In The NoCo

Bison hold a special place in the American West. An unusual CSU program helps restore their numbers

By In The NoCo,

Published September 1, 2025 at 5:35 AM MDT

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Researchers at Colorado State University have been raising bison herd on the Soapstone Prairie for a decade. They have transferred over 100 bison to Tribal Nations and conservation areas around the West. — Researchers at Colorado State University have been raising bison on the Soapstone Prairie for a decade. They have transferred over 100 bison to Tribal nations and conservation areas around the West.

A small herd of bison roams the Soapstone Prairie north of Fort Collins. The herd offers a glimpse of what Colorado’s high plains looked like 200 years ago.

These bison are unique for a few reasons. First, they’re descendants of the herd at Yellowstone National Park. Second, while most bison today carry some cattle DNA, this herd has nearly pure bison genes. That has spiritual significance for many Indigenous tribes.

The breeding project is based at Colorado State University. It's raised hundreds of bison over the last decade and transferred them to tribes and wildlife organizations.

Jennifer Barfield has led this project for the past 10 years. She’s a professor and reproductive physiologist at CSU. She spoke with Erin O’Toole earlier this year about how her team created the herd, and what their future plans are.

The Colorado State University bison herd at Soapstone Prarie. July 20, 2022

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In The NoCo

KUNC's In The NoCo is a daily slice of stories, news, people and issues. It's a window to the communities along the Colorado Rocky Mountains. The show brings context and insight to the stories of the day, often elevating unheard voices in the process. And because life in Northern Colorado is a balance of work and play, we celebrate the lighter side of things here, too.

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Ariel Lavery

Ariel Lavery grew up in Louisville, Colorado and has returned to the Front Range after spending over 25 years moving around the country. She co-created the podcast Middle of Everywhere for WKMS, Murray State University’s NPR member station, and won Public Media Journalism awards in every season she produced for Middle of Everywhere. Her most recent series project is "The Burn Scar", published with The Modern West podcast. In it, she chronicles two years of her family’s financial and emotional struggle following the loss of her childhood home in the Marshall Fire.

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Erin O'Toole

As the host of KUNC’s news program and podcast In The NoCo, I work closely with our producers and reporters to bring context and diverse perspectives to the important issues of the day. Northern Colorado is such a diverse and growing region, brimming with history, culture, music, education, civic engagement, and amazing outdoor recreation. I love finding the stories and voices that reflect what makes NoCo such an extraordinary place to live.

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Brad Turner

Brad Turner is an executive producer in KUNC's newsroom. He manages the podcast team that makes In The NoCo, which also airs weekdays in Morning Edition and All Things Considered. His work as a podcaster and journalist has appeared on NPR's Weekend Edition, NPR Music, the PBS Newshour, Colorado Public Radio, MTV Online, the Denver Post, Boulder's Daily Camera, and the Longmont Times-Call.

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