Bison Receive Dual Listing, Bolstering Protections

Gov. Jared Polis signed a bill today designating bison in Colorado as wildlife in addition to livestock, opening the species up to management by Colorado Parks and Wildlife. The “Protect Wild Bison” bill passed the Colorado legislature in April.

“A bison treated as wildlife is a bison treated with the respect and care that it deserves,” said Michael Saul, director of Defenders of Wildlife’s Rockies & Plains program. “This achievement for our herds in Colorado honors our Indigenous communities and their relationship with this revered animal, and once again highlights Colorado’s steadfast commitment to the animals that call our landscapes home. Our national mammal is lucky to now have CPW in its corner.”

Dual listing gives CPW the ability to manage bison as a big game species, working with tribes as well as the federal Bureau of Land Management and agencies from states that border Colorado. Herds along the Colorado-Utah border, for example, could be managed cooperatively between CPW, Utah, the federal Bureau of Land Management, and the Ute Tribes.

Colorado’s bison herds include the Laramie Foothills herd at Soapstone Prairie Natural Area; the Southern Plains Land Trust herd; the federally managed Rocky Mountain Arsenal herd; and bison managed by the Denver Zoo. Regardless of herd or location, CPW may now step in to resolve bison-related fence damage, disease considerations and management of grasslands.

It is crucial for Colorado to manage its own resident bison because the state is part of the species’ historic range. After being slaughtered to fewer than 1,000 animals by the 1880s, American plains bison are considered ecologically extinct. The Bison Conservation Transfer Program, of which Defenders of Wildlife is a founding member, moves healthy Yellowstone bison of high genetic value to native tribes around North America, so they may once again contribute to grassland habitat and be part of tribal traditions.

Defenders of Wildlife testified in support of the “Protect Wild Bison” bill before the Colorado Senate Agricultural and Natural Resources Committee in March.

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