The Zapata Ranch, an organization in Colorado that is owned by the nature conservancy, is a working ranch that sits on a 103,000 acre property that is home to many bison, cattle and horses.
A guest ranch can also be found within the many acres of Zapata. Many people choose to visit the ranch each year to not only experience a once in a lifetime vacation, but to become educated about bison, an animal that at one time was near extinction.
The goal of Zapata Ranch, as seen on their website, is to provide a habitat that allows bison to live as they did many years ago, “The Zapata Ranch is home to working bison and cattle operations that are managed separately on different areas of the ranch. The bison herd is maintained as a conservation species, roaming freely in a 50,000 acre pasture much as they did for millennia before being hunted to near extinction in the nineteenth century.” – Zapata Ranch.
The ranch has stayed true to their word; the bison are treated as a conservation species which means that they are not branded or given supplemental feed; they live just as they would out in the wild. Zapata currently has an estimated 2,000 bison living on 50,000 acres; nearly half the acreage of the entire property.
Zapata has done a great job of not only conserving the past by keeping the species of bison alive and well, but by promising a better future for these animals.
If you’re interested in visiting Zapata Ranch to learn more about conservation and to take a tour to see their bison, click here.