Bison were at one time found throughout Colorado, with the exception of the San Juan Mountains and the Uncompahgre Plateau. They inhabited eastern prairies, mountain parks, western valleys, piñon-juniper woodlands, arid shrublands and even alpine tundra. In a now-familiar story, the millions of bison covering the western plains were slaughtered for sport, for meat and hides, and as a strategy for destroying the economic base of Plains Indian culture. By the late 1880s, buffalo had largely disappeared from the West. The last wild bison in Colorado was killed sometime between 1897 and 1904 (accounts vary). Today the buffalo is gone from the wild—even semi-free-roaming herds in Yellowstone and other areas are managed and kept within certain boundaries—but it is making a return of sorts as a ranched animal. Declared livestock in 1975, bison are increasingly popular as a healthy, low-fat alternative to beef.

While the commercial ranching of bison may seem an undignified fate for these magnificent symbols, it offers a future for buffalo in the West. About 16,000-20,000 bison inhabit public lands, compared to some 200,000 in private herds, says Sam Albrecht of the National Bison Association. Colorado is a leading state for bison ranching. More than 100 Colorado ranches presently manage upwards of 15,000 buffalo. Though wrangled like domestic livestock, bison are still wild animals, cautions Rusty Seedig of the Denver Buffalo Company. "They still portray wild behaviors that people find very interesting," he says. "We have no desire to tame or genetically modify these animals. Their wild nature is what makes them so beneficial to the land by improving the range." He cites a bison ranch near Kiowa where an ungrazed pasture on one side of the road is densely overgrown with yucca. In the pasture across the road, grazing bison have torn out the yucca and promoted the growth of nutritious grasses. "The animals manage themselves," says Seedig. "They migrate as they eat so they don't graze the grass down to dust."

The buffalo still has a powerful hold on the public imagination, and the desire to see these relics of the Old West is growing. The Terry Ranch, 41 square miles spread across the Colorado/Wyoming border north of Fort Collins, has made a business of bison viewing. Horse-drawn wagon rides to see the 2,000-head herd attract visitors from around the world. "The public response to seeing bison is tremendous," says owner Dan Thiel. "The buffalo is the true American hero, a symbol of freedom and strength. People look at the buffalo as a survivor."

Bison can be seen on ranches throughout the state but viewers must respect private property and stay on public roads unless otherwise given permission to enter private land. Always remain in a vehicle around bison, which appear docile but can move very quickly and may suddenly charge humans, horses and even vehicles.

Evidence in fossil records indicates that horses evolved in North America, drifting gradually into Asia over the Bering land bridge. About 10,000 years ago, horses died out in North America, perhaps due to climate and habitat changes or overhunting by Stone Age hunters. In 1519, horses returned to the New World with Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes on his expedition to conquer Mexico. Mexican settlers brought horses to the Southwest. Trading, theft by native peoples, and escapes of individual animals fueled the diaspora of the horse north through the western part of the continent. Horses became established as free-roaming, feral populations; at one time more than one million wild horses may have galloped across the western range.

— Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act

A public outcry against the slaughter of wild horses for pet food, spearheaded in the 1950s and 1960s by Velma Johnston, who came to be known as Wild Horse Annie, led to passage of the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act in 1971. It protects the animals from capture and killing and places them under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Today about 40,000 wild horses roam primarily on public land in Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, California, Arizona and New Mexico.

In Colorado, BLM oversees four wild horse Herd Management Areas—Piceance Basin west of Meeker; Little Book Cliffs northeast of Grand Junction; Sandwash Basin northwest of Craig; and Spring Creek southwest of Montrose. Presently about 1,200 wild horses inhabit Colorado, though the appropriate management level established by BLM is 430 animals, according to BLM range specialist Johnny Riel. There are no wild burros in Colorado. Balancing wild horses, wildlife and domestic livestock on limited public rangeland is a challenge. Wild horses feed on native grasses and shrubs like winterfat and black sage. The semi-desert shrublands they inhabit offer insufficient forage to maintain large numbers of these animals. Thus the BLM launches periodic "gathers," rounding up wild horses and making them available for adoption.

Wild horse bands are defended by a stallion that gathers breeding mares into a harem. Stallions spend much of their time fighting off other males that try to lead off the mares. Kicking, challenging and chasing occasionally end with the classic rearing-stallion battles familiar from movies and literature. The herd, consisting of mares and their foals, is led on its daily circuit of waterholes and grazing pastures by a dominant lead mare. Young stallions chased from the herd by the dominant male gather into bachelor herds.

Wild horses are quite skittish and not easily approached. Viewers should use binoculars for up-close viewing.

Next: Tips on Viewing Wild Horses and Bison