Alberta wild bison complete historic 650-km journey to ancestral Montana home

Aconservation herd of 87 wild bison has safely returned to its ancestral home after a 650-kilometre trek that brought them over theCanada-U.S. border.

The transfer of bison from Elk Island National Park near Edmonton to Browning, Mont., is part of an effort to repopulate the bison population in thatarea and reconnect the people there with a part of their culture that has been missing for more than a century.

"What we're seeing todayis,100 years later, the great, great, great-grandchildren of those wild bisonare coming back home," saidMarie-EveMarchand, a coordinator with Wildlife Conservation Society.

• Elk Island bison headed home to Montana's Blackfeet nation

The pure-bredyearlings are descendants of the original bison that once thrived in the plains of Blackfeet territory in Montana,before the animalswere hunted to the brink of extinction in the 19thcentury.

ForLeroy Little Bear of the Blood Tribe, the bison homecoming is a huge step towardcultural preservation.

"Our people will be strengthened by this transfer.It means that our culture, our language, our ceremonies, songs and stories, are going to be renewed and reaffirmed," he said.

"Seeing those buffaloescoming home is a dream unfolding in front of us."

Convoy delayed by loading

The travellers planned to set out at the crack of dawn on Monday, but had difficulty loading the bison into their trailers inElk Island National Park.

Because of the delayedstart,the convoywas in danger of missing the livestock inspection deadline at the U.S. border.

Because they were two hours behind schedule, the travellers could not stop as plannedin Gleichen, Alta., to be welcomed by aspecial celebration of singing, feasting, chanting, drumming and praying organized by the Siksika Nation.

Instead, SiksikaCoun.Warren Drunkenchiefand anumber of otherSiksikabandmembers raced alongto meet the convoy roughly 90 kilometres awayat the intersection of Highway 36 and the Trans-Canada Highway, where they were able to toss some food and water to those on board.

"You have to honour the buffalo," said Drunkenchief. "That's our lives. That's our shelter, our food, and you want to hold on to that."

'This is their home'

Finally, thanks to border officials kindly extending the hours a bit past their normal closing time, the herd made it to Montana.

"I'm glad that they're back here, because this is their home," said Iyinakyaa Kii of the Piikani First Nation, who is currently living in Browning and working to help restore the Blackfoot language on the Blackfeet Nation in the United States.

Kii had little doubt the herd would soon acclimatize itself to its new, southernsurroundings.

"They're going to adapt here," she said, noting bison are natural roamers. "It's not going to take long for them to do that, from way up north, because they're only yearlings."

"Long ago, they travelled. They didn't just stay in one spot."

With files from The Homestretch.