{"id":42432,"date":"2022-01-29T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-01-29T19:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/what-role-can-bison-play-in-the-future-of-sustainable-ranching\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:07:30","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:07:30","slug":"what-role-can-bison-play-in-the-future-of-sustainable-ranching","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/what-role-can-bison-play-in-the-future-of-sustainable-ranching\/","title":{"rendered":"What role can bison play in the future of sustainable ranching?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Sarah
Sarah Gleason, owner of Gleason Bison, watches her herd at her Hesperus ranch on Thursday. Gleason has 50 head of bison she uses as ecological tools to restore the landscape while also producing food. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

HESPERUS \u2013 Sarah Gleason, 37, shakes a bucket of alfalfa cubes from the flatbed of her Dodge Ram pickup truck as the setting sun turns the Southwest Colorado sky a golden orange.<\/p>\n

\u201cCome bows!\u201d she yells, trying to entice her head of 50 bison to leave the comfort of their hillside and venture to the truck for the treats.<\/p>\n

After a few minutes and a short trip into the field, a bison walks through a split in the bushes and trees that line the gully between the hillside and the truck. Its head is hulking and a deep brown.<\/p>\n

Others appear behind it, and soon about a dozen bison surround the truck using their deep purple tongues to pick up the alfalfa. The animals jostle for the cubes, emptying a 50-pound bag before quickly disappearing back into the hillside where they dissolve into brown lumps.<\/p>\n

\"Bison
Bison roamed across North America\u2019s grasslands for centuries. Historically, they sustained grasslands with many of their behaviors, which research increasingly shows are critical for combating climate change. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Gleason started Gleason Bison two years ago after a career shift from public relations and marketing and a return to the Durango area. Her operation has grown from a few pregnant bison to about 100 animals during its annual peak for meat production.<\/p>\n

Through her work, Gleason aims to highlight the environmental benefits of grass-fed bison ranching and the role that holistic management can play in tackling environmental issues such as climate change, all while helping the Durango community and inspiring a new crowd of young people to pursue ranching.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis landscape evolved with a relationship with ruminant animals,\u201d she said. \u201cTo think that by not raising them or not managing them that\u2019s going to solve our climate change problems, we\u2019re missing the whole puzzle of how a healthy ecosystem works. A healthy ecosystem works in relationship with grazing animals.\u201d<\/p>\n

The start of Gleason Bison<\/strong><\/div>\n

\"Sarah
Sarah Gleason\u2019s bison urinate and defecate as they walk around her Hesperus ranch. As bison rake the ground with their hooves for food, they incorporate that fertilizer into the soil, which helps to restore grasslands. A study by researchers at the University of California, Davis found that grasslands store carbon more reliably than forests since forests are prone to wildfires. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cThere were probably signs that this was where my life was leading me, but I was an athlete in college,\u201d Gleason said.<\/p>\n

Growing up in Colorado Springs, Gleason swam and her life revolved around sports.<\/p>\n

Her family had no agricultural experience, but she was always attracted to ranching and farming, envisioning herself wrangling wild horses as a child.<\/p>\n

After college, Gleason eventually found her way to Durango, where she worked in marketing and public relations for Zuke\u2019s Pet Nutrition for two years.<\/p>\n

Gleason moved to Lexington, Kentucky, with her future husband, Mike, but after stints with Whole Foods and the Savory Institute, a holistic management nonprofit working to regenerate the world\u2019s grasslands, she decided to start a bison ranch and they moved back to Durango in 2019.<\/p>\n

\"Gleason
Gleason Bison is one of about four bison ranches in the country to receive the Savory Institute\u2019s Ecological Outcome Verification designation, which allows producers to market their products with a Land to Market label. The EOV program uses data from a series of measurements, including wind and water erosion and dung decomposition, to measure if ranchers are improving and \u201cregenerating\u201d the land through their work. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The previous eight years, Gleason had shadowed ranchers with the National Bison Association while working full time to learn what it took to manage bison. It was while visiting operations and learning from producers around the country that Gleason confirmed she wanted to start her own ranch.<\/p>\n

\u201cI worked this really hard, freezing cold round up in Walden, Colorado, outside of Steamboat,\u201d she said. \u201cBison round up is not romantic (like) people think it is. It\u2019s cold, it\u2019s hard, it\u2019s loud because they\u2019re slamming into steel gates and the squeeze shoot is going. I was cold and tired and hungry, and it was kind of sad. And I felt like: \u2018This is it. This is what I want to do.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Gleason connected with Tom and Penni Compton of Compton Cattle Co., who agreed to lease her an about 900-acre ranch in Hesperus, and she bought her first 15 pregnant animals from 777 Bison Ranch in Rapid City, South Dakota.<\/p>\n

Holistic management and regenerative agriculture<\/strong><\/div>\n

Since the inception of Gleason Bison, Gleason has practiced holistic management and regenerative agriculture.<\/p>\n

The two terms are buzzwords representing a more environmentally friendly type of agriculture.<\/p>\n

They are a carryover from Gleason\u2019s time at the Savory Institute, but they have real-world implications. Both guide Gleason\u2019s management of the land and her bison herd.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Holistic management) is actually a decision-making framework,\u201d she said. \u201c\u2026 It\u2019s a whole process of planning our moves, then monitoring what\u2019s going on, and then re-planning according to how fast pastures are recovering or what\u2019s happening with the animals.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Sarah
Sarah Gleason, owner of Gleason Bison, pets Petunia, a bison she bottle feed for six months after her mother rejected her. Bison usually require less care than cattle. Gleason does not have to artificially inseminate her herd or intervene when they are giving birth. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Gleason moves her bison between 11 different pastures as they feed on grasses, keeping a close eye on the forage available in each pasture and the recovery time of the grasses in each field after grazing.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy goal in how I manage them and move them is to mimic nature in a way that creates healthy soil because at the end of the day, it starts with soil,\u201d she said. \u201cHealthy soil (creates) healthy grasslands, healthy plant life, healthy animals and then healthy people.\u201d<\/p>\n

To ensure that her operation is not only sustaining, but improving the environment, Gleason joined the Savory Institute\u2019s Ecological Outcome Verification program.<\/p>\n

The program uses data from a series of measurements, including wind and water erosion and dung decomposition, to measure if ranchers are improving and \u201cregenerating\u201d the land through their work.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of us are starting to recognize that the vast majority of ecosystems and the vast majority of grasslands around the world have been impacted by human management negatively,\u201d said Kelsey Kerston, Ecological Outcome Verification program lead. \u201c\u2026 Sustaining a damaged ecosystem isn\u2019t really ideal, so (regenerative agriculture) shifts the conversation to how do we rebuild ecosystems that have been damaged?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Sarah
Sarah Gleason, owner of Gleason Bison, uses holistic management and regenerative agriculture to improve the land of her roughly 900-acre ranch near Hesperus. \u201cMy goal in how I manage them and move them is to mimic nature in a way that creates healthy soil because at the end of the day, it starts with soil,\u201d she said. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cIt\u2019s not maintaining a lackluster status quo, it\u2019s acknowledging that there\u2019s better management strategies to rebuild these broken systems,\u201d Kerston said.<\/p>\n

Rather than promoting prescriptive ranching practices, the Savory Institute\u2019s EOV program allows ranchers like Gleason to use their own management practices.<\/p>\n

Trained and accredited monitors visit Gleason\u2019s operation annually to collect data from 10 short-term sites across the ranch. Every five years, they do more extensive monitoring at three long-term study sites.<\/p>\n

Gleason uses that data to confirm that her management practices are benefiting soil health, biodiversity and natural ecosystem functions like the water cycle. If the metrics show her operation isn\u2019t improving the environment, she can then change her practices.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt makes me a better land manager,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Some important measurements like soil carbon will take years to track, especially since the Comptons\u2019 practiced holistic management as well. Others, Gleason has already seen a difference in two years.<\/p>\n

A ditch runs through one of the paddocks on the south side of the ranch. Bison, which can jump up to 6 feet high, according to the National Wildlife Federation, constantly jump over the ditch.<\/p>\n

The impact of their hooves has compacted and flattened out parts of the ditch, reducing erosion. Parts of the ranch have also seen significantly more perennial grasses establishing themselves, Gleason said.<\/p>\n

Gleason Bison is one of about four bison operations in the country to receive the Savory Institute\u2019s EOV designation, which allows producers to market their products with a Land to Market label.<\/p>\n

According to Dave Carter, executive director of the National Bison Association, regenerative agriculture and holistic management allow producers to combine environmentalism and ranching.<\/p>\n

\"Sarah
Sarah Gleason spent eight years shadowing ranchers and visiting operations with the National Bison Association to learn what it took to manage bison. A difficult bison round up in Walden confirmed for Gleason that she wanted to start her own ranch. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cSarah is an outstanding example of someone who is embracing and utilizing holistic management and regenerative practices to restore soil health and capture carbon, but also produce a delicious meat for the marketplace,\u201d Carter said.<\/p>\n

Bison as climate tools<\/strong><\/div>\n

Some scientists and companies are planning increasingly complex technologies like carbon capture or even geoengineering, which would deliberately alter the Earth\u2019s natural processes, to tackle climate change.<\/p>\n

Gleason and other bison ranchers have a different vision.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bison are a tool to create healthy soils and (a) healthy ecosystem out here,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Bison roamed across North America\u2019s grasslands for centuries. Historically, they sustained grasslands with many of their behaviors.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Bison) had a pretty significant impact on the soil surface and the vegetation, not just by eating but also by raking or stepping on the soil,\u201d said Chris Pague, senior conservation ecologist with The Nature Conservancy who has worked extensively with bison.<\/p>\n

As bison rake and impact the soil, they incorporate their urine and dung. That work builds the organic matter, creating a healthier soil and better environment for grasses to regrow.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are in an ecosystem in the West, and along the Great Plains that evolved in concert with the bison,\u201d Carter said. \u201cThe grasses need the bison or grazers just as much as the grazers need the grass.\u201d<\/p>\n

But just as bison have disappeared from much of the continent, so have grasslands. According to the Audubon Society, 550 million acres of grassland once covered North America, but now less than 40% of that remains.<\/p>\n

Grasslands play a critical role in mitigating climate change.<\/p>\n

\u201cGrasses are incredibly efficient in capturing carbon and sequestering it in the soil,\u201d Carter said. \u201cI like to call the grasslands \u2018North America\u2019s rainforest.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

While a lot of attention has been paid to forests as carbon sinks, which store more carbon than they release, research suggests that grasslands rival forests.<\/p>\n

\"Plants
Plants in arid environments often oxidize rather than decay. Bison help in that process by eating grasses and other plants and translating them into fertilizer in their rumen, a compartment of a bison\u2019s stomach, which builds healthy soils. By building healthier soils, bison can help restore grasslands that remove carbon from the atmosphere and mitigate climate change. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

A study by researchers at the University of California, Davis found that grasslands store carbon more reliably than forests since forests are prone to wildfires, which release carbon and contribute to climate change.<\/p>\n

In contrast, when grasslands burn, the carbon stays fixed in roots and the soil.<\/p>\n

A special report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the leading scientific body on climate change, found that carbon sequestration by grasslands and croplands represents one of the best chances to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe soils that we\u2019ve degraded over the years can contribute a great deal to sequestering some carbon,\u201d Pague said.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s where bison come in.<\/p>\n

By building healthier soils, bison can help restore grasslands that remove carbon from the atmosphere and store it in the ground.<\/p>\n

In the drier climate of Southwest Colorado, the benefits are even more pronounced.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlants that are out here won\u2019t decay, they\u2019ll just oxidize,\u201d Gleason said. \u201cThere\u2019s not enough moisture in the atmosphere to decay those plants by themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oxidized plants never add their nutrients back into the soil, which starves the soil and can lead to a process called desertification, which turns grasslands into deserts.<\/p>\n

Bison bridge that gap.<\/p>\n

\"Sarah
Sarah Gleason, owner of Gleason Bison, aims to both produce food for the Durango community and inspire a new generation of bison ranchers. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cThey harvest that excess and they run it through their rumen (part of a bison\u2019s stomach), where moisture helps decay it,\u201d Carter said. \u201cIt comes out the other end as fertilizer, as nutrients for the soil. If it\u2019s done properly, the bison help those grasslands take that carbon out of the atmosphere and put it down into the soil and lock it away.\u201d<\/p>\n

Helping Durango and inspiring a new generation of ranchers<\/strong><\/div>\n

While Gleason planned her bison ranch for years, her meat business is in its infancy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m only in year two of operating the meat business,\u201d she said. \u201cItt\u2019s still a learning process.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gleason\u2019s goal is to produce nutritious food for Durango by caring for the environment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think our community is amazing,\u201d she said. \u201cI want to provide the healthiest, best protein I possibly can to help feed my family, my friends (and) my community.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not trying to make a million dollars. I\u2019m just trying to make a living off of raising animals the right way and having a positive effect on the environment,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

This dual purpose of environmental stewardship and food production is not unique to Gleason\u2019s bison ranch; other ranches around Durango like James Ranch employ the same principles.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s a model that Gleason hopes will inspire a new generation to pursue ranching.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope that especially the young people that come out think that ranching is attractive,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, we have this aging population of our farmers and ranchers, and we have this narrative (that) being a farmer and rancher is you work 24\/7, you\u2019re broke your whole life, and you have no quality of life,\u201d she said. \u201c\u2026 Some of that is true. I\u2019ve never worked harder in my life. A lot of it is super stressful, and a lot of it is really hard. But man, the benefit and the value and the beauty that you get to see and feel is unmatched.\u201d<\/p>\n

By sharing her own story, Gleason wants to show that anyone with a passion for the environment and their community can pursue ranching and make a difference.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes, my ranching friends tease me,\u201d she said. \u201cI was an athlete (and) my husband and I both worked in the outdoor industry and are big skiers and mountain bikers. They\u2019re like, \u2018How\u2019d you get into ranching?\u2019 It\u2019s not a very big jump, right? I love the outdoors, I\u2019m concerned about climate change. And now I am a steward of this big tract of land.\u201d<\/p>\n

ahannon@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

A previous version of this article stated that ranchers who receive the Savory Institute\u2019s Ecological Outcome Verification designation can market their products with an EOV label<\/em>. It has been corrected to reflect that ranchers with the designation can market their products with a Land to Market label.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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