“DREAM JOB”
Interview by YFBTA Members Dr. Kenn and Nancy Wood
The bison manager of the Grasslands National Park, Wes Olson, has what naturalists would call a “dream job”. In his own words, “my long term vision, as it pertains to bison in G.N.P., is to have a vigorously healthy, semi-wild plains bison population occupying this portion of the mixed grass prairie and interacting fully with all biotic and abiotic resources of the ecosystem, including park visitors.”
Wes brings a wealth of experience to his position at the park in which he began to work in 2008. After graduating from Lethbridge Community College in 1975 with a diploma in Conservation Enforcement, he worked in the Yukon, Banff, and Waterton Lakes before taking on the job as bison manager at Elk Island National Park (just east of Edmonton). He worked there for 24 years and supervised the transfer of 60 calves and 11 yearling heifers to G.N.P. in December, 2005.
Recently Wes has been preoccupied with designing and building a handling system for the herd which currently numbers just under 200 head. Part of this process involves training the bison to use the system. Wes is a proponent of low stress, humane handling techniques. For example, to familiarize the bison with the new facility, he will feed and water them there. Females wear radio collars to enable researchers to locate the herd and to track / analyse their movement. Using alfalfa cubes as a lure and Saskatchewan winter as motivation, the entire herd comes to him at a run from ¾ mile away, the moment they spot his truck. We want that job!
Wes’s vision for the park encompasses a complex suite of inter-reactions that he is just beginning to get a handle on. This is the topic he will present at the Y.F.B.T.A. meeting in Theodore in April. - Photo Courtesy Wes Olson
