Categories: Connect

By Stefan Ekernas, PhD, Director of Colorado Field Conservation 

Bison are our national mammal for a reason. They are icons of the American West, symbols of strength, resilience, sacred connections between people and animals, and the power of conservation. The US government used market hunting of bison as an economic tool to drive Native Americans off the Great Plains in the 1800s, for the benefit of European descendants to settle frontier lands, including Denver. The intended outcomes were broken Indigenous communities and domesticated landscapes.  

This effort was only partly successful. Grassland landscapes were ravaged, especially tall grass and mixed grass prairies, but large swaths of rain-deprived shortgrass prairies remain unplowed to this day. Degraded and fragmented, yes, but not destroyed. Bison made a remarkable recovery, from about 1,000 animals in 1889 to nearly 400,000 today. Still a mere 0.1% shadow of their former abundance, but enough to blacken landscapes with fur in some special places, if you know where to look. Resilient Indigenous communities and cultures persisted too, while simultaneously being marginalized, actively persecuted well into the second half of the 20th century, and often forgotten. But still here. And like buffalo, even thriving in some special places, if you know where to look. 

I often get asked whether the correct name for this animal is bison or buffalo. Within scientific taxonomy, there is only one correct answer: American bison are bison, and buffalo are something else entirely, encompassing different genera within the subtribe Bubalina that includes Africa’s Cape buffalo as well as Asia’s wild and domesticated buffalo. But ask Leroy Little Bear, a Blackfoot Confederacy member, who among other accolades founded the Native American Program at Harvard, and he will tell you that they are buffalo and part of his nuclear family. So let me ask you: have you ever met anyone who doesn’t know the correct name of their own brother? Who has greater legitimacy in giving name to a life, the taxonomist or the family member? 

Both are right. Scientifically they are bison, and socio-culturally they are buffalo. The lesson I take is that by blending Western and indigenous knowledge, we gain a more holistic understanding of bison and their relationships to animals and people. 

Bison are integral to both prairies and the Indigenous cultures who have long called them home. Remove bison, and both will be less than whole. Restore bison, and a process of rejuvenation begins, in a One Health approach that balances human, animal and environmental health. The end result will not be a return to the way the prairie and its people used to be; in fact, there will be no end, only evolution. And we can give name to that evolution, and its name is healing. 

Denver Zoo began work on bison conservation more than 100 years ago. We obtained bison from Yellowstone in the early 1900s, bred and cared for them, and then reintroduced these animals to Genesee Park in 1914, in partnership with City of Denver’s then-newly-formed Denver Mountain Parks. The bison you see today along I-70 at Genesee Park and further south at Daniels Park are descendants of those animals, and inside a Genesee barn you can still see the crates in which the 1914 animals were transported. Back then, we thought that was enough. Bison were safe from extinction; the American Bison Society dissolved itself in 1935, considering its mission completed, and after 1914, Denver Zoo stopped bison field conservation work for 98 years.  

In 2012 we picked the torch back up, entering a ground-breaking collaboration as a founding partner at Rio Mora National Wildlife Refuge in northern New Mexico. There, Denver Zoo helped devote federal conservation land to reintroducing tribally-owned and -managed bison. A few years later we came full circle, expanding our bison conservation work to partner once again with Denver Mountain Parks. 

In March of 2022, that partnership achieved a new high. For 50 years, Denver Mountain Parks had been auctioning excess bison calves at Genesee and Daniels Parks to manage the herds. Early last year, I and others at Denver Zoo began conversations with Denver City officials about donating excess bison to Native tribes rather than auctioning them off. To the enormous credit of Denver Mountain Parks, Denver Parks and Recreation, Mayor Hancock’s administration and others, the City immediately picked up that idea and ran with it. 2022 was the first year without an auction. Instead, 33 buffalo were returned to Native tribes for reparations. Elders and students from American Indian Academy of Denver held prayer ceremonies for the buffalo to bless the animals and pass on cultural knowledge to the next generation. Denver Zoo sponsored the Denver March Powwow, which the bison donation was timed to coincide with. And on March 21st, Mayor Hancock, Denver Parks and Recreation leaders, tribal governments, buffalo managers, Native elders and students offered speeches, prayers, and songs while buffalo were loaded onto trailers to be transported to tribal conservation herds in Wyoming and Oklahoma.   

In the middle of the ceremony, Jason Baldes – who is Eastern Shoshone and picked up the buffalo for reintroduction to Northern Arapaho’s herd on Wind River Reservation – turned to me and said, “This is exactly how it ought to be done.” And what specifically is the “it” that Jason referred to?  

Buffalo healing. 

In celebration of Women’s History Month, and International Women’s Day (March 8), we wanted to share a unique experience Denver Zoo offers to female conservationists around the globe.

Women are an untapped resource for conservation. As the primary users of natural resources around the world, they are full of vital knowledge about wildlife and the environment and capable of driving change within their own communities. However, on a global scale and in the field of conservation, women’s roles are marginalized and underrepresented.

Untapped is a project that looks to give women the tools they need to gain knowledge, have a voice and feel empowered to become active leaders in wildlife conservation.

In 2020, Denver Zoo received a generous donation from the Del Mar Global Trust to support our Untapped program. That year, we were honored to award the Tap Into Change Scholarship to Rethabile Setlalekgomo, a Motswana Master student (note: Motswana is the adjective used to describe a person from Botswana). Retahbile is training to become a field ecologist- one of the first females in Botswana to do so.

In the planning stages of her study, Rethabile discovered an abundance of data on spotted hyena which lead her to her project focus: estimating habitat-specific densities of spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta) in Northern Botswana using camera traps and acoustic recorders.

The study centers on testing and developing novel methods of surveying spotted hyenas through passive acoustic monitoring devices. This research provides density estimates throughout the reserve, which can be extrapolated across the Okavango Delta. Previous studies have relied heavily on camera trapping for population monitoring, but the use of passive acoustic recorders is growing. These techniques are mostly used in isolation and are rarely combined.

In addition to her study, and with the support of an assistant, Rethabile was also able to start a “Women in Conservation” club in Khwai village. Khwai village is dominated by the bushmen community. Rethabile held workshops with the community members (mostly women and young girls) to discuss careers in conservation and sustainable utilization of natural resources found in and around Khwai village. On days where Rethabile was not the main speaker, community members allowed her a glimpse into their cultural activities such as grass cutting for thatching houses, harvesting wild fruits and vegetables, how to hunt using a spear (no animal was killed) and weaving beautiful baskets and jewelry using dried reeds.

Rethabile used the funds she was awarded for her field supplies, to support her community engagement work and was able to leverage additional funding to hire her female field assistant! Additionally, Rethabile purchased 5-liters of much-deserved ice cream to indulge herself after long hot field days.

When asked about her Untapped opportunity, Rethabile exclaimed, “the funds provided by Denver Zoo and the Del Mar Global Trust REALLY made fieldwork more fun, easy and quick. Much appreciated and wishing you many more years of supporting women. KE A LEBOGA”! *

The 2021 Tap into Change scholarship was awarded in December to two highly deserving women:  Jhusely Navarro and Onon Baatarkhuu. Jhusely is an early career conservationist and environmental educator working to conserve endangered species in Peru. She will apply the scholarship funds to pursue an advanced degree focusing on women and development. Onon is a former wildlife researcher and currently a school teacher in Mongolia, who will use the funds for an Eco-club for her students.  Congratulations to these very deserving recipients from 2021!

Thank you, Del Mar Global Trust, and to all of our donors who support the Denver Zoo’s conservation efforts. Your investment is empowering female conservationists around the world.  If you’d like to learn more about the Untapped program, or apply for our scholarship, visit our field conservation page.

*Ke a leboga means “thank you” in the Setswana language.

Denver, CO (March 8, 2022) – A bill in the Colorado State Legislature proposing funding for wildlife road crossing projects across the state was introduced today in the Senate. The bill, Senate Bill 22-151  Safe Crossings for Colorado Wildlife and Motorists, was introduced by Senators Jessie Danielson (D-SD20) and Tammy Story (D-SD16) and Reps. Julie McCluskie (D-HD61) and Perry Will (R-HD57) and has support from diverse stakeholders including sportsmen and sportswomen, land and wildlife conservation organizations, and other community leaders. The bill would create a “Colorado Wildlife Safe Passages Mitigation Fund,” (Fund) which would allocate $25 million for wildlife crossing projects on stretches of roads and highways with high rates of wildlife-vehicle collisions (WVCs) or where the ability of wildlife to move across the landscape has been hampered by high traffic volumes. 

WVCs are a significant issue in Colorado, costing not only money, but also the lives of people and wildlife. Colorado law enforcement reports an annual average of nearly 4,000 WVCs, though it is estimated that a more accurate figure is 14,100 when unrecorded collisions are considered. WVCs have tragic consequences, including hundreds of human injuries and some fatalities, the death of thousands of animals, and an annual cost of approximately $80 million in property damage, emergency response, medical treatments, and other costs. This figure does not include the value of lost wildlife-likely $24 million-or the impact on the health of wildlife populations.

The Fund would help advance projects identified in the Colorado’s Department of Transportation (CDOT) 10-year pipeline of 25 projects with wildlife infrastructure components, as well as projects identified by the Colorado Wildlife and Transportation Alliance, state agencies, and county or Tribal governments. It would also provide a much-needed source of matching funds to leverage federal grants under the new wildlife crossing program-$350 million over five years-that was established in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The fund would also assist with private land conservation efforts adjacent to crossing projects to ensure their effectiveness is not diminished by future land use or development.

Colorado is a leader in the West when it comes to wildlife crossing solutions, with 64 bridges, culverts – or tunnels – and fencing to exclude animals from roadways and guide them to safe crossings. Time has shown that these crossings are highly effective. For example, in 2015-16, Colorado’s first two wildlife overpasses, five wildlife underpasses, 10.3 miles of wildlife exclusion fencing on both sides of the highway, and other mitigation features were constructed on State Highway 9 between Kremmling and Green Mountain Reservoir. These investments resulted in a 92% reduction in crashes with wildlife reported to law enforcement and a 90% reduction in carcasses. Yet more needs to be done. Even with the state’s significant investment in wildlife crossing infrastructure to date, Colorado Parks & Wildlife estimates that more Western Slope mule deer does are killed each year in WVCs than from the annual hunter harvest. Wildlife losses from vehicle collisions harm wildlife populations, the state’s $62.5 billion outdoor recreation economy, and the outfitter and hunting communities.  

Because so many Coloradans are impacted by WVCs, there is broad bipartisan support for wildlife crossings from voters across the state. In fact, a recent poll found that 73% of voters in Colorado and New Mexico supported wildlife crossing solutions, including building overpasses on highways. Advocates of this bill give substantial credit to Governor Jared Polis for his 2019 Conserving Colorado’s Big Game Winter Range and Migration Corridors executive order that has helped focus state agencies and resources on protecting habitat for wildlife movement. The concept for creating the Fund was referenced in a 2021 joint policy report issued by the Department of Natural Resources and CDOT that was set in motion by the Governor’s executive order.

Diverse interests, including hunting and fishing organizations, Tribal representatives, wildlife advocates, and local jurisdictions are hopeful that the Colorado State Legislature will pass the Safe Crossings for Colorado Wildlife and Motorists into law this session, moving forward a true win-win initiative to make Colorado’s roads safer for people and wildlife.

In December 2021, Luis Castillo, Denver Zoo’s project coordinator in Peru, won the most important conservation award in his country, the Carlos Ponce del Prado 2021 Award (CPPA) in the Outstanding Young Conservationist category. This award is promoted by Conservation International, the Andes Amazon Fund and the National Fund for Natural Areas Protected by the Government with the support of the Ministry of the Environment and the National Service of Natural Protected Areas. Each year, the CPPA recognizes leaders who inspire us in the path of conservation and who have risen to address challenges to conserve the biodiversity of Peru.     Luis was born in Lima, Peru and graduated as a biologist from the University of San Marcos. His entire professional career has been dedicated to studying and conserving endangered endemic species of frogs in the regions of Junin and Pasco, in the central Andes of Peru. In 2017, as a graduate student, he did research, funded by the Denver Zoo, on the habitat preference of Lake Junin giant frog’s (Telmatobius macrostomus) tadpoles, which enabled him to complete his bachelor’s thesis and his first publication about these little-studied amphibians which are found only in streams and lakes over 13,000 feet above sea level.

Luis (right) conducting his research in Lake Junin

As if his graduate studies weren’t keeping him busy enough, Luis also co-found a non-profit organization called Grupo RANA, with the aim of conserving these and other native species in Lima, Junín and Pasco, Peru. Since its creation in 2017, Grupo RANA has been carrying out environmental education projects with children from local schools, where the conservation of the environment is encouraged with an emphasis on aquatic amphibians. A year later he became a National Geographic young explorer, which included grant funds to advance scientific understanding of the presence and distribution of these species of endangered frogs in the Lake Junin watershed.   

In 2018, Luis became a member of the Denver Zoo team as project coordinator for our Peru Program. True to his passion and studies, his work remains focused on these frogs.  Luis is in charge of all Denver Zoo-led the conservation activities in Junín and Pasco. He serves as Denver Zoo’s on-the-ground liaison to government institutions and communities in Peru, at local and regional levels, in order to carry out the conservation strategy developed in 2013, with help of IUCN and led by Junin National Reserve, US Peace Corps and Denver Zoo.  

Last year, Denver Zoo initiated a community-based monitoring and habitat protection project- called the Frog Guardians of Lake Junin- which aims to empower local communities to conserve their own natural resources, with an emphasis on aquatic amphibians of the high Andes. In addition to leading that effort, Luis is collaborating with local partners to advance Denver Zoo’s efforts to conserve Chilean flamingos (Phoenicopterus chilensis) in Lake Junin. He has participated in population monitoring, helped establish flamingo conservation priorities for Denver Zoo and our partners, and organized community celebrations for International Flamingo Day. 

They’re so small you’d never notice they were there, but with the help of the St. Vrain Valley School District Innovation Center, Denver Zoo, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, and Ocean First Institute and other local partners, the Northern redbelly dace is finally being reintroduced in Northern Colorado. More than a hundred people came to Pella Crossing in late August to celebrate the release, which was years in the making. 

Saving the Northern Redbelly Dace  

Northern Redbelly Dace (NRD) are a type of minnow that can be found in many areas of North America. In Colorado, there is only one remaining wild population, found south of Denver. There are several threats leading to the population decline of this fish; but the largest are predators that are non-native to CO, and human-involved habitat alteration. After the 2013 floods along the Front Range, many aquatic habitats were destroyed, and species like the NRD had no place to call home. As a result, Colorado Parks and Wildlife listed the NRD as a “Tier 1: Species of Greatest Conservation Need” in 2015.  

 With support from the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Native Aquatic Species Restoration Facility in Alamosa, students from the Innovation Center in Longmont began hatching and raising fish in their classroom. Not only did they need to successfully hatch the fish, but raise them to maturity, so they’d survive in their new habitat in Webster Pond.  Pella Crossing is a popular fishing area in Longmont with many different ponds. After the floods, there was a significant amount of silt that had settled in Webster Pond. When Boulder Open Space and Colorado Parks and Wildlife looked at dredging Webster Pond, they decided to keep the pond shallow, to create a natural wetland habitat suitable for the Northern Redbelly Dace. To create an even better NRD habitat, local volunteers planted native vegetation, and a fishing ban for Webster Pond was passed. Once the habitat was suitable, Webster Pond was ready for fish! 

Looking Ahead 

 These little fish will make a big splash in protecting many other species in the area. The goal is to establish a healthy, biodiverse environment. Data collected at Webster Pond will determine potential releases at other sites. To do that, we need to know that the fish are thriving in Webster Pond. To help monitor their progress, Denver Zoo educators James Garcia and Conor Kirby secured a conservation grant for robotics students at the Innovation Center. The funds secured from the Denver Zoo conservation department for the NRD project will be used for post-release monitoring of the species in Webster Pond, including artificial intelligence technology to identify the fish underwater using GoPro video cameras. Water quality testing will be ongoing to ensure that these little fish will thrive in their new wild habitat.   

 This isn’t the first time Denver Zoo has partnered with the Innovation Center students. In 2015 middle and high school students from the Innovation center built an underwater ROV to collect data for the Lake Titicaca Frog project in Peru.  We’re proud to partner once again to support innovative technologies that will help save species right here in Colorado.