminated prairie dogs from much of the Great Plains because they consider the animals to be pests. The black-footed ferret has become rare as a result of the decline in prairie dogs. Disease and the loss of rangeland to agriculture have also reduced the ferret’s numbers. Scientists once thought black-footed ferrets were extinct.

In 1981, ranchers in Wyoming discovered a population of more than 125 black-footed ferrets. Over the next several years, many of these animals died of a disease called distemper. To keep them from dying out completely, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Wyoming Game and Fish Department captured the remaining animals. Scientists have successfully bred the ferrets in captivity. In 1991, they began releasing captive-bred ferrets into western grasslands that were home to prairie dog populations. The ferrets began reproducing again in the wild.

The black-footed ferret is not the first animal to be cloned. Scientists used a technique called nuclear transfer to clone such amphibians as frogs and salamanders as early as the 1950′s. In 1996, a group led by the British scientist Ian Wilmut used the procedure to clone a sheep. The sheep was the first mammal cloned from a donor cell from an adult mammal. They named the clone “Dolly.” Since the cloning of Dolly, scientists from many countries have used a similar technique to produce clones of mice, cattle, cats, and other mammals.

In Peru, a unique conservation effort is taking place near the city of Cusco at the Parque de la Papa (Park of the Potato). Located outside the Andes Mountains town of Pisac (or Pisaq), the park celebrates the Peruvian potato, of which there are some 3,000 varieties. The park is also a living tribute to the cultural heritage of the region’s indigenous (native) communities.

Potatoes originated in the highlands of Peru and nearby areas of the Andes Mountains. Credit: © Shutterstock

The Parque de la Papa is administered and farmed by the local Amaru, Chawaytire, Pampallacta, Paru Paru, and Sacaca indigenous communities. Within its grand boundaries—the park covers over 22,000 acres (9,000 hectares)—are grown more than 1,300 varieties of potato native to that area of the Andean highlands. Many potato varieties in the park are found nowhere else in the world. The cultivation of such rare potatoes helps ensure their existence for future generations, as does the park’s sharing of precious seeds with the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, a long-term seed storage facility in Norway.

The Parque de la Papa demonstrates the ability of potatoes to survive in the region’s harsh but changing conditions. The park sits in the cold and thin air at an altitude of 12,000 feet (3,700 meters) above sea level. Climate change is bringing warmer temperatures, however, forcing farmers still higher to reach the optimum growing environment for some potato varieties.

Peru is home to some 3,000 varieties of potato. Credit: © Shutterstock

Visitors to the park learn about traditional potato cultivation, harvesting, cooking, and storage. They are also treated to delicious local potato dishes. Hiking trails allow people to walk off their meals while also providing panoramic views of the Andean highlands. The Parque de la Papa features a variety of local crafts and products—from cosmetics and teas to medicines and textiles—made from potatoes and other plants native to the area.

A patchwork of potato fields covers this section of the Altiplano, a cold plateau in the Andean highlands. Credit: © Roux Frederic, Shutterstock

The potato originated in the Andes Mountains of South America. Scientists believe cultivated potatoes came from a species that first grew around Lake Titicaca, in what are now Bolivia and Peru. People living there and in surrounding areas were growing potatoes long before Spanish explorers arrived in the early 1500′s. Potatoes were then introduced to Europe and other parts of the world. The nutritious potato became a vital food crop in many regions.

August 12, 2019

Late last month, on Sunday, July 28, a southern white rhinoceros calf was born at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park in southern California. The baby rhino, named Edward, marks the first instance of a successful artificial insemination (pregnancy induced by other than natural means) birth of a southern white rhino in North America. Artificial insemination of southern white rhinos, which were once endangered, has rarely been successful. Just two other southern white rhinos have been born this way prior to Edward’s joyful appearance. But baby Edward may soon have company. A second artificially inseminated southern white rhino is due to give birth at the safari park later this year.

One-day old Edward shelters beneath his mother, Victoria, at the Nikita Kahn Rhino Rescue Center at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park on July 29, 2019. Credit: © San Diego Zoo

Edward’s mother, Victoria, was artificially inseminated on March 22, 2018, following hormone-induced ovulation. White rhino gestation (the period of pregnancy) is normally around 485 days—but Victoria carried her calf for 493 days. That’s more than 16 months! The San Diego Zoo Safari Park, a center for the preservation and display of endangered species, has naturally bred southern white rhinos before. But the artificial insemination and Edward’s successful birth represented an important step in increasing white rhino as well as other rhinoceros populations that are critically endangered—particularly the northern white rhino, a subspecies of the southern white rhino.

Only two northern white rhinos remain on Earth, and both are female and beyond breeding age. The last male died in March 2018. Scientists have access to frozen reproductive material of the northern white rhino, however, and they hope to use artificial insemination or in vitro fertilization (IVF) to allow a southern white rhino to act as a surrogate mother. In IVF, an embryo is created in a laboratory and then transferred to a surrogate mother. Scientists hope to achieve a northern white rhino birth within the next 10 years. Without some form of assisted reproduction, the animals will soon be extinct.

Southern white rhinos, too, once stood on the brink of extinction. In the early 1900′s, overhunting and habitat loss had reduced Africa’s southern white rhino population to fewer than 50 animals. Protections and conservation measures allowed the population to rebound, however, and today thousands of animals live both in the wild and in parks and zoos around the world.

The white rhino is the largest of all rhinoceroses. It stands about 5 to 6 feet (1.5 to 1.8 meters) tall. In some cases, it may be over 6 feet (1.8 meters) tall and 15 feet (4.6 meters) long. It weighs up to 4 tons (3.6 metric tons). The animals face grave threats from habitat loss and poachers, who illegally kill rhinoceroses and sell their horns and skin. In some Asian traditions, the powdered horn of the rhinoceros is believed to have healing qualities. Rhinoceros skin, blood, and urine are also sometimes used in traditional medicine.

August 5, 2019

Last week, on July 29, in the northeastern African nation of Ethiopia, citizens worked with conservation groups, business leaders, and the government to plant more than 350 million trees in a single day. Part of Ethiopia’s Green Legacy Initiative to combat deforestation and climate change, the highly organized event resulted in the planting of 353,633,660 seedlings in just 12 hours. Believed to be a world record, the number far exceeded the original goal of planting 200 million trees in one day. The Green Legacy Initiative hopes to brighten the ecological future of a nation prone to such climate-related problems as drought, famine, and soil erosion.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed plants one of more than 350 million trees planted in Ethiopia on July 29, 2019. Credit: Office of the Prime Minister

For the record tree-planting day, many schools and government offices were closed to allow more people to participate. Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed joined in the effort, planting trees in the capital city of Addis Ababa. The tree-planting drive targeted areas that have been stripped of forests over the years, and the types of new trees varied from region to region. The United Nations estimates that just 4 percent of Ethiopia is currently covered by forest, down from about 30 percent in 1900. Ethiopia’s ever-growing population, the need for more farmland, unsustainable forest use, and climate change are cited as the major causes for the nation’s drastic deforestation.

Illinois Senator (and future United States President) Barack Obama plants a tree in Uhuru Park in Nairobi, Kenya, with environmental activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Muta Maathai in 2006. Every tree planted helps counteract the effects of climate change. Credit: © Green Belt Movement

The Green Legacy Initiative, launched in May 2019, aims to help reverse Ethiopia’s environmental decline by providing tree seedlings, encouraging tree-planting groups, and asking every citizen to plant at least 40 trees by the end of October. (The seedlings have a better chance of surviving in Ethiopia during the wetter months from May to October.) With a population of about 114 million people, this puts the initiative’s goal at more than 4 billion newly planted trees. More than 2.6 billion trees have been planted so far. Aside from ordinary counting methods, the Ethiopian government is using satellites and special computer software to keep track of the immense number of planted seedlings. The Green Legacy Initiative is also cleaning waterways and making agriculture more sustainable.

The planting of carbon dioxide-absorbing trees—along with recycling and reducing the use of plastics, fossil fuels, and other environmentally damaging materials—is a highly effective way to counteract the effects of global warming and climate change. India set the previous world record for the most trees planted in one day (50 million) on July 11, 2016.

July 17, 2019

To help reduce pollution in the United States, a Sierra Club program called “Ready for 100” is encouraging communities and individuals to commit to the use of 100 percent renewable energy sources. The Sierra Club, founded in 1892 by the naturalist John Muir, is an organization that works to protect the environment. Ready for 100 is asking business, civic, community, and religious leaders, as well as families and students, to help achieve the goal of complete nationwide reliance on clean, renewable energy by the year 2050.

Renewable energy comes from such sources as the sun, wind, moving water, heat beneath the ground, and plants. Such energy sources are considered “clean” because they cause little or no pollution, and they differ from fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas. Burning fossil fuels causes air pollution and acid rain, and also releases large amounts of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. The gases trap heat in Earth’s atmosphere, contributing to global warming and climate change.

Since November 2016, solar panels and battery systems have provided 100 percent of the energy needed to power the island of Ta’u, seen here, in the U.S. Pacific territory of American Samoa. Credit: © SolarCity

There are many benefits to using clean energy sources. They can provide communities with cleaner air and water, lower energy costs, greater energy independence, and greater local ownership of energy systems. More than 50 nations around the world, including Brazil, Canada, and Norway, already get more than 50 percent of their energy supply from renewable sources. Costa Rica expects to be using 100 percent renewable energy by 2021. The U.S. state of Hawaii has promised to be Ready for 100 by 2045, and recent California legislation requires the country’s most populous state to achieve 50 percent renewable energy use by 2030. Such worldwide cities as Munich, New York, and Sydney are also well beyond the 50 percent mark, and they are fast approaching total reliance on renewable energy. To reach 100 percent, the amount of energy generated from renewable sources (for such uses as electric power, heating and cooling, and transportation) must equal or exceed the annual energy consumed.

Hoover Dam on the Colorado River has been providing renewable hydroelectric energy in the southwestern United States since 1935. Credit: U.S. Department of Transportation

So far, 182 U.S. towns and cities from coast to coast have committed to 100 percent renewable energy use by 2050. Aspen, Colorado (since 2015); Burlington, Vermont (2014); Georgetown, Texas (2018); Greensburg, Kansas (2013); Kodiak Island, Alaska (2012); and Rock Port, Missouri (2008) have already hit the 100 percent renewable energy mark, leading the push for cleaner energy and a healthier future.

July 15, 2019

Food fads come and go every year, but for most Americans, meat always has a starring role on the dinner plate. Our meat habit has a cost, however: it can harm both our health and the environment. Cutting back on meat consumption, or cutting meat out completely, goes a long way toward helping the environment and our bodies—as well as the animals butchered for meat. Searching for meat alternatives, several food industry startups are offering new forms of meat and meat substitutes that are redefining meat as we know it—and they may change forever the way we produce and consume food. Lab-grown meat or plant-based substitutes are now often indistinguishable from the flesh of animals, and the future of meat may be one that does not involve animals at all.

New lab-grown and plant-based meats offer alternatives to traditional meats such as the beef used to make this hamburger. Credit: © Brent Hofacker, Shutterstock

Most nutritionists consider meat to be an important component of a well-balanced diet. Meat supplies vitamins, minerals, and fats necessary for good health and growth. Meat also provides an especially good source of protein. However, meat is not universal in the American diet. Many vegetarians avoid eating meat because they believe it is wrong to kill animals for food or they consider meat to be unhealthy. Many vegetarians, however, will consume such animal products as cheese and eggs. Vegans, on the other hand, eat an entirely plant-based diet and avoid all foods derived from animals, including honey and milk.

In the United States, per capita (per person) meat consumption has grown steadily to about 95 pounds (43 kilograms) per year—more than double the amount consumed in 1960. Each year, the United States raises more than 30 million beef cattle, 73 million hogs, and a staggering 9 billion chickens. The feeding, housing, transportation, and processing of these animals into food is a global industry consuming enormous amounts of energy resources and creating vast amounts of pollution. The meat industry is also one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change.

Lab-grown or cell-cultured meats may soon rival traditional meats in U.S. supermarkets. Credit: © Tony Hertz, Alamy Images

Food companies have created a variety of meat substitutes over the years, from veggie hot dogs and bacon to tofurkey (tofu turkey). MorningStar Farms, owned by food industry giant Kellogg, has been producing meat substitutes since 1975. Many people consider such plant-based products to be a healthier alternative to meat, especially such red meats as beef, pork, and lamb. In general, red meats have more saturated fat, which can raise blood cholesterol and contribute to heart disease. Medical research has shown that higher meat consumption is linked to a greater incidence of certain cancers. Until now, most meat substitutes have had limited appeal. Made with products like TVP (textured vegetable protein), a by-product of soybean oil production, these products are often found to be dry and lack the look, juicy texture, and taste of meat.

Meat substitutes have long included such products as tofu, a food made of soybean curds pressed into cakes or blocks. Credit: © Shutterstock

Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods, however, are food industry startups with new vegan-friendly products that are virtually indistinguishable from traditional meat. Beyond Meat makes its substitute beef using pea protein isolate, coconut oil, and canola oil in a ratio that mimics the fat and protein content of ground beef. Impossible Foods uses soy and potato protein, sunflower seed oil, and coconut oil. Other ingredients include water, salt, and methylcellulose, a substance derived from plant fiber that is widely used in the food industry as a thickener and emulsifier. (An emulsifier bind liquids in an emulsion, a mixture of liquids that do not dissolve in each other.) Beyond Meat uses natural coloring agents derived from beets to provide the juicy appearance of a rare-cooked burger. Impossible Foods uses genetically modified yeast to make soy leghemoglobin (also called a heme), a molecule identical to the blood-red pigment in meat, to provide an appetizing color, meaty flavor, and a juicy sizzle.

Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods hamburger substitutes have modestly better nutritional profiles compared to beef burgers. Both meatless products have fewer calories, slightly less fat, and similar amounts of high-quality protein. The meatless burgers also provide a modest amount of dietary fiber. Beyond and Impossible emphasize the benefits of their products for health, animal welfare, and combatting climate change. However, should we assume that such ultra-processed foods are always better?

In 2019, government health agencies in Europe and the United States released reports that linked higher consumption of ultra-processed foods to an increase in rates of obesity and cardiovascular disease. Such processed foods, including canned foods and most snacks, are made with highly refined ingredients and many additives to improve flavor, texture, and shelf life. Impossible and Beyond burgers are made from an extruded paste of mechanically extracted proteins mixed with vegetable and seed oils, spices, and other ingredients to add flavor and provide meat-like texture. Each lists at least 20 ingredients. Some health experts also worry that they may include several potential allergens that could cause problems for sensitive individuals, although there have not yet been any reported issues.

There is also a certain suspicion that tends to surround mass-produced food substitutes meant to replaced cherished favorites. While meat has a complex composition and structure—made up of amino acids (the building blocks of protein), fats, minerals, vitamins, and water all woven together—it is usually considered a single ingredient—a whole food that is proven safe to eat. Companies producing plant-based meat substitutes are not immune from being labeled “Frankenfoods” by advocacy groups if their production processes are too complex or secretive.

In 2018, the American hamburger chain Burger King began selling an Impossible version of their trademark “Whopper” hamburger in several Midwest cities on a trial basis. The chain has plans to make the sandwich available nationally by the end of 2019. Burger King will do a plant-based burger for European locations, too–but it cannot use Impossible burgers there because of the use of genetically modified yeast. In 2018, the European Court ruled that gene-edited crops are subject to the same strict regulations Europe has for genetically modified organisms (GMOs). European real food advocacy groups worry that products like the Impossible burger will increase public acceptance of genetically engineered food and highly-processed food over whole foods grown by farmers.

A food researcher tastes a hamburger patty made from meat grown in a laboratory. The patty was formed from protein strands grown by cattle cells cultured in a laboratory, rather than by slaughtering and butchering a cow. Credit: © Toby Melville, Reuters/Landov

As plant-based meat substitutes gain in popularity, some food industry experts believe that the future of meat is in cell cultures. In 2013, scientists in the Netherlands took cells from a cow and produced muscle fibers in a laboratory—the first lab-grown meat. That summer, they revealed their work to the world in a news conference. As the press looked on, a chef prepared the laboratory product into a hamburger. Today, proponents of lab-grown meat say the technology has the potential to produce real beef, pork, chicken, and fish grown from a small cell sample, eliminating the need for farms, feedlots, slaughterhouses, or even animals. Some animal-welfare groups favor this “cellular agriculture” because it diminishes the need to kill animals to provide food for human beings. They see cellular agriculture as a way to establish a more humane world without livestock farms and slaughterhouses.

New Harvest, a company headquartered in New York City, holds an annual conference on advancements in cellular agriculture. Connecting scientists and businesses, New Harvest helps to establish companies that produce cell-cultured food. The laboratory process reduces land and water costs and produces a fraction of the greenhouse gas emissions compared with factory farms. Companies in the United States and Europe are already producing cell-cultured foods. One of them is Muufri, which produces animal-free milk. Another is Memphis Meats, which introduced cellular-grown meatballs in 2016.

But will people eat a hamburger that was grown in a lab? Public perception is just one challenge facing lab-grown meat. To overcome the many challenges, cultured meat proponents are upfront and transparent about the technology and the manufacturing processes involved, emphasizing the many positive environmental and ethical benefits.

Another challenge involves how these products are overseen within the heavily regulated food industry. In 2019, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) finalized an agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to establish regulatory jurisdiction over the production of meat that does not involve animals. Under the plan, the FDA will oversee the collection and growth of cultured cells. The USDA will regulate the processing of those cells into meat and determine how the products will be labeled.

Before cell-cultured meats hit supermarkets, a range of other questions still remain to be answered. What sort of products will be available, exactly how healthy will they be, and what will they cost? Perhaps the most important question is: How will they taste?

April 3, 2019

In February, the United States National Park Service announced its newest addition: Indiana Dunes National Park. Located along the shores of Lake Michigan in northern Indiana, the national park’s creation was the result of a conservation effort that began more than 100 years ago.

Indiana Dunes National Park includes numerous beaches along the shores of Lake Michigan. Credit: Pixabay

In the early 1900′s, the southern shores of Lake Michigan near Chicago were booming with new steel mills and electric power plants. The industrial development took its toll on the natural ecosystems of the lakeshore, however. In 1908, a group of conservationists created the Prairie Club of Chicago to help protect the area’s wildlife and natural landscapes. After the forming of the National Park Service in 1916, the Prairie Club and other groups pushed for the creation of a “Sand Dunes National Park” in nearby northern Indiana.

In 1917, plans for the national park were interrupted by the U.S. entry into World War I (1914-1918). The war effort put heavy precedence on industrial production, and conservation efforts were pushed aside. In 1926, the creation of Indiana Dunes State Park protected some areas, but conservationists continued to push for a larger national park. The Great Depression of the 1930′s and U.S. involvement in World War II (1939-1945) delayed the park’s expansion until 1966, when it became the larger Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. The protected area was then expanded several times before earning national park status in 2019.

Indiana Dunes National Park protects some 15,000 acres (6,070 hectares) of dunes, oak savannas, swamps, bogs, marshes, prairies, rivers, and forests. It also contains 15 miles of Lake Michigan shoreline and beaches. More than 1,100 species of flowering plants and ferns live in the park, as do hundreds of species of amphibians, birds, fish, insects, mammals, and reptiles. The park is home to an important great blue heron rookery (breeding ground) and large populations of coyotes and white-tailed deer.

Indiana Dunes National Park also includes five historic homes that were relocated from the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair. At the time of the fair, the homes demonstrated innovative architectural design, experimental materials, and such new technologies as central air conditioning and dishwashers.

September 4, 2018

In July 2018, a herd of bison that had relocated to Canada’s Banff National Park in 2017 produced its first “made in Banff” calves (as Parks Canada is touting) in some 140 years. The bison babies were the first to be conceived and born in the area since the 1870′s. Two bison calves appeared on July 15, 2018, and a third followed on July 19. Six new calves arrived in August. North American bison are commonly called American buffalo.

“Little red” bison calves stay close to their mothers at Canada’s Banff National Park in July 2018. Credit: © Parks Canada

Banff National Park, Canada’s oldest, lies on the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains in southwestern Alberta. Known for its spectacular scenery, the park also boasts an impressive animal population that includes bighorn sheep, black bears and grizzlies, deer, elk, moose, mountain goats, and—since last year—a small herd of bison.

In February 2017, 16 bison, including 10 pregnant females, were moved to Banff’s Panther Valley from Elk Island National Park near Edmonton. Panther Valley is a remote wilderness area with wide, grassy pastures. The bison have thrived there, and the females produced 10 “made in Elk Island” babies last summer. (All the calves survived the year and are now nearly full grown.) The females then again became pregnant—in Banff, this time. The original herd of 16 expanded to 35, including nine “little red” bundles of joy. Bison calves are born with bright reddish fur; they later take on the chocolate brown color of their parents.

Bison graze in Elk Island National Park in Alberta, Canada. A bison herd from Elk Island was brought to Banff National Park in February 2017. Little red calves can be seen among the adults. Credit: © Parks Canada

Great herds of bison once roamed over North America between the Appalachian Mountains on the east and the Rockies on the west. Native Americans depended upon bison flesh for food and bison hides for clothing. In 1850, about 20 million bison still thundered over the western plains. Huge herds often forced railroad trains to stop while the animals crossed the tracks. In the late 1800′s, white hunters slaughtered millions of bison. This killing deprived the Native Americans of their main source of food and almost wiped out the bison.

By 1889, fewer than 1,000 bison could be found alive in the United States. Then efforts started to prevent the species from becoming extinct. Game laws and other protective measures allowed the surviving American bison to live and multiply. As a result, about 10,000 bison now live in national, state, and local preserves in the United States. About 3,000 bison roam on public lands in Canada. In addition, there are more than 300,000 bison on private ranches throughout the United States and Canada.