Genetically pure bison to return to NoCo prairie
A herd of bison will be released to roam the Northern Colorado plains next month in the culmination of a six-year effort to return home a species once hunted to the brink of extinction.
The 10 genetically pure bison, born with the help of assistive reproductive technology, will move to their new home in Fort Collins’ Soapstone Prairie Natural Area and Larimer County’s Red Mountain Open Space near the Colorado-Wyoming border on Nov. 1 – National Bison Day.
The bison are currently bunking at Colorado State University’s Foothills Campus, which will host a free celebration with family-friendly activities, remarks and project presentations 10 a.m. to noon on the release day. Visitors can get a close look at bison during the celebration, although they won't be the bison being released that day.
It’s a historic day in part because it took so much to get here. Centuries ago, North America was home to at least 30 million bison, but by the 1880s, poaching and pioneering reduced the once mighty species to about 325 in the United States. Conservation efforts led to recovery, with about 500,000 bison roaming the U.S. and Canada today, according to the National Bison Association.
But many bison have been interbred with cattle, so genetically pure bison are rare. The largest genetically pure herd is in Yellowstone National Park with 3,500 bison.
These bison, though, carry brucellosis, a contagious disease that causes bison to abort calves and cattle to abort if it spreads to them and can impact humans. So CSU researchers teamed up with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to use genes from quarantined Yellowstone bison to create disease-free, genetically pure bison.
The team, led by bison reproduction program director Jennifer Barfield, employed tactics such as embryo transfer and artificial insemination to create what’s now called the Laramie Foothills Conservation Herd.
It will serve as a seed herd for future species conservation efforts. A few of the bison are mature females and will give birth to calves in late spring or early summer, said Daylan Figgs, senior environmental planner with the city of Fort Collins.
The herd will be free to wander 800 acres of their species’ native shortgrass prairie, surrounded by a fence specifically constructed to keep the large animals from roaming too far. The prairie where the bison will roam is visible from Soapstone’s entrance road and the recently realigned Cheyenne Rim Trail.
Registration is full for a Nov. 1 afternoon field trip to view the prairie, but you can join the waiting list at naturetracker.fcgov.com. Pateros Creek Brewing Company is also hosting a celebration at 5:30 p.m. Nov. 1, with proceeds from Prairie Thunder Imperial Brown Ale sales supporting the project.
Reporter Jacy Marmaduke covers environment and breaking news for the Coloradoan. Follow her on Twitter at @jacymarmaduke .
How to see the bison
Where: Soapstone Prairie Natural Area, 25 miles north of Fort Collins
How to get there: From Fort Collins, take U.S. Highway 1 (Terry Lake Road) to County Road 15 North. Then turn north on Rawhide Flats Road and continue on that road until you reach the entrance station. You can view the bison from Rawhide Flats Road.
From Interstate 25, take Exit 288 to Buckeye Road and head west to County Road 15 North. Then follow the directions above.
When: Dawn to dusk, March 1 through Nov. 30.