1 a new environmental intelligence

Holistic Management:A New EnvironmentalIntelligence

A Publication of Holistic Management International

June 2001

“This is a good world. We need not approve of all the items in it,Nor of all the individuals in it ,But the world itself ,Which is more than its parts or individuals,Which has a soul, a spirit, a pull ,A fundamental relation to each of usDeeper than all other relations ,Is a friendly world.”

Jan Christian SmutsHolism and Evolution, 1926

ContentsIntroduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v

Environmental Achievements: Holistic Management Practitioners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vi

Land Restoration: Addressing Habitat Loss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Enhancing Productivity—Gene Goven . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

A Change in Values—The Red Bluff Ranch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Developing Wetlands—Bunker Sands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Healthy Rural Communities: Creating a Strong Resource Base . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Doing the RiGHT Thing—The McNeil Ranch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Of Microsoft and Dung Beetles—The Hansons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Community Building Down Under—Peter Howarth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Truly Sustainable Agriculture: Keeping Agricultural Land in Production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

The Quality of Farming—The Northland Sheep Dairy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Adversity and Creativity—Claude and Annette Smith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Turning Round the Family Farm—George King . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Answers Not Agendas: Beyond Environmental Conflict . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Guaranteed Land Reclamation Specialists—The Tiptons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

We’re Making it Work—West Elk Allotment, Gunnison National Forest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

What the Research Shows: Enhancing Quality of Life, Production, and Landscape . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Holistic Management Gets Results in the Northern Rockies—Cliff Montagne and Charley Orchard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Biodiversity, Agriculture, and Holistic Management—Deborah Stinner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

About Holistic Management International . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

About Holistic Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

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v

hen I first learned about Holistic Management, like manyothers, I thought it was about cows. But as I talked with HolisticManagement practitioners, I soon discovered the myriad waysthat Holistic Management has improved peoples’ lives and landbase, even if they didn’t own any cattle or any land.

I heard from members who used this process to make allkinds of personal decisions to help themselves and theircommunity, but the stories that stuck with me the most werethose that demonstrated the grassroots environmentalrestoration efforts that are the heart of the Holistic Managementmovement.

In a time when environmental issues loom so largely and insuch devastating proportions, these stories gave me hope thatthere were answers out there.People were already finding waysto address the loss of wildlifehabitat, productive agriculturalland, and rural communities;pollution; desertification, globalwarming; and the need for healthyfood production.

I will not inundate you withstatistics that demonstrate theseriousness of the situation. As aperson concerned about ourenvironment, you know what weare up against. The news carriesthe grim details on a daily basis.What is often lacking, however, isthe stories about the everydayheroes and heroines who aredoing something to turn the tide.That is why we are sharing thesestories with you.

These people are not onlyeffectively addressing theseproblems, they are doing it in a way that increases their qualityof life and helps their communities. And the simple andcommon sense approaches they use only add to the beauty of itall.

What underpins all these stories is a passion for the land, a deep belief that we must reverse the degradation we have caused as a species. Their agenda is not conservation,

but restoration in a truly sustainable manner. They know that ifenvironmentalism is divorced from the human need for stable,thriving communities, then such a movement or solution will never succeed or address the root cause of environmentaldegradation.

A new environmental intelligence is called for to help all of us see the bigger picture of how nature works so we can make the decisions necessary to be positivecontributors to the planet’s health whether we live in urban or rural areas. Nature sustains civilization and wemust create a civilization that works with nature, using resource management that mimics nature.

The people in these stories have used Holistic Managementto help them tap their human creativity and the resources in their community toproduce truly astonishing results, especially given the issues they’ve faced. Ialso believe that the number of HolisticManagement practitioners who have wonenvironmental awards for the work they haveaccomplished is an indicator of what ispossible as momentum grows within thismovement.

The stories compiled here are a smallsample of the accomplishments of ourmembership. Choosing which ones toinclude was a challenging task, as eachperson or group has addressed numerousissues in such unique ways. To me, that is the beauty of Holistic Management –people can use this innovative process in amanner that feels right to them. With thatkind of ownership, they can movemountains.

As you read these stories, I hope you areinspired to consider how you might address

the environmental concerns that face your community. I alsohope these stories demonstrate to you that no matter howinsurmountable these problems appear, there is an answer ifpeople are willing to make use of the tools and resourcesavailable to them and keep their minds and hearts open to thepossibilities.

Ann Adams

Introduction

What underpinsall these stories

is a passionfor the land, adeep belief thatwe must reversethe degradationwe have caused

as a species.

W

vi

1989 Jerry & Ann Palen and Joe Foster, Cheyenne, WY—Environmental Protection Agency

Outstanding Environmental Service Award

1989 Butch Ellis, CO—Excellence in Grazing Management Award (Colorado Section of

Society for Range Management)

1989 Alan Kessler, Mayer, AZ—Range Manager of the Year (Arizona Society for

Range Management)

1990 Rollie & Gloria Stab, Ord, NE—Nebraska’s Good Earth Family

(National Soil and Water Conservation Programs)

1991 Frank Hayes, Los Lunas, NM—Conservation Professional of the Year

(New Mexico Wildlife Federation)

1991 The Maddox Family, Colorado City, TX—Renew America’s Searching for Success

Merit Award (Successful Environmental Programs)

1991 Tom Sidwell, Capitan, NM—Outstanding Accomplishments for Resource Conservation

(Goodyear/National Association of Conservation Districts)

1991 Rollie & Gloria Stab, Ord, NE—Renew America’s Searching for Success Merit Award

(Successful Environmental Programs)

1992 Gordon Claassen, Paso Robles, CA—California Farmer/Rancher of the Year

(National Endowment for Soil and Water Conservation)

1992 Gerda Hyde, Chiloquin, OR—Environmental Leadership Award

(Oregon Cattlemen’s Association)

1992 J. Rukin Jelks III, Elgin, AZ—Range Manager of the Year (Arizona Section of the

Society of Range Management)

1992 Bart and Debbie Gillan, Llano, TX—Land Stewardship Award for Excellence in

Wildlife Conservation (Texas Chapter of the Wildlife Society)

1992 Gerda Hyde and family, Chiloquin, OR—Alexander Calder Conservation Award

1992 Frank & Johnny Mestas, Alamosa, CO—Outstanding Conservationists

(Soil Conservation Service)

1992 Jack & Teresa Southworth, Seneca, OR—Conservation Ranch of the Year

(Grant County Soil & Water District)

1994 Roger Bowe, San Jon, NM—Environmental Stewardship Award

(Regional Award by the National Cattlemen’s Association)

1994 Blair & Joseph Fitzsimons, Carrizo Springs, TX—Texas Cattlemen Environmental

Stewardship Award

1994 Doc & Connie Hatfield, Brothers, OR—Renew America (honored for role in

watershed management project)

1994 Kirk Hanna, Pueblo, CO—Colorado Riparian Steward of the Year

1994 Gerda Hyde and family, Chiloquin, OR—Environmental Stewardship

Award (Regional Award by the National Cattlemen’s Association)

1994 Tom Sidwell, Capitan, NM—Outstanding Accomplishments for Resource Conservation

(Goodyear/National Association of Conservation Districts)

1994 Tom Sidwell, Capitan, NM—Outstanding Rancher (Upper Hondo Soil and Water

Conservation District)

1994 Phil Knight, Wickenberg, AZ—State Environmentalist of the Year

(Arizona Game & Fish Department)

Environmental AchievementsA Partial List of Awards given to Holistic Management practitioners

1994 Billy Cordasco, Babbitt Ranches, Flagstaff, AZ—National Cattleman’s Association

Environmental Stewardship Award for Rangeland Improvement and

Enhanced Biodiversity

1995 Sid Goodloe, Capitan, NM—National Cattlemen’s Association Environmental

Stewardship Award

1995 Tony Malmberg, Lander, WY—National Stewardship Award

(Bureau of Land Management)

1995 Clarence Mortenson, Pierre, SD—National Cattlemen’s Association Environmental

Stewardship Award for Preventing Soil Erosion and Rangeland Improvement

1995 Argo Rust, Windhoek, Namibia—Land Degradation and Desertification Control

Success Story (United Nations Environment Programme)

1995 Frank and John Mestas, Alamosa, CO—Excellence in Grazing Management Award

(Colorado Section of the Society for Range Management)

1995 George Work, San Miguel, CA—Farm Steward of the Year (Farm Journal)

1996 Kirk Hanna, Pueblo, CO—Smart Growth and Development Award (Colorado)

1996 Tony Malmberg, Lander, WY—Wyoming Stockgrowers Environmental Stewardship Award

1996 Bunker Sands, Dallas, TX—National Wetlands Award for Land Stewardship & Development

1998 Dylan & Colleen Biggs, Alberta, Canada—Alberta Society for Prevention of Cruelty to

Animals Farmer of the Year Award (for humane handling of cattle)

1998 Tony Malmberg, Lander, WY—National Stewardship Award

(National Cattlemen’s Association)

1999 Dan Hanson, Lusk, WY—Wyoming Stock Growers State Environmental Stewardship Award

1999 Hoven Family Farm, Eckville, Alberta, Canada—Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to

Animals Farmer of the Year Award

1999 Sid Goodloe, Capitan, NM—New Mexico Watershed Steward of the Year

1999 James Ranch, Durango, CO—Outstanding Wildlife Landowner

of the Year (Colorado Department of Wildlife)

1999 Tony Malmberg, Lander, WY—Outstanding Environmental Achievement

(Environmental Protection Agency Region VIII)

1999 Bill McDonald, Duncan, AZ—MacArthur Genius Award

1999 Mike and Cathy McNeil, Monte Vista, CO—Conservationist of the Year—Ranching

Division (Colorado Association of Conservation Districts)

1999 Dennis Moroney, Prescott, AZ—Wildlife Habitat Steward of the Year

(Arizona Game and Fish Commission)

1999 Dennis & Jean Wobeser, Lloydminster, Alberta, Canada—Emerald Award for Small Business

(Foundation for Environmental Excellence)

2000 Dylan & Charlotte Biggs, Alberta, Canada—Growing Alberta Environmental

Stewardship Award

2001 Dan Hanson, Lusk, Wyoming—Wyoming Stock Growers’ NCBA Region V

Environmental Stewardship Award

2001 Mike & Cathy McNeil, Monte Vista, CO—2001 Steward of the Land (American Farmland Trust)

2001 Mike & Cathy McNeil, Monte Vista, CO—National Wetlands Award in Land Stewardship and

Development (Environmental Law Institute)

vii

Land Restoration:

Addressing Habitat Loss

A New Environmental Intelligence 2

Instead of managing

grass, small grains,

cattle, and wildlife

for their own sake—we

try to manage so they

complement one another.

Wildlife production isn’t a

goal in and of itself. For

us it’s a measure of what’s

happening on the land. In

our goal, we list wildlife

as important to our quality

of life and as essential in

the future landscape

we’ve described.

We’re in the prairie

pothole country of central

North Dakota, about one

pothole for every 13

acres—and we’ve got a lot

of wildlife, but more now

than we used to have.

As the land has improved, wildlife have increased, and so has

livestock production. The pounds of beef we produce per acre has

risen 80 percent since 1982 when our first cross fencing went in, with

the biggest surge occurring after 1986 when I first attended a course

in Holistic Management and started planning the grazing. Prior to that

we were just moving livestock.

We’ve increased our grazing days by about 50 percent too. Where

we used to be out on the range 120 to 150 days, we’re now out there

180 to 210 days. I attribute this directly to the planned grazings—we’ve

stopped overgrazing and overresting plants and so we’re just getting

more production off them and over a longer period of time. Our

upland game birds—ringneck pheasant, Hungarian partridge and

sharp-tailed grouse—have also increased. The grouse have established

two spring dancing grounds. White tailed deer are more abundant

than before too.

I wouldn’t say we “manage” wildlife, but we’re mindful of them.

We do avoid paddocks where pheasants are nesting but haven’t found

this necessary where waterfowl are concerned. One hiss from a

mallard hen usually backs a cow off. The Canada geese follow the

cattle; we usually find them in the paddock most recently vacated by

the cattle grazing the tender regrowth. By managing to improve the

land as a whole, we’ve improved conditions for the wildlife. That’s

probably the main reason we’re seeing the increases.

When we were advised to poison our winter snowberry thickets,

we decided to use “herd effect” instead. We just threw salt blocks into

them and the cattle thinned them out for us. Wild licorice came in

afterwards and both cattle and deer favored the tender shoots,

utilizing them heavily. Twelve years ago we had some dense old mats

of overrested grass that nesting birds avoided because visibility was

so poor. Just when we were trying to decide if we should use “herd

effect” or “stock density” to correct it, we struck a series of low

rainfall years that took care of the problem. (In the last 12 years

we’ve averaged 7.8 inches of precipitation, compared to the 15 to

17 inches we expected).

I keep a daily journal of my observations, and this has enabled me

to see the changes more clearly. I also monitor a few transects and

North Dakota State University

(NDSU) has been monitoring

and documenting a lot of the

changes as well.

My journal entry for July

4, 1990 noted that four inches

of rain had fallen the night

before and that our dugouts

(holes dug along pothole

edges to provide water for

livestock/wildlife) had only

filled about half a meter (1.5

feet). Our neighbors’ dugouts

were overflowing. We had to

haul water that day and the

next and the next. I didn’t

really mind, because I knew that water had soaked in all over instead

of running off into the potholes. (NDSU researchers found that even

our thin upland soils were able to take six times as much water as

neighboring sites).

Eleven days later on July 14, we finally stopped hauling water.

The dugouts had filled from the bottom up!

Gene and his family ranch and farm near Turtle Lake, North Dakota

Editor’s Note: We talked with Gene in June 200l and learnedthat North Dakota State University has done studies on howwell Gene’s land is able to absorb the rainfall he receives.Neighboring areas average a water infiltration rate of about.8 inches/hour. With planned grazing, Gene has improved hisland’s water infiltration rate to 6 .3 inches/hour. That meansthat Gene’s land is 8 times more able to retain and use waterthan neighboring properties, which in turn means there is lesserosion, less flooding, and improved wildlife habitat. He hasfurther increased his grazing season to 220 to 270 days andcontinues to see an increase in wildlife as well.

Enhancing Productivityby Gene Goven

Upland game birds, such as thisHungarian partridge, have increasedon the Goven ranch since Gene startedplanning livestock grazings.

We’re finding it getsharder and harder to say we’re managing any one thing. When you change one thing, you seem to change

everything.

REST

ON

FA

RMS

3 Holistic Management

During the long and well-publicized “drought” in California, water,

and its scarcity was about all people here talked about. Our

ranch is in the western foothills of the Sacramento Valley.

There are no aquifers to tap—those are in the alluvium of the valleys;

our Coastal Range Mountains have little snow accumulation—so we

have no snowmelt; from April until November, there is next to no rain.

What little you get, drought or no, you get in winter. Water is always

scarce. In a drought, you just hear about it more.

We began practicing Holistic Management two years before the

drought began, but our grasp of the subject was very tentative. Our

goals were limited, our monitoring minimal, and our planning was only

concerned with grazing management. Simultaneously we joined the

California Department of Fish and Game’s Private Lands Wildlife

Management Program (PLM). To participate in the PLM, we were

required to take game census’ and make habitat “improvements.” In return

we enjoyed some carefully supervised relaxation of California’s archaic

game regulations. The PLM is not popular in some sectors of California,

and our annual report is carefully scrutinized, so we also did field

autopsies on the deer harvested.

Crush and Burn No More

Essentially, these three independent events coincided: Holistic

Management, the PLM, and the drought. As the years passed and

our understanding grew, Holistic Management transcended grazing

management to encompass the game program, financial planning, and

drought management, and everything else; yet we were still required

by contract to perform the mechanical habitat “improvements” for the

PLM. Now with eight years of experience some trends are emerging.

The ritual “crush and burn brush” of our PLM program has

produced minimal wildlife response. Rarely do the deer browse the

resprouts, few animals are taken in the treated areas, and very seldom

do we find brush in their rumens.

We have changed our yearly brush management prescription from

“treat X acres of brush,” to “manage holistically to create a variety of

age classes and growth patterns among the brush species, and a

diversity of other plant species in the spaces between the brush plants.”

In the oak grassland portion of the ranch, we have managed for the

improved health of the remnant stands of perennial grasses, valuing

them as an indicator of the higher level community that the landscape

is capable of supporting.

Across California during the drought, deer populations suffered greatly.

A State Fish and Game biologist recently described the northern California

deer as being “in the worst condition I’ve ever seen.” In the early ‘80’s we

had an epidemic which greatly reduced deer numbers. They recovered,

but leveled off far below the known carrying capacity. The deer harvest

in our area was markedly poorer than in adjoining areas.

Increased Wildlife Diversity

During this same period, the census data collected by Fish and Game

biologists for our PLM program show that the deer population on our

ranch has increased 20 percent; fawns per 100 does have increased

tenfold, the average weight is steady and body fat measurements have

increased several millimeters. Admittedly, these are resident deer on

only a 4,000-acre spread; but the contrast to other herds in the state is

quite noticeable. What other changes have occurred? Two mountain

lions have included us in their territories over the last four or five

years. We now have a plethora of coyotes and smaller predators

resident on the ranch. (We’ve never had a depredation problem, and

we never hunt them).

During this same period, feral pigs have become resident in the

neighborhood. “Mortgage lifters”—cheap young range pigs set loose

to fatten on acorns

and other natural

feed until ready to

be marketed—were a

way of life in this

area from the ‘20s to

the ‘50s. Those that

escaped the annual

round-up never

became established;

and we were pig-

free for 20 years. Yet

in the past six years,

the pig population,

which ranges

between our ranch

and the neighbor’s,

has grown to over

80 animals. Where

the progenitors of this population came from is a mystery to me, but

regardless of their origin, they would not have prospered unless

conditions were right for them.

Riparian Recovery

The most dramatic change in the last 10 years has been in our

riparian zone. There’s a three mile intermittent stream that runs

through the ranch. As a boy our neighbor used to fish for trout in it.

When I came to the ranch in 1975, it was dry from July until November.

In its gravelly wastes, I spent many happy hours driving a bulldozer

making levees and streambeds, and every year I got to rebuild them

all over again.

With Holistic Management, planned grazings, education, and a little

thought, our 100-yard-wide gravelly creek beds are becoming riparian

jungles, thickets of cottonwoods, willows, vines, grasses, and all manner

of debris. Our local Fish and Game biologist estimates that no fewer

than two dozen species of vertebrates are utilizing the gravel bed, and

over 160 the riparian jungle. Now the creek flows until September; and

never becomes completely dry. A near term goal is to have trout in it

again; a long term goal is for salmon to spawn in it.

After ten years of attempting to practice Holistic Management,

we’re still only half way toward defining a more permanent holistic

goal. In the very beginning, wildlife had no place in our goal; it was

cattle grazing, and production. When we joined the PLM program (a

production-motivated decision), wildlife became a production goal. As

we refine our holistic goal, wildlife is emerging as largely a quality of

life value more aesthetic than consumptive—and a sensitive index

of the improvement in our landscape.

Frank Dawley and his family ranch near Red Bluff California.

A Change in Valuesby Frank Dawley

The deer population on Dawley’s ranch hasincreased 20%, fawns per 100 does haveincreased ten-fold, and body fat measurementshave increased several millimeters.

US

FISH

& W

ILD

LIFE

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J.B. “Bunker” Sands was initially attracted to the idea of creating

wetlands on his cattle ranch for one reason—his passion for duck

hunting. When a neighbor suggested he create a feeding pond

on his property to attract more waterfowl, Bunker started looking at

his ranch in a new way. Now 15 years later, his initial interest in

creating wetlands simply for his own recreational purpose has

expanded to a deep appreciation for how wetland development

increases the environmental diversity, overall health and prosperity

of Rosewood Ranch (not to mention what it’s done for Bunker’s

quality of life).

Bunker’s priorities are evident in his slogan for the ranch:

Rosewood Ranch—Wetlands and Brahman Cattle. The ranch covers

20,000 acres in three Texas counties, mostly within an hour’s drive of

Dallas. The wetlands are scattered among those acres with

approximately 50 paddocks covering 10 percent of the land.

Working With Nature

Much of the wetland areas were there

naturally, formed by periodic diversions of the

Trinity River, natural springs, and catchment of

rain runoff. Because the land was marshy or

flooded periodically, previous agricultural

producers had built levees to divert water from

areas to be used for crops. To build such levees

required a fair amount of earth-moving which

meant a lot of capital expense with no

guarantee of a good crop to follow.

Anyone interested in creating wetlands for

the sake of creating wetlands, will probably

find the cost of levee-building prohibitive. But

Bunker, a long-time Center supporter and

Advisory Board member, began looking at how

their construction could simultaneously fulfill

other needs. He realized he could increase the

diversity of his environment and develop new

enterprises without adding additional cost to

current operations.

Bunker started out using the levees

constructed in his father’s day, but over the years

has built new ones whenever it served more

than one purpose. “We need roads for both

cattle and people to get through the property,” says Bunker.

“If I’m going to build a road, I might as well make it a levee.”

Managing the Wetlands

Each wetland paddock is managed as part of a holistic grazing

plan. This entails maintaining a balance between the needs of the

land and the animals. The needs of both are considered before header

gates are opened or closed and animals moved in or out of a paddock

At any given time various wetlands can be empty or hold four feet

of water, though the average tends to be 4 to 8 inches.

“As we release and capture water, we create mudflats, shallow-

water ponds, or dry areas,” says Bunker. “So when we decide what

water goes where, when, or how much, we are then affecting what

plants grow there. That means we are also affecting what animals are

attracted there and the possible uses and complexities for each area.”

With that idea in mind, Bunker continues to be on the lookout

for other possible wetland sites of 100 acres or less. His intention is

to create a complex environment with many “edges” between

habitats.

By creating the infrastructure that allows him to control what

water goes where, Bunker has the opportunity to stack enterprises

because of the different ways in which the land can be used, e.g.,

habitat for migratory birds (recreational opportunities), high-intensity

grazing, or emergency fodder during drought, and crawfish

harvesting (up to 450 pounds a day). “We are always looking at the

different areas and what is happening in them so we can make

decisions about whether or not to open or close a header gate,”

explains Bunker. “For example, we might need to drain one area to

repair a levee that a beaver has damaged or another when the trees

begin to bud. There are a lot of things to consider.”

Developing Wetlands—Turning a Liability Into Many Assetsby Ann Adams

“Right now there is an ongoing debte as to whether humans can even make ‘functional’ wetlands.”

continued on page 5


Reaping the Harvest

For all his hard work creating and developing the wetlands,

Bunker received the 1996 National Wetlands Award for Land

Stewardship and Development. This award is co-sponsored by

the Environmental Law Institute and the U.S. Environmental

Protection Agency.

While these agencies recognize his efforts in land stewardship,

Bunker does not rest on his laurels. “Right now there is an ongoing

debate as to whether humans can even make ‘functional’ wetlands,”

he says. “So I’ve agreed to keep cattle out of certain enclosures so a

couple of outside researchers can see what the effects might be in

not mixing agricultural and wildlife interests.”

The long list of government agencies and private organizations

that Bunker works with makes it apparent that he sees the ranch as

a place that a variety of people can learn from and enjoy. Certainly

Bunker, his family, and the Rosewood workers all feel pride in what

they are helping to create. They have seen the value of the land

increase, along with interest in their work from a variety of sectors.

That interest, coupled with the land’s proximity to Dallas, would

normally be a precursor to subdivision for some ranches. But, as

Bunker notes, “This land is floodplain. No one can build here, so

there is no residential value to the land. And as far as farming goes,

when the land was farmed it only produced a profitable wheat

crop two out of every five years.”

The Value of Recreational Opportunities

Bunker’s vision for the land is to continue to develop habitats

that encourage even more diversity among animal and plant species.

In the past, much of the bottom land

had been hardwood forest

that was clearcut. Bunker would like

to see more trees planted in the

future. And while waterfowl—ranging

from geese to wood storks to roseate

spoonbills—make use of the habitat,

Bunker would like to see even

more species.

Bunker’s primary concern in

the creation of the wetlands has

been the health of the habitat

and wildlife. But because of the

recreational possibilities that now

exist, the land’s value has increased.

Bunker acknowledges as much

when he says, “with this land’s

close proximity to Dallas its

ultimate value will not be

agricultural.” That means that the

decisions he makes today, which

already encourage a profitable

return, could result in even greater

financial returns in the future.

The irony of creating wetlands through the use of levees built

to drain water from that same land is not lost on Bunker. In fact,

he admits that his introduction to Holistic Management was

probably the start of many paradigm shifts that have led to the

changes at Rosewood. It might also have affected his tendency

to go for his video camera instead of his gun when he sees the

waterfowl enjoying the habitat he helped to shape. His enthusiasm

is evident when he says, “It’s great to be in the middle of a

roosting marsh at sunset and capture the sights and sounds of

the multitudes of waterfowl coming in for the evening. That’s

where quality of life comes in.”

By creating the infrastructure that allows him to control what water goes where, Bunker has theopportunity to stack enterprises because of the different ways in which the land can be used

Developing Wetlands—continued from page 4

Healthy Rural Communities:

Creating a Strong Resource Base


hat underlies a successful, holistically managed ranching

operation? How does a family in a high altitude, 6- to 8-inch

(15- to 21-cm) rainfall valley in southern Colorado win national

awards for their progressive management?

If there is one common denominator in these questions, it seems to

be the willingness and ability to change with the times and respond

effectively to the demands of the day while looking into the future.

And that’s how the McNeil family have protected a heritage of 100 plus

years of ranching on the Rock Creek Drainage on the southwestern

slope of the San Luis Valley (SLV) in South Central Colorado.

Waking Up From Tradition

The McNeil family originally moved to Colorado from Virginia

in 1890. Today, the ranch is run by the fourth and fifth generations

of McNeils: Mike, with his wife, Cathy, their 13-year-old daughter, Kelly,

and nephew, Michael, along with two long time employees. They run

800 mother cows on 3,033 acres (1,228 hectares), with approximately

1,200 of those acres irrigated. In the past, they have also run their cattle

on an approximately 30,000-acre (12,146-hectare) summer grazing

permit in the nearby National Forest.

As a young boy, Mike spent summers irrigating hay fields, driving

tractors to harvest 3,000 tons of hay or riding the herd in the high

country range. He spent the cold winters of his youth feeding that

same hay to the herd and, in the tradition of the area, calving in the

deep freeze of January. He also studied agriculture briefly at Colorado

State University until the bottom fell out of the cattle market, and he

returned home.

When Mike’s father, Bill, passed away in 1983, the family had to

deal with the challenges of inter-generational land transfer issues,

especially the looming estate taxes. They were able to take financial

planning steps to protect the family and the ranch, albeit through

some extreme and very expensive measures.

Then, in the drought of 1989, the Forest Service told them they

had to remove half their herd from their grazing allotment. Such

an unexpected situation could well have been disastrous, but some

summer rains saved them at the last minute. This “wake up” call made

them realize that “business as usual” was getting more and more risky,

if not downright untenable.

So Mike and Cathy began to explore other options and new ways

to manage their ranch. Having heard about “HRM” (Holistic Resource

Management) and thinking it was “a way to double their stocking

rate,” they decided to learn more about it. They began to study various

alternative approaches, with their training in Holistic Management

providing a framework for integrating these new ideas and practices

into their operation.

Rather than try to make immediate changes in their livestock

operations, they realized that the real “logjam” at the time was in their

family. So their first “new idea” was to address family issues and begin

to heal some of the schisms that existed. Difficult and challenging as it

was, over time and through honest communication and family meetings,

many old issues were resolved and this led to a more creative and

relaxed environment.

Greater Sustainability

From there, the McNeils began to make gradual changes in the

actual operation of the ranch itself. Over the years, they began to

graze more and more of the hay fields, cycling them in and out of hay

production. They also reduced the amount of hay they cut and returned

to an old-time practice of simply cutting the hay into windrows and

piling it with a dump rake rather than putting up bales. In this way,

they could use portable electric fence to dole the hay out to the cattle.

However, the McNeils plan their grazing to allow sufficient regrowth

so the cattle can go through the pastures and find adequate standing

forage in most seasons.

The McNeils have also changed their calving season to a June/July

calving so that their 800 mother cows can be dry and pregnant

through the cold months and be on fresh green growth and warmer

temperatures during calving, lactating and rebreeding. This change

has also greatly enhanced the McNeils’ quality of life.

Sandhill cranes rising from the waters of the Monte Vista NationalWildlife Refuge. The McNeils have worked with this refuge over the pastfive years to help protect the water rights in the area as part of theirconservation efforts.

Rio d

e la

Vist

a

Doing the RiGHT Thing—The McNeil Ranchby Rio de la Vista

W

As Mike likes to relate, “I used to say that I wished I lived somewhere

where we didn’t have to put up hay all summer and calve in January.

Then I finally realized, I live in that place!”

To further enhance their quality of life, the McNeils have decided to

take “non-use” on their Forest Service grazing permit (which they have

used to summer graze 600 yearlings in the past) and run the entire herd

on their own land. With their many years of experience and very careful

Holistic Management™ grazing planning, they are confident the land can

carry this increased number of animals and sustain the health of the

grasses and biodiversity at the same time.

A Better Quality of Land and Life

All of these management changes have led to very measurable

improvements in the McNeil’s lives and land. From a production

standpoint, their enhanced planning has allowed them to sustainably


increase the carrying capacity of their land by approximately 30 percent—

perhaps even more. The earlier panic of how to feed their livestock is

long gone and their independence from public lands gives them a real

sense of security given the political and social pressures on public lands

grazing in the U.S.

From a financial standpoint, they have stabilized their operation,

kept the entire ranch intact, and remained debt free, (even when Mike’s

mother passed away and they had to deal with a massive inheritance

tax). They have cut their annual operating expenses by about 20 percent

since 1991, operating the same ranch with more cattle for about $60,000

less per year while paying their help the best wages of anyone in the

area. All of their employees continue to receive training in Holistic

Management and other progressive management ideas and are

involved in the financial, grazing and infrastructure planning, and

biological monitoring.

Changes in the Community

While their own land base and operation became more stable,

profitable, and increasingly healthy, the McNeils could not ignore the

forces of change going on around them. They watched the intensifying

second-home growth and development pressures that are resulting in

tremendous loss of agricultural lands and water throughout the state

of Colorado.

The impacts came very close to home as the McNeils realized that

the Rock Creek Drainage was one of very few undeveloped stream

corridors remaining in the entire 8,000-square-mile (3,239- square-hectare)

basin. With upstream neighbors threatening to sell out to developers

for subdivisions, they conceived a project that could include all the

landowners in the drainage in a collective conservation effort through

a combination of donations and sales of development rights. The Rock

Creek Heritage Project has now been underway for three years and is

working to protect approximately 15,000 acres (6,073 hectares) and

associated water rights adjacent to the 14,000-acre (5,668-hectare) Monte

Vista National Wildlife Refuge over the next three to five years.

The startup of this landowner initiative was originally supported by

The Nature Conservancy and the Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO)

Trust Fund through a capacity building grant which funded landowner

education and initial negotiations for donation and purchase of

conservation easements with participating ranchers. Because of the

outstanding opportunity to protect a significant block of agricultural

land and water rights, as well as exceptional wildlife habitat, American

Farmland Trust is now backing the effort through support of a local

project coordinator and direct land protection efforts.

The list of partnering organizations now also include: the U.S. Fish

and Wildlife Service, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Ducks

Unlimited, the Trust for Public Land, Colorado Wetlands Partnership and

the SLV Wetlands Focus Area Committee, Colorado Division of Wildlife,

the SLV GIS/GPS Authority, Colorado Cattlemens Agricultural Land

Trust, the Rio Grande Headwaters Land Trust, and many more.

At the same time the Rock Creek Heritage Project was developing, it

became clear to the McNeils and their colleagues that they also needed a

local land trust to work throughout the San Luis Valley for protection of

agricultural land and water. As the founding President of the Rio Grande

Headwaters Land Trust (RiGHT), Cathy McNeil has brought her rigorous

thinking, contagious enthusiasm and the family’s good community

standing as long-term land owners and successful ranchers to the effort.

In partnership with the many national and regional conservation

organizations that are also working to

conserve the tremendous ecological and agricultural resources of the

Valley, RiGHT also offers educational and management help (including

Holistic Management training).

Making A Difference

The McNeils’ work on the land and in their community has not

been ignored. In 1999 they received statewide recognition for the

health of their land

when they were named

“Conservationist of the

Year for Ranching” by the

Colorado Association of

Soil Conservation Districts.

In 2001, the McNeils

also received national

recognition for their

community contributions

and good stewardship

when they were named

American Farmland Trust’s

“2001 Steward of the Land.”

The McNeils were selected

from more than 75 farmers and ranchers from 35 states because of their

efforts “to stop the loss of productive farmland and promote farming

practices that lead to a healthy environment.”

The McNeils were also honored by the Environmental Law Institute

for their contribution to wetlands protection, restoration, and education

and were named winners of the 2001 National Wetlands Award in the

Land Stewardship and Development category.

Such awards demonstrate how many lives the McNeils have touched

as they have actively shared information about their management

practices and sponsored Holistic Management training for other ranchers

and agency employees over many years. In the past year alone, three

classes have been held for Rock Creek landowners, conservation

organization, and government agency personnel and others. These

workshops have included everything from basic Holistic Management

to riparian restoration using cattle as a tool.

The McNeils are doing their best to manage their own land with

innovative and sustainable practices (often against the tide of public

opinion and “tradition”). But just as importantly, they are actively sharing

creative approaches to resolving local and community-wide problems

and creating a viable future for agriculture as they pour their hearts,

minds, time, and money into conservation efforts they support.

By first attending to business at home and within their own

family, the McNeils have created a foundation for contributing to their

community and are helping to restore the land and provide new

management and marketing options for land owners throughout the

San Luis Valley. In doing so they have created opportunities for many

others to participate in agricultural life, conservation, and enjoyment

of the land while creating and protecting habitat for the animal and

plant life that shares it. Undoubtedly their enthusiasm, creativity, and

generosity have touched many people in their community and

beyond and will indeed provide a heritage long beyond their years.

Rio de la Vista is a Holistic Management™ Certified Educator and Vice-Chair of the Center’s Board of Directors. She is also American Farmland Trust’s coordinator for the Rock Creek HeritageProject.

“I used to say that Iwished I lived somewherewhere we didn’t have toput up hay all summerand calve in January.Then I finally realized,

I live in that place!”


Lusk, Wyoming might be off the beaten path for those with a

touch of bi-coastal arrogance, but it’s on the cyberspace

highway thanks to Microsoft’s largesse and marketing

forethought. And who better to play the poster child role for them

in their series of commercials than Dan Henry Hanson, son of Dan

and Donna Hanson.

Dan Henry had been busy researching on the Internet for his

4-H project on dung beetles, so Microsoft thought he was a good

example of how a rural community could benefit from being

hardwired for the future. In the meantime, the Wyoming Stock

Growers were just as impressed by the Hansons’ ability to increase

biodiversity on their ranch. In 1999 they awarded the Hansons their

State Environmental Stewardship Award, and in 2000 they awarded

them the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association Region V

Environmental Stewardship Award.

Those awards, as well as Microsoft’s interest in the Hansons’

Generation X, are examples of what happens when people start

managing their lives to achieve what they want instead of clinging

to outworn notions of how life must be.

Healthy Habitats and Economies

Dan Hanson was first introduced to Holistic Management when

he went to a neighbor’s barn in 1991 to hear Allan Savory present a

slideshow. Right then the ideas made sense, and he knew he needed

to learn more. The “Meeting of the Minds” Club (a group of local

ranchers who weren’t afraid of new ideas) got the Soil Conservation

Service involved to help bring more training to Lusk. In the following

years, Holistic Management™ Certified Educators Miles Keogh and

Roland Kroos facilitated a series of workshops.

Dan applied the principles he learned in those workshops to his

ranch. The results were remarkable. The first change was an increase

in his stocking rate. When he began managing holistically, he needed

50 acres per animal. He now only needs 24 acres, thus doubling his

stocking rate over the course of 9 years. As this change occurred there

were other improvements.

Because of his planned grazing he no longer continuously grazed

the riparian areas on his property so more willows and cottonwoods

grew along his streambeds. Likewise, because of the healthier

riparian areas, the increase of grass, and the decrease of bare

ground, his wildlife habitat improved, and he saw more sharptail

grouse, turkeys, and Hungarian partridges. But what he was most

excited about were the dung beetles. While many people are

concerned about the loss of “bigger” animals, Dan knew that the

absence of dung beetles indicated major problems with the mineral

cycle and soil fertility.

As a boy, Dan had seen dung beetles at work rebuilding the soil.

But by the time he was an adult, the dung beetles were gone. In

1993, prompted by his training in Holistic Management, Dan stopped

spraying the cattle for flies and the beetles began to flourish.

Combined with increased

animal impact and planned

grazing, Dan’s practice of

Holistic Management led

to ever-healthier soils, the

foundation of all habitats.

In fact, Dan said he put

500 yearlings in a 20-acre

pasture and within a couple

of hours you couldn’t find

a remaining cowpie because

the dung beetles had buried

them all.

In turn, increased soil

fertility and improved

functioning of all four

ecosystem processes led

to an increase in the

diversity of grass species,

which led to a longer

growing season. With

more species, more

plants are likely to be growing at any one time. In this case, Dan

increased his growing season by two to three weeks. Combined with

his increased stocking rate, Dan saw an increase in profit. He

increased this profit even more when he was able to reduce his

supplemental feed and mineral expenses from $50 per head to $22

because of increased and improved forage.

He was able to reduce more expenses by getting rid of

unnecessary machinery (he’s down from 10 pickups, 9 tractors, and

a couple of semis to 4 pickups, one tractor, and no semis) and

reducing the number of people working for the family. (He had five

Of Microsoft and Dung Beetlesby Ann Adams

School buses and cattle exemplify the Hanson's ranch where the land and livestock offer learning as well asprofit. These buses carry spectators for the 1999 Livestock Stewardship Tour.


hired men but is down to one hired man who helps the family—

Dan, Donna, Dan Henry, 15, and Ben, 10.)

Rewarding Lives

Of course, this increase in production and profit has led to more

rewarding times for the Hanson family. In 1989 they had just bought

more land for the ranch and were wondering how they would pay

for it and make the necessary improvements for the ranch. Dan

admits that if he had continued operating the way

he had been before his training in Holistic

Management, he wouldn’t have been able to

accomplish what he has.

In the late ‘70s they were borrowing money

just to pay the interest on their loans. Dan was

working 12 hours a day just to get basic chores

done. Worse yet, he wasn’t even making minimum

wage. There was no future in the ranch as it just

wasn’t economically viable.

Dan recalls, “I was ranching with my body, not

my mind. I had sorted the cattle by age group and

didn’t have more than 200 in a herd. I spent all

day checking on them or moving pipelines and

checking pumps. Now I’ve put the cattle together

and there are fewer things to focus on. That means

I have more time for family and community work

that I didn’t have before. I can be a better member

of the community because I am a rancher now,

not a mechanic fixing all the machinery we had.

Our family is reaching goals we thought were

unattainable in the 1980s and the kids are more

involved with the ranch.”

Dan can bring that new enjoyment of his work

to those who can learn from his experience. He and his family are

actively involved in 4-H, community politics, and environmental

education. The Hansons are also part of a voluntary water quality

monitoring project established by the Niobrara Conservation District,

and are involved in Agriculture in the Classroom, a program through

the local elementary school that allows children to visit the ranch.

Dan finds particular pleasure in helping children see the big

picture about agriculture. “They come out here thinking that ranchers

are bad people who hurt the land. That’s what they’ve been told. But

we show them another truth. They can see what we’ve done for the

land, how it has regenerated. They see where the cattle have been

and how the plants are healthy. They also see the places we’ve kept

cattle out of for several decades and how there are fewer species, and

those are dying, and the ground is bare.”

Beyond Issues to Resources

In many ways the Hansons’ story is the story of the new

agriculture. Born out of desperation, this movement towards an

agriculture that is responsive to the needs of the land, the

consumer, and the producer must arise for a truly sustainable

agriculture. Dan believes that shift is occurring in small, often

unnoticed ways.

“Take Holistic Management. Back when I first learned about it

everyone thought it was a communist plot and few of us were willing

to try it. But people are shifting. The Savory Center has done more

good than they realized. People are moving cattle more and paying

attention to the plants and soil. They’re looking over the fence and

seeing that what we do makes the grass better. They see that it’s

greener longer and more lush. They know they need to do something

different too, and they’re beginning to experiment.”

“New Zealand is us 30 years from now. Their agriculture used to

be highly subsidized just like American agriculture is now. But the

government couldn’t subsidize them anymore and cut them off

completely. That will happen here too.

“Agriculture must be self-sustaining. We can’t accept money

from the government. As a producer, you’ve got to figure out

how to earn the profit you need. You’ve also got to treat the

soil and grass right. If you don’t, you are just borrowing away

from the future.

“Holistic Management can help people make that shift. They

need to think of the whole and create a goal that addresses that

whole. All of these new management processes and systems are

all just offshoots of Holistic Management, and it is influencing

sustainable agriculture this way. It really is how you look at

something and what you think you can do about it.”

The Hansons were between a rock and a hard place in the late

‘70s. Some people might say it was a sign of the times with farmers

and ranchers going belly up in droves. And some people might say

that the agricultural picture is even worse today, but not for the

Hansons. They looked at what they wanted to accomplish (healthy

land, animals, and finances and rewarding work) and opened their

minds to the possibilities of how to achieve it.

The future is much brighter for Ben Hanson (forefront), son of Dan and Donna Hanson,now that the Hansons have more leisure time to devote to family and community whileproducing a handsome profit from their ranch. Ben is pictured here with spectators forthe 1999 Livestock Stewardship Tour as they gather at the ranch house.


Peter Howarth is one of those guys with an uncanny knack

for getting things done. Not only that, if he decides to take

something on, you can bet he’ll take it on in a big way. He

was one of Sydney’s most successful businessmen and property

developers, but in the mid-’80s decided he wanted to be in the cattle

business. True to form, a few years later he owned the largest herd

of registered Devon cattle in the world, and had established

Australia’s largest pool of purebred

polled Simmentals.

Land and Livestock

Peter and his wife, Judy, farm in one

of southeast Australia’s most idyllic and

picturesque spots. Near the town of

Nundle and just west of the crest of the

Great Dividing Range, they own two

properties totaling 20,000 acres (8,100

ha)—Wombramurra, the home place, and

Wyallia—ranging from 2,300 to 3,300 feet

(700 to 1,000 meters) in elevation. They

also own a 7,000-acre (2,800-hectare)

property on the Liverpool Plain, perhaps

Australia’s most fertile and productive

cropping country, about an hour and a

half’s drive from Nundle. The farms at

Nundle support 3,000 cows, about 700

of which are registered breeding stock.

All weaned calves are shipped to the

Liverpool Plain property to be finished

on grass.

The farm also runs 10,000 Merino

sheep and 4,000 Boer/cashmere-cross goats. In addition to meat and

fiber, the goats provide valuable weed control against the blackberry

and thistle infestations common to the area. The grazing patterns of

all the herds—cattle, sheep, and goats—are carefully planned to

produce a high level of animal impact and a recovery period ranging

from 90 to 120 days, depending on growth rates of the plants. The

ability to plan these relatively long recovery periods and achieve high

stock densities (in country that is traditionally set-stocked, or

continuously grazed, year-round) has resulted in tremendous

improvements to their pasture species composition and plant vigor.

With an evenly spread annual precipitation of 30 to 37 inches (760 to

940 mm) and mild winters, this country heals quickly with well-

planned grazing management.

A Town Called Nundle

The Howarths’ agricultural pursuits are truly impressive, but for

Peter and Judy, the land and the livestock are only part of the story.

Upon being introduced to Holistic Management, they realized their

“whole” extended beyond the farm gate and into their community,

and what they saw wasn’t pretty. The town of Nundle was all but

abandoned, and no young people were staying home. They reasoned

that with a dying or dead community, their operation simply wasn’t

sustainable in the long term. Nundle needed to be rejuvenated, so

the Howarths got to work.

They essentially bought the town, fired up the local shops, the

motel, and the gas station, converted the abandoned bank into a five-

star guest house, started an art gallery, got the schools going, and

employed lots of people in the process.

The locals started to patronize their

hometown again, tourists began to show

up, and many more young people are

deciding to stay. Each business is

now supporting itself, and the Howarths

are selling each business back to the

people who are managing them. The

Nundle/Howarth partnership is truly

an inspiring success story.

In addition to all of the above, this

amazing couple has also built a thriving

backpacker’s lodge right on the farm.

The Howarths’ son manages this

business. Two big busloads of modern-

day adventurers/explorers/thrill-seekers

descend on the lodge every night.

They are welcomed by one of the farm’s

more colorful hired hands—complete

with beat up Akubra hat, rural Aussie

twang, and sharp country wit—informed

that they are visiting a genuine

Australian sheep and cattle station,

and then given a sheep shearing

demonstration. Those who want and need a trim themselves are

then offered a free haircut after the sheep are shorn.

An Earth Sanctuary

And finally, plans are underway to develop an “Earth Sanctuary.”

This will entail fencing off a 6,000-acre (2400-hectare) area of pristine

forest that has never been cleared. It is home to several species of

kangaroo and wallaby, plus dozens of other unusual native marsupials.

Once fenced off, all of the non-native feral cats, rabbits, and foxes will

be removed, giving the natives a chance to thrive. An interpretive

center and an exotic cabin complex will be constructed (designed by

their architect daughter) to cater to visitors, and a full-time biologist

will be employed. Even though the idea is to create a native preserve,

they plan to continue grazing the valley bottoms to keep the grass

healthy and minimize fire danger.

My guess is the sanctuary will be up and running as quickly

and efficiently as the revitalized town of Nundle. Not bad for a

couple who only recently concluded that the key to sustaining

their own operation lay in the health of the community

surrounding them.

Peter Howarth, “If our community died, we could notsustain our operation.”

Community Building Down Underby Jim Howell

Truly SustainableAgriculture:

Keeping Agricultural Land in Production


In late October, I was traveling with John Ball (an applicant to the

Savory Center’s Certified Educator Training Program) and his son,

Jacob, to the Grasstravaganza Conference in Syracuse, New York.

We had arranged to visit with Jane and Karl North who own and

operate Northland Sheep Dairy in Marathon, New York.

As we turned in the lane to the North’s farm, their two Haflinger

horses greeted us. The mid-afternoon sun illuminating their pale

golden manes and thick velvety coats brought a somewhat magical

quality to their presence. Later, when I commented on how beautiful

the horses were, it became clear that in addition to the synergy the

horses provided between the various

components of the farm, Karl and Jane

decided to acquire these particular Haflingers

because of their pleasing dispositions, quality,

and visual beauty.

Quality and beauty are embodied

throughout Jane and Karl’s farm and lives—

in the grace of a curved stone window arch,

an inviting path into the soft woodland just

beyond their house, the flowers in the

greenhouse, the placement of Karl’s Cuban

drums in the main room, their choice of

livestock, their livestock handling, their

products, and how they market those

products. These are the values of Northland

Sheep Dairy and reflect how Jane and Karl

work with their natural resource base to

farm in a manner that is sustainable and

fulfilling to them.

A Matter of Choice

Karl and Jane began the design and

development of their farm in the 1980s. The

land had been long abandoned and there

were no buildings on the property. They had

recently come from years of “homesteading” in France, where small

dairy farms and weekly local farmers markets are old traditions. Karl

and Jane applied much of what they had lived and learned in France

to the design of their New York farm.

During the development of their farm, Karl read Holistic ResourceManagement and found a great deal that deepened his

understanding of the benefit of farm diversity and of building

synergy between the farm components. In 1995, Karl organized the

first course in New York State on Holistic Management because he

wanted to share this holistic way of thinking and looking at the

world with other farmers.

As Karl and Jane developed their farm in 1980, one of their

greatest concerns was energy efficiency and they have achieved this

not only in solar building design but also in the general farmstead

layout.

Over the years they have been able to minimize off-farm inputs

of fuel, fertilizer, feed and machinery. The Haflinger horses have

helped with this goal as they are used to make hay and they are fed

by the land. Most of the machinery Karl has purchased is used, horse-

drawn, and considered obsolete. He offers as an example a hay

rake he purchased for $15 that he has been using now for 15 years.

The horses are also able to maneuver well in two to three feet

(0.8 -1 m) of snow and are flexible in small places for logging

in the woods and working around fields (particularly in a wet season)

where a tractor would be cumbersome and damage the terrain. In the

grazing plan, the horses move in a unit

separate from the Norths’ sheep. Pastures are

grazed by the horses, allowed to recover, then

the sheep are put in. This allows for a break in

the parasite cycle of the sheep and

complementary grazing patterns by the two

species.

The land has also improved through the

application of rock phosphate and composted

manure and bedding. Karl puts the rock

phosphate right into the sheep’s winter

bedding—and spreads that on the previous

year’s hayland. The hayland moves into

pasture rotation and is harvested for hay again

in two years. The pastures (including

hayfields) are limed every year.

The quantity and quality of the forage has

improved greatly since 1980. Because of the

improvement in the forage, the Norths have

been able to focus the sheep’s feed mainly on

grass and decrease the corn input. They are

also selecting sheep that perform better on

grass. Karl and Jane think the most sustainable

way to make milk is from grass and that

sheep are well suited to this sort of dairy

farming. Also, sheep graze and spread their manure evenly.

Other reasons why the Norths chose sheep were because the

milking parlor and other handling machinery are economical and

small. A lactation period of less than six months mirrors the grass

season length in their climate, making seasonal dairying a natural

choice. Likewise, the Norths time lambing for the beginning of grass

in May with the lactation ending in early fall, and the flock finishing

stockpiled pasture by the end of December.

Another emphasis from the outset was to maximize independence

from a wholesale agricultural marketplace they experienced as

generally predatory toward family farmers. They feel they have

achieved this independence as a result of: (1) their choice of sheep

as the dairy animal with the most product diversity potential; (2) on-

farm cheese-making that aims for artisan quality dairy products; and

(3) their involvement in building an attractive local farmers market in

order to sell all their products (dairy, meat, yarn, sheepskins, and apple

cider) direct to consumers in retail form. Karl acknowledges that the

The Quality of Farming: Northland Sheep Dairyby Mary Child

Karl North

JOH

N B

ALL


sale of cheese, lamb, yarn, and tanned skins from a base flock of only

50 ewes barely provides a livable income, and then only because they

enjoy considerable self-sufficiency in food (vegetables, meat, and

dairy), energy (solar, wood heat, and draft horses), and, of course,

fertilizer. He thinks a younger couple could operate the farm with

100 ewes and bring in a net cash income of close to $20,000 without

a great deal more capital investment.

Expanding the Picture

As the Norths’ understanding of Holistic Management grew, their

awareness sharpened of the wholes they felt they needed to take into

consideration in decision-making on the farm. One example Karl gives

concerning this increased understanding was when he read about

managing sheep and apples together as a way to use the diversity

potential of the farm more efficiently.

He happened to have both (sheep and apples), and he looked at

how he could strengthen the community dynamics of the apple

orchard. When growing and marketing organic apples, one must

consider ways to manage the biological life cycle of organisms that

can damage apples. These organisms frequently winter over in

windfall apples and the apple leaves.

Karl knew that a decision to incorporate the sheep into the

orchard would not only build the overall community dynamics on

their farm, but also address the need to break the biological cycle of

organisms that would negatively impact the overall apple harvest. This

decision passed the cause and effect test, addressed the biological

weak link, and when compared to manual removal of windfall apples,

passed the marginal reaction test.

Karl explains that the sheep become a tool to manage apple pests

by cleaning up the windfall and also changing the habitat at ground

level. The trees are spaced far enough apart so the sheep congregate

under the trees for shade. In this way, there is an immediate increase

in manuring and fertilizing of the tree. In time, the soil in the orchard

supports earthworms that will surface and eat the dropped leaves in

the orchard, which also can harbor organisms detrimental to the

apples. The sheep are in turn provided with shade and fed by the

windfalls and the forage in the orchard.

Jane and Karl say their quality of life is excellent. They are free

of much of the cost/price squeeze and resultant debt that they see

destroying family-scale dairy farming, and they enjoy their diversity

of work: milking, processing, marketing, haying and logging (mostly

with the Haflingers), sheep and horse husbandry, composting and

spreading, sheep dog training, gardening, and building and repairing

simple structures and equipment with simple tools. Their work gives

way to semi-vacation when the grass season ends.

Karl and Jane’s farming practices bespeak a passion for the

work they do and further supports their values, philosophy and

the concern they share for future generations. This concern is

evident in Karl’s comments. “The amoral nature of our chosen

economic system is such that it mainly rewards short-term gain,

and considers only local, immediate costs. It allows us to pass on

the heavy ecological and social costs of our economic behavior

to future generations and other remote peoples. In effect, the

ways we have chosen to maximize our present standard of living

constitute a theft from future generations. Few of us would

deny that we love our children, but the way we live and

farm discredits our best intentions, and amounts to an

intergenerational tyranny.”

Niche Marketing as a Short-Term Solution

While there are organizations and agencies and farms working

towards a truly sustainable agriculture, Karl notes there is also a

great deal of

encouragement for

farms to produce

value-added, direct-

marketed, and

exotic products.

Certainly this niche

exploitation

alternative doesoffer a breathing

space because it

shelters farmers

from the predatory

market forces

shaping commodity

farming and

provides time to

test, refine, and

slowly propagate

sustainable practices.

But, it fails to

directly address core

issues of ecological

sustainability.

For that reason, he believes that a focus that primarily develops

products for niche markets will fail because

the focus is on marketing. Once the niches become successful enough,

they are

taken over by corporate culture—swallowed up—as is the case right

now with small producers of organic milk throughout the Northeast.

And where does that leave those producers? To explore another

niche market?

Karl notes that the development of niche markets does not

necessarily include addressing what happens to the soil, the

biodiversity, the water, or ecological issues of sustainability, or

of society and culture. It’s about marketing, not about how the

farming gets done. It’s chiefly concerned about making money

on your product.

But Karl sees Holistic Management as a catalyst that can help

people from the isolated subcultures of research, education, outreach,

marketing, and farming begin to see the bigger picture and move

together toward long-term solutions. If they learn together the

practice of Holistic Management™ decision-making, they can go on

to create permanent networks and organizations whose work moves

us toward sustaining our civilization and farming in a manner that

is rewarding to all.

Karl serves as an advisor, member, and is on the board ofdirectors for numerous sustainable agriculture groups in theNortheast.

Jane North making top-quality cheeses thatsell for up to $13/lb.


In January of 1985 our liabilities stood at $758,249. We owed $414,999

on our operating loan and $343,250 on the real estate. Behind those

figures lay a lot of pain in human terms and a resource base that was

deteriorating. How could anyone get so deeply in trouble? It was easy.

Flying High

My husband, Claude, and his first wife had started out in 1968 with an

80- to 90-cow ranch in the Black Hills of South Dakota. During the 1970s,

real estate values appreciated dramatically and interest rates were low.

They bought ranches and refinanced them to buy other ranches. By 1974,

they had a 500-cow ranch and were ready to diversify. The nearby town

of Edgemont was expecting five new businesses and the State Planning

Council predicted that the population would grow from 1500 to 5600 by

1983. Claude and his wife invested $310,000 in the purchase and

development of land for residential lots, built an expensive home in

town and opened a construction business.

They were flying high. According to conventional wisdom, they were

doing all the right things. Real estate values were inflating at 10 percent

per year and they were paying for the land on contract using inflated

dollars to do it. Ah, the power of leveraging!

Then came the ‘80s and some very important lessons about paper

dollars and the power of leveraging. One by one, the five new businesses

coming to Edgemont dropped out. The development property was

suddenly all but worthless. Claude and his wife moved back to the ranch

and within months were involved in a divorce. The settlement added a

loss of $225,000 in liquid assets while Claude retained all the liabilities.

The Depths of Despair

When Claude and I married in 1982, the American “Farm Crisis” had

become very real. Land and livestock values plummeted and interest rates

climbed. The honeymoon was all too soon over when both of us had to

start working around the clock to make ends meet. Exhaustion, financial

pressure and the emotional stress of newly blended families were taking

a harsh toll.

Our circumstances began to force change. By 1985, we had come to

accept that we would in all likelihood lose the ranch. Bankruptcy and

debt write-off were not acceptable alternatives because they clashed with

our values. We began to take steps to pay the debt off, knowing that we

would have to start over—perhaps with nothing, working for someone

else or possibly in an entirely different field. We sold 20 percent of the

deeded land that year, transferring 15% of our Forest Service permit with

it. That action alone meant that we could not continue to operate with

the reduction in carrying capacity.

That year the growing season unfolded with severe drought and an

invasion of grasshoppers, and ended with no grass and no winter feed.

Hay was priced in excess of $100 per ton. Claude decided that it made

more sense to take the cattle to the feed and found a Nebraska farm

family who were looking for livestock to winter on their cornstalks.

They took our cattle—and calved them—for $3.60 per head per month

while many of our neighbors spent $30 per head on feed alone during

that tough winter.

The Long Climb Out

For some time, we had read and heard bits and pieces about a

controversial new “grazing system” associated with the name of Allan

Savory. Claude’s brother attended a Holistic Management course in 1985

and taped the entire session on a small cassette recorder. We became

very familiar with Allan’s accent as we played those tapes over and

over, finding much of the information difficult to understand because

we had no visual aids. Although the key insights were just too logical to

dismiss, we struggled with what we now know to be a paradigm shift.

We zeroed in on the lessons on creativity and innovation and

began to build on some ideas that Claude had been considering for

some time. We had land that was valuable, not so much for agricultural

purposes as for its scenic beauty and recreational possibilities We were

opposed to the trend toward “urbanization” of this kind of property

and felt we could not in clear conscience consider selling it for that

purpose, no matter how profitable that might be. An alternative came

to mind. The Forest Service had identified parcels of public land that

were surrounded by private land and were very difficult for them to

administer. Our property was of interest to the Forest Service because

it was a small private parcel surrounded by public land, and not only

was it scenic, it was prime elk habitat. Claude offered to trade 300 acres

of the private land in exchange for two forest parcels, one located

near existing home development areas and another adjacent to a golf

course. An innovative idea, but we hadn’t allowed for the snail’s

pace of bureaucracy. It would take nearly six years for the trade to

be completed.

Our situation couldn’t wait six years. We had made progress with

our debt, but not enough. Our loan application for 1986 was denied.

Frantic juggling of figures bought us one more year and then, in 1987,

the Production Credit Association called our note. In retrospect, it was

the best thing that could have happened.

We attended our first Holistic Management course that fall. The

desperation of our situation made it easy for us to articulate just what

we wanted in our temporary holistic goal. Based on that our next step

was to take the financial planning course a month later.

Allan Savory was teaching the course and most of the people in

attendance were facing situations in many ways similar to our own.

Those of us who found some comfort in blaming others for our strife

got no support there. Allan was almost brutal; he accepted no excuses.

He rejected our insistent and sincere explanations that the banks, the

weather, the markets, and, in our case, the Forest Service, were to blame

for the circumstances we found ourselves in. He told us in no uncertain

terms that if we persisted in blaming someone or something else for

our problem, neither he nor anyone else could help us. ‘If you want

to know who’s responsible for the situation you’re in,’ he said, ‘take a

good hard look in the mirror.’

He made us angry, but by the time we left, he had also made us

take responsibility. Response-ability. Often, we have no control over

unexpected adversity, but we learned that we do have control over

how we respond to it For the first time, we felt that we did have

alternatives. We left feeling excited and empowered by the possibilities

and alternatives there might be. And we were armed with a new

method of assessing and using those alternatives.

We spent days doing gross profit analyses, trying our hand at using

the Holistic Management™ model, and finally hammered out our first

financial plan. Claude hit the streets, going from bank to bank to see if

Adversity & CreativityBy Annette Smith


he could secure a loan. It didn’t take him long to complete the rounds.

Banks weren’t taking ag loan applications. Period. Finally, we found the

banker who has since been a vital part of our success story. He had

never seen a planning effort like the one we presented, and although

the debt-to-asset ratio wasn’t good, he believed in our plan and in us.

Taking Responsibility

The three things we funded first that year as expenses that would

generate new wealth were: 1) training in grazing planning and biological

monitoring; 2) the services of a Holistic Management consultant to help

us review our whole operation; 3) marriage counseling and team building

skills—we had a lot of fences to mend, beginning at home

When we worked on defining the whole, it was difficult to exclude

the Forest Service land where we had grazing permits. It was an integral

part of our operation. Through the years, our relationship with the Forest

Service had deteriorated to the point that they only communicated with

us by certified letter. Frustrated by rules and regulations that often

seemed senseless to us, the government and its employees had served

as a handy place to vent a lot of hostility.

Now, we realized that a collaborative relationship not only with the

range conservationists who administered our permits but also with other

users of public lands, would be vital to our success. We had to accept

responsibility for our role in the poor relationship and try to rectify that

with an honest effort to rebuild trust. We found people more than willing

to meet us halfway.

Collaboration

The people who make up our team now bring a variety of

perspectives to the table: two Forest Service range conservationists,

a District Ranger, a wildlife biologist with the State Game, Fish and

Parks, a range scientist with South Dakota State University, and an

environmentalist and officer of the Isaac Walton League. This spring

we are adding two more team members—a neighboring rancher and our

new employee. The rest of this story is as much theirs as it is ours.

The grazing planning and biological monitoring has became a team

effort. We’ve come to enjoy the same flexibility on the public land with

regard to the number of animals and the season of their use as we have

on private land—as long as we agree as a team and monitor toward our

holistic goal. Yes, our holistic goal.

It took a while before Claude and I were sure we trusted these folks

enough to share something as fundamentally important in our lives as

our holistic goal. When we included them in redefining it, the values

that emerged in the quality of life part of the goal turned out to be

the same for all of us. We were in agreement on what we needed to

produce—for everyone—to address those values, and we shared a

common vision of the future landscape.

Shifting Paradigms

We made some changes in the operation. We quit running yearlings.

The calf market was beginning to rally. Bred cows were still cheap but

the real hole in the market at that time was butcher cows at bargain

basement prices. Many operators were still culling deep, not preg testing,

and sending more cows to town to cut debt. We started buying them.

The open cows (there weren’t many) went to the Nebraska cornfields,

the bred cows went into our herd. We “borrowed” bulls. Claude’s uncle,

a purebred breeder let us use his yearling bulls that hadn’t sold if we

promised to get them into shape after breeding season.

Although we had 15 paddocks, we had always run five herds,

and badly overgrazed plants every year. We put the cattle, including

yearlings and two-year-old heifers into one herd. As long as energy

conversion remained our weak link, we opted for electric fence as

the way to address it. The resulting 38 paddocks gave us tremendous

flexibility in working toward achieving the landscape described in our

goal and very effectively addressed the weak link. In 1990, we made

the decision to stop putting up hay and put our cropland back to

grass. A paradigm shift in itself! In 1991, the land exchange was finally

completed. We sold the acquired land and paid off the real estate

debt and I quit my full time job in town.

Staying on Track

In the last few years, the weak link has been product conversion

and we’ve addressed that by keeping our heifer calves, replacing

those old cows who served us so well. Since income tax is now a

consideration, and we’ve needed to acquire more cattle, we have used

a tax-free exchange to cull old cows from our herd in exchange for

younger bred cows. We addressed product conversion of our timbered

land by harvesting the timber through a local contractor.

Our debt? As of January 1, 1994, we had a balance on our operating

loan of $1 with 2 cents interest due. We’ve doubled our stocking rate

and still have lots of room to increase productivity when energy

conversion again becomes the weak link.

The adversity we faced during the 80’s was the catalyst for change

we needed. It gave us the courage to shrug off peer pressure and to

overcome our fear of change. We made mistakes, and always will, but

the decision-making process has always enabled us to get back on track

quickly. Whenever we’ve been sidetracked it has been because we fell

back into the deeply ingrained habit of making decisions the old way.

They say when a paradigm shifts, everyone goes back to zero. That

has been the toughest part for us—going back to zero—but it has also

proven to be the most rewarding. We approach every day now with a

sense of excitement and the anticipation of discovery. We also continue

to invest in training every year, and just so we don’t forget who’s

responsible for our circumstances, we always keep a mirror handy.

Claude and Annette Smith now ranch in Newcastle,Wyoming.

Combining five herds into one and planning the grazing, enabled the Smiths to eliminate overgrazing and to grow grass right up to the water points.

Ifirst heard about Holistic Management when I was studying at

Marcus Oldham College in 1995. A friend there was talking about

the principles of Holistic Management, and I was attracted to the

logic of the entire process: working with nature instead of fighting

it, reducing production costs to increase profitability, creating a

sustainable future. The more I learned, the more I realized that

Holistic Management is so logical it just had to work.

Trouble in Paradise

In 1997, I took over management of our family farm at

Coombing Park, Carcoar, in the central tablelands of New South

Wales, Australia. The property here was once (in the ‘50s and ‘60s)

one of the best-managed properties in New South Wales. They had

the most modern pasture improvement and super phosphate

programs. They were importing genetics from Scotland for the

cattle stud, and the progeny were sought after from all parts of

Australia. They were sure they had discovered the best system for

managing the farm, so they decided it would be best to not make

any changes.

But when I started farming here after my grandfather had passed

on, the property was completely uneconomical. The asset base had

deteriorated to a point where it was incapable of returning financial

gain. The fences were mostly not stock-proof; the dams were

unserviceable (mostly filled with silt); and the pastures were almost

all annual grasses, so we had a drought every season regardless of

the year. As soon as the growing season had passed, the annuals

dried off and there was basically no more growth except for weeds.

Our expenses climbed as we tried to control them.

The animal performance from the sheep and cattle was

appallingly bad. Because of poor water and grasses that had no

nutritional value, cows were licking holes in erosion banks in an

attempt to satisfy their mineral deficiencies. They also suffered

from worms terribly because they were set-stocked in a 30-inch

(750 mm) rainfall.

Astounding Results

But things began to change when Dick and Judy Richardson

(Dick is a Holistic Management™ Certified Educator) from South

Africa came to visit with a mutual friend. Within a month, we

had mobbed 20 mobs of stock into one and had begun Holistic

Management training as a family. Both my parents, Berkeley and

Penny King, and myself attended this training.

The results we achieved were far greater than we ever could

have imagined. To go from unintentionally destroying our ecology

to deliberately and consciously rebuilding it, has been an amazing

experience. Every year over the past four years the results seem

to double on top of themselves.

I started here running 4,200 breeding merino ewes, 1,200

wethers and approximately 500 breeding cows on 6,000 acres.

We have increased the acreage to 10,000 acres (4,000 hectares)

with the purchase of an adjoining farm and are now running

2,500 breeding cows.

We decided to move to straight cattle from predominantly

sheep for many reasons, mainly economical. Sheep were too

expensive to run in this high rainfall area, along with concerns

about fly prevention, hygiene, shearing, foot paring (trimming),

and low commodity price. With cattle we could control the cost

of production much more effectively. We also wanted to make

Turning Around the Family Farmby George King

The Kings have created a series of gates and lanes at Coombing Park thatallow for easy cattle movement withminimal labor. Responding to a whistle, the herd of 2,500 cattle will move through the gate within half an hour.



sure we did the grazing planning effectively, and this

decision was the easiest way to make the

management simple.

One of the things that Holistic Management

has allowed us to do, while dramatically increasing

our stocking rate, is massively increase our biodiversity.

We have many more birds (both in numbers and

species) than we used to. Trees are regenerating again

and are healthy. We also have thicker pastures.

Holistic Management has also helped us control

our cost of production. I constantly remember

Allan Savory’s quote, “profit is a function of cost of

production—not sale price.” With that in mind, I have

reduced the labor on this farm from five hired men

to just myself, and our cost of production is below

40 cents per kilogram of beef. (Previously the cost

of production was substantially greater than the price

we received.)

We are able to do this because we have no

weed control expenses, no erosion control expense,

and no pasture improvement costs. Because of these

changes we have achieved a 13 percent turn around

in our results over the past four years. (We used to

lose nearly 5 percent of equity each year, but now

we have achieved an 8 percent return on our

asset.)

It is very easy for me to openly say that I do not

think we would still be here today given our starting

point had it not been for Holistic Management or some similar

process. I believe it has given us a second chance to be a part of

an industry that continues to evolve.

I think the future of agriculture lies in being able to consistently

supply the market with a safe product because that is what

consumers want. Holistic Management seems to provide the tools

to meet this need while lowering the cost of production for

the producer. At the same time, we regenerate our farmlands through

We used to lose nearly 5 percent of equity each year, but now we have achieved

an 8 percent return on our asset.

These photos, taken from the same area of Coombing Park, show the highly ineffective water cycle George faced when he began to manage the property. An improved water cycle (see photo on page 17) has reduced the frequency and severity of floods and droughts on Coombing Park.

increased biodiversity and lessen the effects of seasonal variations,

which appear as droughts and floods. Likewise, as we become more

profitable both ecologically and environmentally, we bring stability

to our communities.

I believe that agriculture must be a positive experience for both

the producer and the consumer, only then can we turn around the

family farm and rural economies. When we accomplish that objective

then everyone wins because a society is only as sustainable as its

food source.


hen we started practicing Holistic Management, for many

reasons it was very difficult for us to reach a common holistic

goal. The main inhibitor was the age or generation gap between

my parents and myself. Dad and Mum wanted to be easing up a bit

and having more leisure time, more weekends off, days off, etc. I

wanted to have less weekends away, spend less on consumables,

work longer hours, have less staff and lower costs, increase

productivity, have no holidays, and have more money for

production items and capital improvement, etc.

Because we were in such poor financial

shape and poor ecological state, I saw my way

as the only way to ensure/guarantee that we

could succeed. Personally, I think “compromises”

just end up in a lose-lose situation, so I did not

want to go down that path.

Both my parents could understand the

importance of getting the property back on

track, but at their age they did not want to enter

into another battle so to speak. I, however, was

adamant that we achieve a positive outcome. So I became

responsible for that outcome.

This decision was very important because initially we found that

the decision-making team turned into a “committee” with no one

person responsible or accountable for any part of the operation.

With such committee “mentality,” we lacked the commitment to

complete tasks or complete them with a certain level of quality.

So I took the role of team leader for our farm because I was the

one implementing the changes: designing the paddock plans, moving

the stock, monitoring, etc. However I still rely on both my parents

as part of the decision-making team even though it is very clear that

I am the final decision-maker. Ironically, because of this

arrangement, I feel even more relaxed about keeping my parents

informed about what’s happening and what my thoughts are.

From our experience, I feel it is important to have one person

responsible for an operation. Once you are passionate about

something, so much can be achieved in terms of work, negotiations

with suppliers and principle financiers or demands or requirements

on professionals such as accountants.

Passing the Baton

As I look back on the experience of how our family was able to

make this transition of leadership successfully, I have to credit my

father’s willingness to pass the baton to me. I think many parents

assume that their children aren’t ready for the

responsibility and don’t give them the chance to

try. This lack of trust can seriously undermine

the potential for that family’s business.

Many/most fathers want more than anything for

their sons to be successful, but they have spent

their entire life building a business that has

“become their life.” What do they then do when

they hand their life/business to their son? Such

changes can be hard, especially when there isn’t

a plan in place to address those new challenges.

In our case we decided that Mum & Dad would renovate the

main house for a guest house and a Bed & Breakfast, which will

provide them with financial independence from me, and enable

them to pursue something that really interests them. In the

meantime, I get to face the challenge of pushing the grazing

business until it is self-sustaining.

Because my relationship with my parents is one of total trust,

love, and respect we find that we enjoy what we are doing here

with the business and with our personal lives. Such trust helps us

face the challenges that inevitably arise in a way that makes our

relationship grow stronger and our work more successful. I am very

fortunate that my parents were confident enough within themselves

to see the benefits of Holistic Management and the importance of

not allowing past conditioning and paradigms to stand in the way of

our success and our family’s happiness.

—George King

Every Ship Must Have Its Captain

It is important to have one personresponsible for an operation.

W

Answers Not Agendas:

Beyond Environmental Conflict


by Ann Adams

Talking with Tony and Jerrie Tipton is how I would imagine itwould have been talking to a combination of Judge Roy Beanand Mahatma Gandhi; they don’t mince words, they feel deeply,

and they live their convictions. It is those traits that have inspired manypeople to join them in their sometimes quixotic journey into theidiosyncracies of land reclamation with its cast of thousands.

The enormous task of trying to eke out a living while runninglivestock on the public lands has daunted many a rancher, but theTiptons have an even bigger focus than that. While they certainly factorfinancial health into their decision-making, the task that seems to havegrabbed their attention is how to revive a flourishing landscape from adying desert.

Their road has not been an easy one, but there is no doubt that it has been a rewarding one as they evolved from everyday permittees tocontracted range reclamation specialists. In that journey they learned that, either way, they would have to involve many parties with vestedinterests, and they preferred to take a title that more clearly stated theirpassion and offered more opportunities to do the work they wanted to do.

The Tiptons’ latest project, the Marietta/Teal’s Marsh Project will testthe strength of their management team because the project is of evengreater proportion than their earlier work, which means even moreinterest groups will be involved. And that’s exciting news for the Tiptonswho know that as the diversity of the team increases, so do their chancesfor success.

A Rough Start

The Tiptons used to have their headquarters in Austin, Nevada, at the Carter Ranch where they had a U.S. Forest Service (USFS) grazingallotment for summer use. Their winter country was a 250,000-acre(101,174 hectare) Bureau of Land Management (BLM) allotment in Mina,Nevada, where the average rainfall is four to six inches (101-152 mm).

To make the most of each allotment, the Tiptons formed managementteams at both locations, but it wasn’t long before they realized theyneeded an umbrella organization that could receive funding directly,rather than monies funneled through government agencies like the BLM.Enter “Twenty to One.”

Twenty to One is the non-profit the Tiptons formed with otherranchers, academics, and environmentalists to make use of opportunitiesavailable in land reclamation. The name came from the group’sconfidence in their ability to successfully reclaim land; they’ll give you20-to -1 odds that they’ll accomplish what they say they will. Because it is an umbrella organization, other people interested in land reclamationprojects can use Twenty to One to help them secure funding forappropriate projects.

And while the Tiptons had taken an important step in helping tocreate Twenty to One, they were still learning how to deal withgovernment agencies in Austin. Despite a strong team, good intent, and a structure that had the potential to create the results everyone wanted,the Tiptons ran up against an unmovable force: a less than helpful USFSForest Supervisor.

The Tiptons’ Austin team had identified the need for a five-mile fence.The Forest Supervisor had stalled that project for several years resulting

in a direct loss of $60,000 to the Tiptons in such items as increased labor and a willful trespass suit. So where’s the goodnews in this story?

When the rest of the team understoodthe full ramifications of this supervisor’schoices, they were the ones to confronttheir team member (the supervisor), ratherthan the more generic scenario of thewronged permittees standing alone against the impassive bureaucracy.As a result of their moral indignation the supervisor requested atransfer. And, as result of the financial pressure that had accrued, theTiptons chose to release themselves from the obligation of the CarterRanch and focus their efforts on the land near Mina.

The reason I include that piece of the story is not to incite furtheroutrage at the injustice of bureaucracies, but to illustrate someimportant lessons the Tiptons learned: 1) Get to know the managers in charge of various resources before you become deeply enmeshed in a project; 2) If you get an answer you don’t like from one official, be clear whether it’s the manager or the regulations that are prohibitive(many times it will be the manager); 3) Create a team that can eitherput pressure on the official or engage other officials to create thesuccess desired; and 4) If the project isn’t working create another one that will.

While the Tiptons may still have some strong feelings about whathappened at Austin, they know dwelling on the past won’t help themcreate the future they want. They also realize that such a situationcould have happened anywhere with any bureaucracy. “I don’t feelsorry for myself that the land I operate on is public land,” says Jerrie.“People in Texas might think they don’t have to worry aboutbureaucracy the same way people in states like Nevada do since somuch of their land is private. But I don’t believe it. Bureaucracies areeverywhere. You have to face those regulations and bureaucrats at onepoint or another.”

Reshuffling the Deck

The Tiptons and their Mina team had already achieved impressiveresults in the desert around Mina. In one section of this allotment, theyhad a yield of about 50 pounds of perennials per acre when they firststarted grazing. Three years later they had increased the yield to 150pounds. During this time the Tiptons had continued to build theirrelationship with the BLM as well as attracting other key players fromother groups and establishing other projects.

In the fall of 1996, Twenty to One and the Mina management teamsecured a two-year Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grant tofeed cattle on the slopes of catchment areas to see what impact itwould have on the springs below. Humdinger Spring had dried up inthe 1940s and the creek only flowed when there was sufficient snowmelt. After only one treatment of animal impact (herd effect),Humdinger Spring is now flowing at a rate of 48 gallons per minute in the wet season and 20 during the dry.

Besides securing money from agencies such as the EPA, the Tiptons

The Tiptons—

Guaranteed Land Reclamation Specialists

Jerrie and Tony Tipton


began focusing reclamation efforts on mining sites as a way todemonstrate the success of their work on severely disturbed ground.They created a contract with Kinross Mining Company to reclaim a minedump within the company’s Candelaria Mine. This dump (dirt that camefrom 1800 feet underground) was 600 feet high, and after one season offeeding 500 head of cattle on it, they were able to clip 1200 pounds ofdry matter per acre on land that previously could only support minimalplant life. That’s more of a harvest than some people get from cultivatedfields and certainly exceeded the expectations of Kinross officials whoagreed to the contract because of the Tiptons’ guarantee.

“Kinross knew we guaranteed our work,” says Tony. “No one else iswilling to do that. They (Kinross) need to secure that bond release(money put aside by the company to the EPA to assure that the companyreclaims the area before they ‘abandon’ it),and the reclamation of the land has to be100% in the surrounding area. Their choiceswere to do it themselves, get someone elseto do it with no guarantee, or us. Theycould do it mechanically, but they wouldn’tget all the added benefits that the cattlebring, such as helping to break down thelitter and fertilize the ground.”

With such projects under their belts, noone is likely to challenge the Tiptons’ titleof land reclamation specialists. But justbecause you are a reclamation specialistdoesn’t mean that you’ll get the funding orthe go-ahead for a project. While theTiptons found new opportunities asreclamation specialists, it is not a job that offers a steady paycheck for theuninspired. In that position you must find someone (government agency,foundation, business or individual) willing to pay for your services. Thatmeans you have to spend a great deal of time gathering information forproposals, writing proposals and other documents, following through onleads, and networking. And then, of course, there is all the people timeyou need to invest once you have a contract. That is why the Tiptonsspend as much time, if not more, engaged with the people involved orimpacted by their projects as they do on the actual day-to-dayreclamation activities.

Currently the Mina team has grown to a core of 30 people with asmany as 100 “floaters” and a mailing list of 250. At least half the team isfrom a state or federal agency, including the USFS, the BLM, the NaturalResources Conservation Service (NRCS), the Cooperative ExtensionService, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The Tiptons estimate that it took them at least two to three years to establish the diversity withintheir team and a functioning level of trust (where each member viewsthe others as one of us, not one of them).

Marietta/Teal’s Marsh ProjectThe lure of the Marietta/Teal’s Marsh Project is simple on one level:

it’s the perfect place to pull off an extraordinary feat. In an area of thecountry that typically receives four inches (101 mm) of rain a year thereonce had been a marsh. It is now a salt flat, but some of the localoldtimers can still remember when migratory birds would partake of themarsh’s accommodations.

The only animals using the flats today are wild burros, which addsanother interesting little twist to the story. The Wild Horses of America(WHOA) organization now has also expressed concerns for how theproject will impact the burro population. Statistics already show an

increase in the average age of the wild burro population as well as adecrease in the average weight. In other words, the population is dyingout. Local wisdom gives them another 20 to 30 years before the herd isgone, which certainly makes WHOA’s concern legitimate.

So if you were running this team, how would you set up a projectwhere an environmentalist wanted a certain amount of land fenced tomonitor the results of complete rest, the WHOA representative wantedno fencing so the burros could get to food and water easily, theacademics wanted clearly measurable results (read reductionistresearch), the agency people wanted tangible proof to show theirsupervisors they were doing the right thing, and you wanted to makesure you were getting some reclamation work done? You’d better havemore than your fair share of creativity, and, luckily, the Tiptons do.

With the curiosity of a two-year-old,the Tiptons continually encourage thistype of input at every stage of the game.They also expect the team to come upwith the answers. If they hear an “I don’tlike it,” then they make sure the personknows he or she needs to be at the nextmeeting with some ideas to discuss. Sowhether they are fencing areas for restand reminding the WHOA representativethat the burros will eat and drink alongwith the cattle, or seeding experimentalpatches at one pound or three poundsper acre, they have a strong belief inwhat the team can accomplish.That belief is evident in the project

proposal in which they list their anticipated results including:• An increase in the density and diversity of native perennial plantspecies in the watershed area surrounding the “marsh,” especially ofthe native grasses.• A decrease of bare ground and soil erosion due to wind and water.• An increase in water retention due to an increase of native perennialplant cover and root structures on the watershed—improved water cycle.• An increase in marsh vegetation.• Functioning wetlands in the marsh area.• An increase in diversity and density of wildlife and migratory birds,associated with improved habitat.• New insights regarding wild horse and burro management.• Sustainable habitat for the burro refuge.• Groups and individuals with diverse management philosophiesworking together to achieve a common goal.• Management philosophies that are ecologically, socially, and financiallysustainable and can be used in other locations.• An “Outdoor Classroom” and other learning opportunities for theresource management professions.

While some of these results might seem hard to measure, the Tiptonspropose to have identifiable results by the third year of the project. Theirplan is to feed a herd of 2500 cattle on this 100,000-acre (40,470 hectare)area. The cost for cattle, feed, hauling water (or creating a pipeline), andlabor is estimated at $2 million, but here’s the beauty of it. Because theyare feeding the cattle as they move them, the Tiptons reclaim the landwhile they operate what could be seen as a humane feedlot.

Instead of standing in their own excrement, which is unhealthy forthe cattle and anyone or anything around them, the cattle are free to

Earl McKinney and Tony Tipton standing next to new growth of basin wild rye.

continued on page 23


graze in the area where the Tiptons have placed feed and water forthem. Because this “paddock” is moved according to a grazing plan theteam develops from their holistic goal, any movement should aid notonly the health and growth of the cattle, but all the reclamation effortslisted above. And at the end of the project, the cattle will be sold for

s a long-standing member of the Sierra Club, Rose Strickland isknown as one of the leading environmental activists in the state

of Nevada. In a state that has such a high percentage of public lands,that’s a powerful position. She has been labeled as being “anti-cattle,”hasn’t been afraid to litigate in the public lands’ controversy, and is now an enthusiastic team member of Jerrie and Tony Tipton’s projectsto use cattle as a land reclamation tool.

Does that mean that Rose is convinced cattle are necessary as a reclamation tool or that she loves to see cattle on the public lands? No. But it does mean that Rose Strickland is willing to donate a greatdeal of her time to collaborate with ranchers, government officials, and private interest group representatives in an effort to heal the land about which they all care deeply.

A Marriage of Conviction

Rose has been a “volunteer conservationist” for 25 years. Six yearsago the Tiptons began inviting her to their meetings. Three years agoshe started coming to them. Their persistence and sincerity won herover and now she enjoys the camaraderie and constant learning that the Tiptons have fostered within their team. “I don’t see myself as amember of Twenty to One (the non-profit that the Tiptons helpedcreate as part of their reclamation efforts); it’s more personal than that. I work with Tony and Jerrie,” says Rose.

That personal touch seems to be one of the keys to gathering the people around you that make for a strong team and a force withwhich to be reckoned. The environmental community, because of its urban ties, is an increasingly important ally for anyone wanting to engage with the agencies controlling public land. And for thatmatter, they can help with projects occurring on private land, too,

as more zoning and planning regulations take environmental concerns to heart.

“If you want to get the environmental community involved you have to keep asking,” says Rose. “If you do good work on the land they will be attracted. It can be hard for them to get involvedbecause a lot of them live in the city and it’s hard to get to themeetings.”

It took the Tiptons three years to convince Rose that everyonewould benefit if she joined their team. They consistently sought herbecause of her anti-cattle stance, her name and her commitment toprotecting the environment. The length of time was partially because ofRose’s busy schedule, but also because of a certain amount of distrust.

“There is great amount of distrust and paranoia about cattle and thepublic lands within the environmental community because we see itmostly not working,” says Rose. “So there’s great resistance to what may be an innovative idea if it involves cattle. But I’ve learned we allhave to be creative and keep trying to get past the barriers because we really don’t have a choice.”

Using a Collaborative Approach

One of the primary reasons Rose continued to work with the Tipton team after that first meeting was because they meant what they said; it wasn’t just lip service when they told her they wanted everyone’s input.

“It was such a contrast to other meetings I’ve been at. In the past I was involved with groups that failed at consensus because the agencyofficials would be sitting outside the circle of participants and peoplelike the ranch wives weren’t involved. What kind of consensus is that?

“That experience made me really nervous about trying anothergroup again, but the Holistic Management™ model the Tiptons use is a really good model for encouraging collaboration and creating a way for people to have some common ground from which they can get results.

“I remember we had a meeting in Carson City, Nevada, and this guy from People for the West (now People for the USA) showed up just itching for a fight. Instead, we invited him in and involved him to the point where he just sat there confused. When he left, he never came back because he knew he couldn’t get what he came for: a fight.”

That type of commitment to the collaborative process and torigorous planning and monitoring has consistently demonstrated the integrity of the Tiptons and the projects with which they areinvolved. In turn, those with whom they engage see that track recordand are more inclined to take a risk within their own organizations to create change or educate. That has certainly been true in the case of Rose Strickland.

“I used to think it was just the conservationists who cared,” says Rose. “But, I realized they all can care whether they are a livestockoperator, an agency employee, or a recreationist. Through my experiencewith the Tiptons I’ve learned that there is a tremendous amount of good will and caring for the public lands out there. And they aren’t the only ones. My job (as a volunteer conservationist) is to connect people with opportunities to be stewards.”

—Ann Adams

Rose Strickland—

The Evolution of a Collaborative Environment(alist)

Guaranteed Land Reclamation Specialistscontinued from page 22

A

$2,080,000 which gives the Tiptons $80,000 to reinvest in the project.The Tiptons still have to secure the funding for this project but

they’ve already brought their team together to brainstorm possiblesources. The depth and diversity of that team, their alliance andprevious work with the BLM, and the Tiptons’ persistency, creativity,and sense of humor stack the deck in their favor this time. When theydo get their funding, you can be sure that the odds will be twenty to one that there will be one less salt flat in Nevada and one morerefuge for migratory birds.


agreed, with enthusiasm. Here was an opportunity to promote

quality resource management in an atmosphere of cooperation—

the most critical challenge for almost every ranger district in the

American West.

The Paonia area in the North Fork of the Gunnison River Valley

in western Colorado is rural, semi-arid, and lightly populated. Its

economy is based on coal mines, fruit orchards, and ranches that

depend significantly on their grazing permits on public land. Some

8,000 cattle and 19,000 sheep belonging to 47 permittees graze on

30 different allotments in my ranger district. Of these 30, only five had

AMPs recent enough to accord with a regional forest plan completed

in 1983. The most recent AMP revision had been contentious, and

the two currently

under negotiation were

progressing slowly in the

face of much fear and

mistrust. Harmony on a

West Elk AMP would

create an excellent

example because the

allotment was both

conspicuous and

complicated.

In the northwest

portion of the West Elk

Mountains, the allotment

covers 85,000 acres (34,400

hectares) of National Forest

plus 5,000 acres (2,024

hectares) administered by

the U.S. Bureau of Land

Management. Sixty

thousand acres (24,282

hectares) lie within the

West Elk Wilderness Area

that receives particular

public scrutiny. Water

supplies for two towns,

Paonia and Crawford, also

come from the allotment.

Elevation varies from 6,000 to 12,000 feet (1,800 to 3,600 meters),

rainfall from 7 inches to 40 (178 to 1,015 mm), and grazing areas from

desert adobe [clay] hills, juniper-covered mesas, and shrubby mountain

slopes, to aspen-cloaked ridges and sub-alpine parks. Livestock have

grazed there since the 1880s, regulated by permit since soon after

establishment of the Gunnison National Forest in 1905. The wilderness

issues, the water supply issues, and the wildlife issues all provide

ample opportunity for conflict.

A Socio-Bureaucratic Process

In December of 1993 we met with the permittees to discuss how

By David Bradford

Fifteen years ago holistic thinking in the U.S. Forest Service hardlyexisted outside semi-secret cells. That has changed. The dogmaticrhetoric of competing ideologies and programs, which had frequentlyborrowed elements from each other, had to yield to pressure to simplyget on with the job. When environmentalists insisted that “renewable”resources actually show evidence of renewal, agencies responded withfine phrases like “Whole Ecosystem Management” and “CollaborativeResource Management Planning.” Field staff, however, had to figureout what to actually do. Their practical use of the HolisticManagement™ model has enriched our knowledge and made thepublic discussion ofHolistic Management farhealthier and more level-headed. The followingarticle by David Bradford,a range conservationist inthe Gunnison NationalForest in Colorado,illustrates how this processcontinues. Bradford is alsopresident of the ColoradoSection of the Society forRange Management.

—Editor

Ifirst heard of Allan

Savory and his grazing

theories in the mid-‘80s.

They were intriguing, but

in truth I did not really

understand them until I

went to an introductory

class in Albuquerque. I

came out charged up and

ready to introduce Holistic

Management on every

grazing allotment in my

district. Unfortunately, none of the ranchers there (permittees as we

call them) were interested or had even heard of it. It was like being

dressed for the prom and having no date, and if the girl don’t want

to go she ain’t gonna. I left my knowledge of Holistic Management

on the shelf and unapplied except as background knowledge.

Then, in 1993, I moved to Paonia, Colorado. That fall, the Forest

Range Staff Officer and myself were invited to ride with members

of the West Elk grazing pool as they gathered cattle off the forest.

They actually intended to convince the Forest Service to initiate

the revision of their Allotment Management Plan (AMP). Why

would any ranchers want to do that? They worried, however, that

without a current AMP in force they would be vulnerable to

arbitrary decisions that would end their grazing on the forest. We

We’re Making It Work!

Grazing permittees on the West Elk Forest allotment run a combined herd of1,056 cow-calf pairs. Here, one third of the herd has just been moved by threecowboys over the 10,000-foot (2 , 540-meter) Minnesota Pass to the corrals wherethey’ll spend the night. In the morning, they will be herded into the next pasture,three miles away. This is one of the most difficult moves on the grazing plan and takes nearly a week to complete. “Moves that once demanded 18 riders now take half the time with six, plus dogs.”



to proceed. We decided to include everyone with an interest or

potential interest and to try to involve them in the entire process,

including the on-the-ground evaluation. Letters went out to 200

individuals, groups, and offices for a January meeting in Hotchkiss

at the Memorial Hall, the nearest building that could handle a

crowd. Fifty folks came and we struggled through a whole Saturday

afternoon listing all the issues that possibly affected the West Elk

allotment or the Wilderness Area.

Over the next year we completed the range analysis, held

eleven public meetings, and developed an AMP based on Holistic

Management. The Environmental Assessment (EA) was not completed

until spring of 1997, over three years from our first meeting.

It was 42 pages long. That saying, “If you can’t dazzle them

with brilliance, baffle them with bull” may apply to many EAs but

in all that paper we put nothing that didn’t need to be there.

To quote the oldest and crustiest of our permittees, “I got that EA in

the mail and thought there was no way I could read that whole thing.

But I read it in one sitting, and it was damn good! I really learned

some things.” We really tried to describe the landscape as it was

affected by livestock grazing and consider only viable alternatives.

The final decision notice on the EA and the AMP received

only two public comments, both supportive. I believe the no-B.S.

Environmental Assessment was part of the reason no one appealed

our decision.

Flexibility in Formal Documents

While the Environmental Assessment made a strong case for

Holistic Management as the most practical approach to a large

number of public and ranching issues, it’s the Allotment Management

Plan and grazing permit that govern practice. Together they represent

a mix of new flexibility and standard procedure.

The AMP outlines objectives, management actions, range

improvements, and monitoring, but it is also based on a three-part

holistic goal—quality of life, forms of production, and future landscape

description. The goal kept us focused on the land. In public meetings,

it is difficult to get agreement on anything. People come with their

own biases, prejudices, and paradigms. When one person speaks, the

vision in his mind probably differs from everyone else’s, and they

may or may not be listening. So, how did we get beyond that? We

focused on the land. As Clinton’s handlers might have put it, “It’s the

land, stupid.”

There are several other differences in our AMP. Though the basic

terms have changed little, it allows discretionary flexibility on such

questions as grazing season and livestock numbers. Also, plant growth

and regrowth has replaced the old forage utilization standards and

total forage consumed as the criteria for moving stock. For example,

the AMP shows May 26 to October 10 as the authorized season of

use, but we (permittees together with Forest Service staff) planned

May 10 to October 15. The earlier turn-on date means grazing will

occur in the most brittle pastures when there is still moisture in the

soil. Thus plants can regrow. The low elevation lands administered by

the Bureau of Land Management had taken 85 cow/calf pairs from

May 16 to June 15. Under the holistic plan, 1,056 cow/calf pairs pass

through once from May 10 to May 16.

Furthermore, this year we plan to bring mother cows back on the

allotment between November 9 and November 18 to open up a heavy

oak brush area. The forage under the oaks is generally still green and

palatable after it has frosted and cured out in the open parks. We

planned this in the spring but monitored in October to check.

Likewise on numbers, this year we authorized an additional

200 head of yearling heifers, and we are monitoring the impact by

re-photographing several of the long-term study sites. The permittees

will take the before and after photos, and we provide color

photocopies of previous photos to help standardize the retakes.

Nevertheless, the AMP does not promise any increase in numbers in

response to monitoring results. Adjustments in numbers and grazing

season are tied to the holistic goal. This may sound like weasel-

wording, but it isn’t. I don’t think promising increases is a good idea.

Flexibility to accomplish specific resource objectives is.

There are, in fact, five specific objectives in the AMP. The two

most challenging include bringing all riparian areas into upper mid-

seral condition [a higher successional level] and increasing desirable

perennial herbaceous plant cover in six pasture units by 20 percent

by 2005. There is specific monitoring listed in the monitoring section

to measure these objectives.

Guarantees for All Partners

On-the-ground flexibility does require a certain level of faith that

the permittees will not fudge on commitments, but faith is not our

only recourse. When we completed the Environmental Assessment

and signed off on the new management plan, we reissued the Term

Grazing Permits. These permits, like all Forest Service grazing permits,

We’re Making it Work!continued from page 24

The West Elk allotment covers 85,000 acres (34,400 hectares) ofNational Forest, 60,000 (24,282) of which lie within a wildernessarea where vehicle access is prohibited. Here, West Elk cowboy Steve Kossler is packing in materials for a stock tank.


list the permitted livestock numbers and season of use, in this

case the numbers and season previously authorized while allowing

adjustments according to the guidelines of the new AMP. If

agreements fall apart, the Forest Service can go back to the original

numbers and season. The protection for the permittees also lies in the

new Term Permits. They also state that we will use the Holistic

Grazing Planning process backed up by the EA to determine livestock

numbers and the season of use, so we can’t make changes arbitrarily.

What We’ve Learned

Does the West Elk allotment set an entirely new precedent?

Probably not. The Nebraska National Forest, the Pike/San Isabel

National Forest, the Shoshone, the Medicine Bow, and some others

have all authorized similar programs, but the Paonia Ranger District

and the permittees would be happy to give a tour of the West Elk

allotment to anyone who still doubts that Holistic Management can

produce the best resource management in our National Forests.

The on-the-ground accomplishments were recognized when the

Colorado Section of the Society for Range Management selected the

West Elk Grazing Pool as the recipient for its “Excellence in Rangeland

Conservation Award” in 1996. In 1997 the Chief of the Forest Service

selected the West Elk Pool for the “Out-Service Award for Excellence

in Range Management.” In February 1998 the Society for Range

Management’s magazine, Rangelands, ran an article “Holistic Resource

Management in the West Elks—

Why it Works.” We have conducted

a number of tours that have

included the allotment as an

example of progressive and

innovative management.

Can I be certain that the process

will spread? Not yet. This group of

permittees is the best I have ever

seen or worked with. Their attitudes

are a major reason why this works

so well. We are now working with

four other allotments on some level

of Holistic Management and progress

varies. One is about as good as the

West Elk. One is barely operating

in a holistic way though still much

improved over past management.

The third is improving every year,

and the fourth is just getting started.

West Elk itself took over three

years to establish fully, which may

seem long, but I don’t regret the time. We front-loaded the process

by doing public scoping and getting issues and concerns out on the

table before we started doing any field analysis. That way we had

those concerns in mind while we were on the land doing analysis,

which took one whole year of the three. This paid off. The

participants had more of a shared vision of what the land was really

like. We probably could have completed the EA/AMP the second

year, but like most everyone else I have many other projects and

duties. We worked through the process within the constraints of all

our other work. It may look slow, but I think the outcome speaks

for itself. We didn’t push the finish, and we were able to successfully

complete the process.

Forest Service endorsement is, of course, essential. EAs and

AMPs must pass a thorough review process. We did have to

convince a few Forest Service specialists, but that was done as part

of the process. We took those folks with us as we did the analysis.

Fortunately our Forest Supervisor and Forest Range Staff Specialist

are extremely supportive of Holistic Management. On other forests

this may not be the case.

As for the permittees, they are more enthusiastic than ever,

although the learning curve has been steep. They have tried many

combinations of fencing (temporary, permanent, and semi-permanent),

riders, salting, and border collies to manage the stock in a single big

herd, but they are now refining techniques that were new to all the

people and animals at the start. Moves that once demanded 18 riders

now take half the time with six, plus dogs. They’ve cut salt from four

tons a season to one, and use it strategically to create herd effect. In

1986 the allotment had 11 pastures. In 1996 there were 32 but fewer

miles of fence! They’re making it work.

Is Holistic Management a panacea for all grazing issues on the

national forests? No, I don’t think so. There will still be problems,

issues, and concerns, but I do believe Holistic Management makes

the road ahead much clearer, because it provides an on-going

decision-making process that is tied to a specific goal for a specific

area of land and trusts open communication to reach flexible,

ecosystem-based decisions. Do I recommend it? Absolutely.

‘We would be happy to give atour of the West Elk allotment toanyone who still

doubts that HolisticManagement

can produce the best resourcemanagement

in our NationalForests.’

West Elk Allotment Holistic Goal

Quality of Life

From now and into the future our goal is to maintain a safe,

secure, rural community with economic, social, and biological

diversity. We will promote a community that respects individual

freedom and values, education, and that encourages cooperation.

We agree to act as good stewards in maintaining a healthy

ecosystem in the West Elk allotment and enjoy doing it.

Forms of Production

Our stewardship of the West Elk Allotment and Wilderness

Area will foster abundant and diverse flora and fauna, clean air

and water, and stable soils. From this the local population can

derive a stable livelihood, and local residents and visitors can

enjoy the aesthetic and natural values of the area.

Landscape [Future Resource Base]

Our landscape covers adobe ground, brushy mid-ground, and

mountain environments, including many different habitat types

that we are committed to maintaining. Our goal is to have a

good water cycle by having close plant spacing, a covered soil

surface, and arable soils; have a fast mineral cycle using soil

nutrients effectively; have an energy flow that maximizes the

amount of sunlight converted to plant growth and values the

seclusion and natural aesthetics of the area.

What theResearch Shows


Between 1991 and 1993 Charley Orchard surveyed a large group ofranchers in an attempt to document the changes they had experiencedas a result of Holistic Management. What he learned served as the basis of his Master’s thesis, completed under the direction of CliffMontagne, a soil science professor at Montana State University (andHolistic Management™ Certified Educator). Cliff wanted to make theinformation in Charley’s thesis more widely available and offered tohelp organize the material into more accessible form. This article is a result of that effort. —Editor

Forty-three ranch managers in the Northern Rockies (Montana,Wyoming, Idaho) who had received training and had beenpracticing Holistic Management for two or more years, agreed to

participate in our study through telephone interviews and written surveys.They were all male, aged 17 to 56 years, and had been managing their

ranch from 1 to 44 years. Sixty percent said their ranches had beenmanaged by a prior generation of their family. The size of the propertiesranged from 400 to over 50,000 acres (160 to 20,000 hectares), and cattlewas the principal enterprise on all of them. Annual gross income rangedfrom less than $25,000 to more than $500,000. Expenses varied across a wide range from less than $25,000 to over $1 million.

The reasons for adopting Holistic Management varied among therespondents, but were primarily:

1. They had few other options. Some were in such a financial bind that they were “willing to try anything.” Holistic Management was a“what could they lose” alternative to giving up and losing the ranch.

2. They were interested in a new grazing method. Curiosity aboutapplication of holistic principles to grazing led to some ranchers taking a class in Holistic Management.

3. Holistic Management offered an alternative approach toconventional resource management. Some managers wanted analternative option to try in place of conventional management practices.

What We Discovered

In essence, the majority of these ranchers feel they are attaining thequality of life described in their holistic goals. There has been a positivechange in satisfaction levels for family and personal happiness, vacationtime, job pleasure, and community involvement.

Almost all of the survey respondents report they are achieving theproduction goals they have set, are making more profit, and haveincreased economic satisfaction. Positive ecological changes are occurringwith increases in seedling success, plant diversity, litter cover and waterinfiltration into the soil. There are decreases in soil erosion and soilsurface crusting [capping]. Diversity and number of wildlife are increasing.Sixty percent of the respondents say they are spending less time, labor,and money on problem species, as a result of using the HolisticManagement™ testing guidelines; or as one respondent said:

It finally dawned on me that I’ve been spending money trying to fix the symptoms of “problems” instead of what was causing them.

Without exception, these managers all believe the land is evolvingtoward the holistic goal established for the ranch. Over half (56%) ofthem indicate they annually meet with team members and review their

holistic goals. Sixty percent of the managers indicate they are aware oftheir employees’ own personal goals and the areas they are seeking toimprove. Ninety-eight percent have encouraged and paid for employeesto attend special training.

The survey indicates that all of these ranchers are motivated, andmost of them are highly motivated to continue Holistic Managementbecause the goals they have set are becoming reality.

In addition, we also learned that:❏ Holistic managers hold planning meetings: Eighty-five percent

hold regular team meetings for planning that deals with grazing,wildlife, riparian areas, land monitoring, and financial planning (see Table 1). However, planning can be perceived as drudgery asevidenced by this respondent:

There is greater opportunity to make mistakes and much moretime needed for planning and management.

But this rancher also saw the balance:The disadvantage of Holistic Management is that it forces you

to sit down, think, and plan things out. The advantage of HolisticManagement is that it forces you to sit down, think, and plan things out.

Most survey ranchers use grazing as a tool, as they see plannedgrazing maintaining health and vigor of land. Eighty-five percent ofthe managers create and document a yearly grazing plan, and 87% havechanged their grazing management strategy. The majority (86%) hasincreased stocking rate, 97% have increased stock density, 77% havegrouped livestock together, and 95% have obtained positive results fromtrampling. These ranchers are increasing stock density and stocking rateby adding cross fencing and/or increasing herd size. Some have uppedstocking rates 30% to 50%. Changes include:

We used to run calves, yearlings, 2’s [two-year olds], and the broodherd separate, giving us four herds. They all run together now exceptcalves for 6 months after weaning.

❏ Livestock performance improves: As a result of the grazingplanning, better time control, and quicker moves, combined herds,smaller paddocks, and other factors, livestock management andperformance improves, as shown in Table 2.

These changes are leading to lower sire : dam ratios and fewer insect problems for the cattle. There is increased production per acreand per animal.

Holistic Management Gets Results in the Northern Rockies by Cliff Montagne and Charley Orchard

Type of planning Frequency ofOccurrence

Annual Grazing Strategy 85%

Implemented wildlife management practices 65%

Increased care for riparian areas 83%

Implemented formal documented land monitoring 60%

Annual documented financial plan and budget 78%

Table 1. Most frequent types of planning occurring



ranchers (24%)reported profitincreases rangingfrom 100% to500%. Suchincreases can beattributed toinitiating andfollowing throughwith financialplanning.

❏ Most aremonitoring theland. Sixty percentof the respondentsformally monitorand document thecondition of theirland. This is arather high rate.Only one percentof the ranchers inthe whole state ofMontana routinelymonitor anddocument what’shappening on their land. Table 5shows increases in seedling success, plant diversity, litter, and water infiltration along with decreases in erosion and soil crusting.Spacing between plants both increased and decreased, dependingon the respondent.

❏ Quality of life is enhanced. Table 6 shows that most practitionershave increased economic satisfaction, greater personal and familyhappiness and job pleasure, more vacation time and communityinvolvement. These numbers suggest a trend toward satisfaction andhappiness in all aspects of the lives of these practitioners. Thesechanges would be expected if they are truly making holistic changes in their lives. Holistic managers cannot leave their practice at the jobsite; they become practitioners in all aspects of their lives. Comments include:

Lower costs, clearer vision, better defined purpose and goals, and a real sense of satisfaction!

In this regard, there is increased time off for respondents and theiremployees along with increased production incentives such as:

Employees, through estate planning, are going to inherit the ranch.❏ Holistic managers face a number of challenges. The four most

commonly cited challenges are the biological monitoring (interpretingthe results); the time requirement (much more time needs to be invested in management than before); watering facilities (gettingadequate delivery for larger herds); and communication (especially with government agency officials who do not understand the process).

The method we use to monitor range is tedious, time-consuming,and really doesn’t tell us a hell of a lot. But we have yet to see amethod that is any better.

The Holistic Management process can be hard to understand and

❏ The majority sees wildlife as an asset. Sixty percent of therespondents considered wildlife an asset. Nearly three-quarters (72%)have experienced an increase in numbers of wildlife, including predators(see Table 3).

I am now timing our grazing around nesting, fawning, and calving.Predators are a concern, but all predators are not automatically bad.We do need coyote control . . .but not elimination.

❏ Most engage in Holistic Management™ Financial Planning.Although 77% of the respondents use the financial planning process, onlyhalf (51%) have completed estate planning for passing resources on toyounger generations. Both these planning processes are resulting in newenterprises being added, including wildlife enterprises, guest businesses,organic production, and others.

On the other hand, 23% have eliminated enterprises, such as hay and grain production and registered cattle. Nearly two-thirds (62%) havedecreased expenses such as labor, feed, chemicals and fertilizer. About the same number of ranchers spend increased amounts for items such ascross fencing, water developments, wages, education and consulting. Table 4 documents the percent of ranchers experiencing these changes.

❏ More profit is possible. Eighty-two percent of the 25 managers whosupplied financial information were making more profit using HolisticManagement™ Financial Planning. Most noteworthy is the 40% of thisgroup with profit increases of 15% to 35%. These are increases one mightexpect when providing a value-added product. It appears there can bebenefits from the hard work involved with financial planning. Five

Frequency of Response

Observation Increased No Change Decreased

Conception rates 41% 49% 10%

Sire: Dam ratio 2% 36% 44%

Use of insecticides 3% 42% 55%

Fly problems 10% 9% 51%

Medication use 3% 46% 51%

Use of hormones 3% 58% 39%

Production per animal 69% 24% 7%

Production per acre 93% 7% 0%

Time spent with animals 90% 10% 0%

Table 2. Livestock Performance

Frequency of Response

Indicator Decreased No Change Increased

Number of wildlife —- 28% 72%

Diversity of wildlife —- 58% 42%

Diversity of birds —- 43% 57%

Breeding sites —- 68% 32%

Nesting sites 5% 32% 63%

Number of predators —- 25% 75%

Table 3. Wildlife changes

Expense % %Reporting ReportingIncrease Decrease

Labor 40%

Fertilizers & Chemicals 29%

Fuel 29%

Maintenance 15%

Trucking 7%

Custom work 3%

Seed 3%

Equipment purchase 3%

Bulls 3%

Feed 10% 44%

Repairs 3% 26%

Veterinary 6% 26%

Interest 3% 18%

Pasture lease 6% 15%

Insurance 10% 7%

Fencing 50%

Water Development 36%

Wages 23%

Education & Consulting 20%

Taxes 10%

Business Travel 3%

Phone 3%

Fuel 3%

Table 4. Changes in expenses for 25 managers

Results in the Northern Rockiescontinued from page 28


implement. Eighty-five percent of the respondents indicated their supportfrom neighbors remained the same or improved since changing toHolistic Management. But some still struggle to gain support from theirneighbors and community:

Sharing the information can be tough. We are forging a new pathwithout a whole lot of leaders out there.

❏ Motivation to continue Holistic Management is very high: Ninety-fivepercent indicated that they are very motivated to continue managingholistically. Sixteen of 42 respondents have the “highest possiblemotivation” to continue. One manager wrote:

I have learned more in the last 3 years than in the past 31. HolisticManagement should be taught to everyone at an early age. I now seeonly two management strategies: holistic and crisis.

The question then becomes, why was the respondents’ motivationlevel so high? Their response became clear when they answeredquestions concerning goals. Each respondent was asked: 1) Are you achieving your quality of life goals? Eighty-five percent said yes.2) Are you achieving your production goals? Eighty percent said yes.3) Is your land evolving toward your goals? One hundred percentanswered yes.

Results from the survey group indicate they not only know wherethey want to go, they are heading in the right direction, as indicated bythe following comments:

Holistic Management is not a system or method, but is an attitudeand planning procedure. We have greatly changed the way weapproach the management of this ranch. This has created a much more proactive approach to our planning and working toward long-range goals.

❏ A number of paradigm shifts are required. This is one of thebiggest obstacles for farmers/ranchers who want to manage holistically.Much of their past management philosophy may be challenged orreversed. Some of the ranchers in this group, for instance, arechampioning Allan Savory’s concept of solar dollars: production on theirranch is based on solar energy, which is converted to product and money.One Wyoming ranch owner summed up this new paradigm as follows:

Sunlight is captured by plants and converted into additional plantmatter; our livestock in turn graze that plant matter and convert it into additional meat. We convert the additional meat into dollars at the sales ring . . .All I really am is a used sunlight salesman.

Traditional ranchers are now being asked to manage for the longterm, to plan their grazing, to look at cause and effect, to question whythey calve in January and February, to think about ecosystem processes,and to plan finances rigorously. Because of the great deal of educationrequired to understand and actually practice Holistic Management, it is

an incredible shift to move from the traditional to the holistic paradigm.

Our Conclusions

Holistic Management has experienced a seemingly slow rate ofadoption. In The Diffusion of Innovations Everett Rogers says that theadoption rate of an innovation such as Holistic Management dependson the perceived degree of relative advantage, compatibility withexisting values and needs, observability of results, and simplicity andease of use. The innovation, he says, must also be able to be verifiedthrough trials that produce credible results.

This survey shows that the innovation of Holistic Managementexhibits a high degree of relative advantage and observable change. Itfurther demonstrates a high degree of compatibility with the existingvalues and needs of the rancher survey population. However, thecomplex nature of the Holistic Management concepts, coupled with the required management intensity, make the adoption processmore difficult.

Because of its holistic nature, Holistic Management requires an “allor nothing” paradigm shift commitment. For those considering HolisticManagement, there is a paucity of “hard evidence” substantiating itsclaims of success. This necessitates a great deal of trust in the paradigmitself, which may increase the amount of risk perceived by a newpractitioner. Our hope is that this survey will provide evidence thatHolistic Management is, indeed, successful in actual use by ranchers.

It appears that Holistic Management is strongest in the areas ofrelative advantage, compatibility, and observability, while it is weaker in simplicity and ease of use, and trialability. The marginal reaction testsuggests that greatest progress can be made in adoption of HolisticManagement by developing methods to make it more easily understood and easier to use.

Holistic Management requires a high level of commitment. Practitionersof Holistic Management make a commitment to establish goals forthemselves and the land. Holistic managers must be committed toachieving these goals, and, based on this study’s results, they are.

For these respondents, ranching is no longer viewed as simply “away of life,” it has become a business, centered on “a way of life.” The Holistic Management process has helped them plan to achievefuture desires; it has improved their happiness, finances and land. Manyof these ranchers appear to have the attitude that their business cannotfail—one way or another, it will work. This commitment, probably morethan anything, has contributed to the success of their ranches. TheHolistic Management process may not be the final answer, but it is aharbinger to a new awareness and approach for agriculture andresource management.

Change in Satisfaction Level

Indicator Increased No Change Decreased

Economic satisfaction 90% 10% —-

Personal happiness 86% 14% ——

Family happiness 76% 18% 4%

Job pleasure 86% 10% 4%

Vacation time 60% 30% 10%

Community involvement 60% 33% 7%

Children returning to ranch 20% 80% —-

Employee turnover 12% 66% 22%

Table 6. Changes in satisfaction levels for 43 Holistic Management practitioners

Frequency Of ResponseIndicator Process Decreased No Change Increased

New seedling success succession 3% 12% 85%

Plant diversity succession —- 15% 85%

Litter cover on the soil mineral cycle —- 13% 87%

Water infiltration

into soil water cycle —- 18% 82%

Soil erosion water cycle 68% 15% 17%

Amount of soil crusting water cycle 69% 21% 10%

Spacing between plants energy flow 37% 23% 40%

Table 5. Land monitoring results


The following is a summary of “Biodiversity as an organizingprinciple in agroecosystem management: Case studies of holisticresource management practitioners in the USA,” by Dr. DeborahStinner and Benjamin Stinner (Department of Entomology, OhioAgriculture Research and Development Center, The Ohio StateUniversity), and Edward Martsolf (A Whole New Approach), inAgriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 62: 199-213 (1997).

At the end, I have added a brief analysis of the implications of this research.

For this paper the authors interviewed 25 farmers and ranchers

practicing Holistic Management across the U.S. and in the

process made some interesting discoveries:

• While only nine percent of the interviewees reported having

considered the issue of biodiversity in their operations before having

learned about Holistic Management, after integrating Holistic

Management into their operations, 95 percent of the interviewees

considered biodiversity to be important and had noted improvement

in this area.

• These agricultural producers also reported positive changes in

other ecosystem processes on their land: an increase in the amount of

sunlight energy trapped by plants and converted to feed; enhanced

nutrient cycling; and a more effective water cycle.

• Moreover, these producers also increased their profits by 80

percent and noted improvement in their quality of life due to better

time management.

The scale of the operations researched ranged from 18 acres

(7. 3 ha) to 222,300 acres (90,000 ha). The agricultural producers had

been practicing Holistic Management for 1 .5 to 17 years with an

average of 5.6 years.

While Stinner et al provide detailed information in their paper on

the results these farmers and ranchers produced, they highlight these

results at the beginning as evidence of improved ecosystem processes,

quality of life, and profit:

• A farmer/rancher in North Dakota who had practiced Holistic

Management for 10 years had increased his soil permeability and

infiltration from 2 inches (5 cm) to 20 inches (50 cm).

• All ranchers west of the Mississippi River reported a greater

frequency of perennials and the return of many native tall and short

prairie grasses.

• 52 percent of the producers (especially the ranchers) noted that

their labor requirements decreased by 40-60 percent despite the extra

time necessary for planning and monitoring.

• One producer said, “Not only do I have time to go out to eat

with my family one night a week now, but I can pick which night.”

• These ranchers believe that their investments of time and

money to improve their land have resulted in increased profits

because the land has a higher carrying capacity with lower

production costs. In some cases the increased profit reported was

as much as 1400 percent, with many averaging 300 percent.

Case StudiesWindy Slope Farm

The Fichtner family moved to the 79-acre (32-hectare) Windy

Slope Farm in Leon, West Virginia in 1981. At that time the farm was

overrun with multiflora rose, and the soils were severely eroded. At

one time this land had been fire-maintained savanna, and more

recently it had been plowed for maize and then put into sod that

supported a few horses and cattle.

In 1990 the Fichtners began Holistic Management™ planned

grazing using a diversity of livestock (dairy goats, sheep, cattle,

donkeys, hogs, chickens, geese, ducks, and turkeys) to improve farm

management. The hogs were used to break up and compost manure

in the barn. The ducks controlled flies. The Scottish Highlander cattle

were rugged browsers and cleared brush efficiently. The donkeys

kept coyotes at bay. The cattle broke the parasite cycle by grazing

after the sheep.

In 1990 they had eight pasture plant species and needed five acres

(two hectares) to carry one animal unit. Their net profit per acre

was –$16 (–$40/hectare). By 1995, they had 32 pasture plant species

(including more perennials, a higher successional plant) and needed

only one acre (0.4 hectare) to carry one animal unit. Because they

had more plant species, they had a longer growing season with a

variety of warmer and cooler weather grasses. In the past their

growing season had been mid April to late October. With increased

biodiversity they extended their growing season from early March to

December (an increase of over 10 weeks). Consequently, their net

profit per acre rose to $81 ($200/hectare). This resulted in a five-fold

increase over the course of five years. Because of the increased profit,

Mrs. Fichtner was able to quit her off-farm job, enhancing the

Fichtners’ quality of life.

The Coffey Ranch

The D. Joyce Coffey Resource Management and Demonstration

Ranch was a privately owned 2,600-acre (1,053-hectare) ranch in

Marietta, Oklahoma until 1981 when it was willed to the Noble

Foundation. Historically, it was a typical southern Oklahoma ranch

with cropping in open land and continuous grazing in rough and

wooded areas.

In 1987 the management team of crop, forage, soil, livestock, and

wildlife specialists, headed by Charles Griffiths, began practicing

Biodiversity, Agriculture, and Holistic Managementby Ann Adams

Plant biodiversity, stocking rate, and net profit data from Windy Slope Farm

# of pasture Stocking Net profit/plant species rate/yr hectare

1990 8 1:2 –$40

1995 32 1 :0.4 $200


Change in biodiversity and profit indicators on the Coffey Ranch

1987 1991 1994

Change in forage type (% freqency)

Low successional 60 32 25

Mid successional 12 43 27

High successional 5 5 25

Stocking rate/yr 110 140 200

Holistic Management on the ranch. At that time the stocking rate

had decreased from 300 to 67 animal units per year. The degraded

rangeland had a mixture of 60 percent low successional species

(usually weedy annuals with low forage quality), 12 percent mid

successional species, and 5 percent high successional species (highly

desirable forage quality for wildlife and livestock).

From 1987 to 1991 there was no increase in the high-successional

species but there was a decrease in low-successional species from

60 percent to 32 percent and an increase in mid-successional species

from 12 percent to 43 percent. The stocking rate increased by

30 percent from 110 animal units to 140 at the same time that

biodiversity increased. Exposed soils with various degrees of

erosion were covered with healthy plants, and white tailed deer

increased 100 percent.

By 1994, high-successional species had risen to 25 percent and

low-successional species were down to 25 percent. The stocking rate

had now increased 100 percent from 1987 rising from the original

110 to 200 animal units.

Because of improved ground cover, there was less soil erosion.

Ponds, which once had high turbidity (cloudiness due to silt), now

had low turbidity, and two springs, which had dried up, now began

running again.

Moreover, the nutrient cycle had also improved so that manure

now decomposed in 5 days where it had taken 2 to 3 years before

Holistic Management. Griffiths felt that if the management team’s

knowledge about Holistic Management had been greater when

they started practicing, they could have made those types of

improvement sooner.

Bowe had also been troubled by an infestation of snakeweed,

which covered up to 11% of one grazing area in 1986. By 1990, he had

reduced the snakeweed in that area to 1% by using his cattle as a land

reclamation tool. Bowe also noted that two new plant species,

indiangrass and Canadian wild rye, appeared on his land, although

they usually only occur at higher elevations. He also saw increased

evidence of earthworms and wildlife.

Bowe suggested that the improved water cycle (due to more plant

cover and perennial species) might have contributed to the changed

habitat that was necessary for such species as the indiangrass and rye.

Indications of an improved water cycle was a dry well that filled with

9 feet (3 m) of water and dry springs that began flowing again on the

Bowe property.

Bowe sees plenty of evidence that he’s headed in the right

direction, including “new grass species, clear water in my stock

ponds, minerals cycling through living organisms, and my banker

becoming a stranger.”

Changes in biodiversity and profitability indicators on the Rafter F Ranch

1984 1991

Number of perennial grass species 6 18

Percentage of bare soil 46 30

Distance between plants (in/cm) 1.3/3.25 0.7/1.75

1983 1991

Stocking rate 1:35 acres (1:7 ha) 1:16 acres (1:6.7 ha)

Pounds of beefproduced per acre 12 (66kg/ha) 31 (171kg/ha)

Cost/lb of beef $0.62 ($1.36/kg) $0.30 ($0.66/kg)

The Rafter F Ranch

The 11,808-acre (4800-ha) Rafter F Ranch located in San Jon, New

Mexico usually receives 16 inches (40.6 cm) of rain a year, 70 percent

of it in the summer. Heavily eroded, sandy loam soils and mesquite

tree encroachment were characteristic of this land. Roger Bowe first

learned about Holistic Management in 1983 and began using some of

the principles to halt the ranch’s falling productivity. In 1986 the Bowes

took a second Holistic Management training, and by 1991 biological

monitoring showed marked improvement on the land (see

accompanying table). Bowe noted that from 1984 to 1991 perennial

grass species tripled on his land and ground cover increased. Moreover,

the stocking rate tripled and he cut the cost of production in half.

Summary Analysis

Stinner, Stinner, and Martsolf concluded their paper by saying that

Holistic Management “can help to empower individual farmers and

communities” especially in the face of farm foreclosures and urban

development. However, the most limiting factor in more people

practicing Holistic Management is the paradigm shift required. Holistic

Management is about consciously working with ecological processes

to rebuild biodiversity and ecological integrity, which is “radically

different from the paradigm that dominates conventional agriculture.”

What this paper illustrates is that people who at one point were

conventional agricultural producers can learn to not only appreciate

the need for improved biodiversity and ecological processes, but can

actually create those results while increasing their profits and quality

of life through the practice of Holistic Management. This research, and

other research like it points the way to a truly sustainable agriculture.

Such research also provides an answer to many other pressing

environmental problems that balance on the healthy functioning of

ecosystem processes (i.e., desertification, global warming, healthy and

diverse wildlife populations, etc.).

1 a new environmental intelligence

Environment

holistic management

land restoration

land base

productive agricultural

environmental conflict

environmental issues

quality of life

healthy rural communities