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Jon Griggs is something of a contradic-tion. He’s a cowboy through andthrough, but one who is as comfortable

with a PowerPoint presentation and a crowdof visitors from town as he is on the back of ahorse. His border collies ride in the backseatof his pickup as he bumps across the frozenmeadows of Maggie Creek ranch in theweeks before spring turnout. He shoots apiercing blue-eyed glance at a couple of 4-Hheifers, making sure nobody’s ready to calvethis morning. To the north the last of thesnow melts on the low juniper-dotted hills ofthe Adobe Range and on Swales Mountain,the big empty summer country at the southend of the Independence Range.

Griggs spent his childhood in Owyhee,Nev., with his mom’s family while his fatherwas in the Air Force during the VietnamWar. He lived the life of a military family inplaces as far-flung as Alaska and Louisiana,but he came back to Nevada for good in1985, buckarooing at the Petan Ranch andlater at Warm Springs outside Eureka. Helanded at Maggie Creek, 200,000-some acresof private and public land in the railroadcheckerboard country of northeastern Neva-da, in 1991.

“All that moving around,” he says, “makesyou want to attach yourself to a piece ofcountry.” He rode for the Searle family, whobought the ranch in 1975. In 1998 they madehim the manager. Avid hunters and out-

doorsmen and -women with Midwesternroots, the Searles live on the place all summerand ride and brand with the crew.

Griggs runs a crew of 11 at MaggieCreek, but it’s not just buckaroos in abunkhouse; the ranch supports families aswell, so 34 adults and children call Maggie

Creek home. “I’ve been fortunate to raise afamily here,” Griggs says. He has two fresh-men, son Wyatt at the University of Nevada,Reno, and daughter Mackie at Elko HighSchool.

The ranch turns out 2,000 head of Anguscattle in mid-March. They’ll calve mid-March through April, working their waynorth across the Adobe Range onto Swales

Mountain, a vast unfenced swath of sage andbunchgrass which includes 50,000 acres ofpublic land. Two creeks run mostly north-south watering this mountain, Susie Creekand, further on, Maggie Creek are bothpotential habitat for the threatened Lahon-tan cutthroat trout. Springs are few and farbetween.

“It’s a challenge to graze here,” Griggssays. “We move early and often in the spring.We want every plant to reach seed-headmaturity. We don’t get there every year, butthat’s our goal. We grow forage for cattle andthe wildlife we share the range with for twoto three months of the year. Then we have tobank that grass for the rest of the year.”

The cattle work their way north andwest. “We typically gather into riparian pas-tures, rest a day or two, and then move intothe next pasture,” Griggs says. Water gapsprovide stockwater for cattle while protectingthe streams. In a typical year the herd worksits way up one side of Swales Mountain,returning down the other. Cowboys gatherinto fenced pastures along the way to brandand wean calves. “We try to stay out till NewYear’s,” Griggs says. There are some yearswhen getting home over the Adobe Range isnip and tuck through deep snow.

The ranch has been around in one formor another for better than a century. Theheadquarters ranch was started by GeorgeHunter and George Banks—an orphan who

Rough and Beautiful PlacesRaising forage and families at Nevada’s award-winning Maggie Creek ranch.

By Carolyn Dufurrena

When Jon Griggs arrived at Maggie Creek in 1991, Susie Creek (left) would go dry every summer, even in a high-water year. Collaborative conservationpractices implemented by the ranch with BLM wildlife biologist Carol Evans over the next 25 years have resulted in landscape-level changes. Even in the fourthyear of drought, Susie Creek had water all summer in 2014 (right).

Paislee Stevens, 5, is one of a dozen kids growingup on Maggie Creek ranch. She watches her dadand the branding crew from the pickup in 2015.

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was raised as Hunter’s brother—in themeadows that straddle the Hastings Cutoffportion of the California Trail, now theInterstate 80 corridor. Deeded homesteadsnorth of the highway were added over time,including the McKinley Ranch and RedHouse, “about a thousand acres of haymeadow” to the north.Edward M. Hanks in his cowman’s

memoir, “A Long Dust on the Desert,” wroteabout the country in the 1800s: “Fent Fulker-son and his wife came to Nevada in the early1860s and they lived here the rest of theirlives. Fent used to tell me how all the creekson the north side of the Humboldt River ranalmost on top of the ground when he firstcame to this country. These creeks, MaggieCreek, Susie Creek, Rock Creek, and Ante-lope Creek, to name a few, overflowed andmade an abundance of feed for livestock.These creeks today have washed down tobedrock and it isn’t easy to get the water out,so there isn’t so much feed.”At some point in the ranch’s history,

Maggie Creek was straightened to facilitateirrigating the hay meadow at Red House, aswas common practice at that time. The creekalmost immediately down cut about 30 feet.

Susie Creek was in even worse shape.“In 1991, even in a good water year,”

Griggs says, “Susie Creek would go dry.”What could be done to make it better? Heand BLM wildlife biologist Carol Evansstarted talking. It helped, Griggs says, that

“she came in here with a smile instead of abaseball bat. Together we took some bigsteps starting in 1991, but I don’t think any-body really realized the landscape-level

impacts they would cause. There wasn’t everreally any talk about ‘rehab.’ It was just allbaby steps.”They implemented a conservation plan

that resulted in fencing off the majority ofthe riparian areas in both creeks, leavingwater gaps for the cattle. Corners wereallowed to silt in; willows became establishedin the middle of meadows. Beavers showedup, and Evans convinced Griggs to wait andsee what would happen instead of cleaningthem out. The beaver ponds brought thewater table up. The sagebrush died back andwas replaced with wet meadow grasses. “By2014,” Griggs says, “even in the midst ofdrought, Susie Creek had water all summer.”He adds, “It should really be called SusieCreek ranch.”Griggs, with the support of the Searles,

undertook a major collaborative project withthe U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS),Nevada Department of Wildlife (NDOW),and Trout Unlimited, to name just a few

Jon Griggs manages 200,000 acres of public andprivate land (and 11 cowboys) for the MaggieCreek ranch. He is always trying to make thingsbetter for the grasslands and for the families whocall the ranch home.

“When you’re talkingabout cattle,you’re

talking about a love ofthe land, and when

you’re talking about myfamily,you’re talking

about love of the land.It’s a complete circle of

family and land and hardwork and rough and

beautiful places.”BEKAHKLARR, GRANDDAUGHTER

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partners, to improve the ranch waters’ abilityto support the fish. Fish-friendly culvertsinstalled in Maggie Creek allow the trout fullaccess to the stream. “Baffles inside createpools, kind of like a fish ladder,” Griggs says.“The highest set of baffles diverts water forirrigating the meadows.” Other projectsinclude a reservoir built to enhance wetlandhabitat for birds and the Columbia spottedfrog, at one time considered for threatenedstatus under the Endangered Species Act.Sloughs downstream of irrigation ensurethat waters reentering the Humboldt Riverare cleaner than they were coming into theranch. A Safe Harbor Agreement, a voluntaryaccord between FWS (represented byNDOW) and the ranch, provides assurancesthat FWS will not impose restrictions on pri-vate land as a result of conservation actions.“I forget sometimes that we’re on private

land,” says Evans. “We’ve just sort of blurredthe lines. We’ve had a common vision of thewatershed and what the land should looklike. You can have fisheries habitat andwildlife habitat. You can have a really healthyecosystem and a sustainable ranching indus-try too.”According to Susan Abele, head of Neva-

da Partners for Fish and Wildlife, over 25miles of Susie Creek has been fenced andrehabilitated to the point where Lahontancutthroats could be reintroduced to thestream within a few years. The upshot of itall is that Maggie Creek ranch is committedto making the place the best it can be. Griggs,humble as always, is quick to add: “We’re notthe perfect ranch. We’re not even the bestranch.” But every decision is made with thehealth of the land in mind.Maggie Creek received the prestigious

2015 National Environmental StewardshipAward, “presented to farmers and rancherswho demonstrate a commitment to protect-ing the farm and ranch land in their care.” Itis sponsored by Dow AgroSciences, USDANatural Resources Conservation Service(NRCS), FWS, National Cattlemen’s BeefAssociation (NCBA), and the National Cat-tlemen’s Foundation. In retrospect, it seemsalmost inevitable.“Over the past 40 years we’ve tried about

everything,” says ranch spokeswoman LouiseSearle Klarr. “We want to stay ahead of thecurve. We don’t want to be complacent. Wealways want to know more about what’sgoing on on this ranch than anybody. UnderJon Griggs’ management, we are just hum-ming along.”The bronze statue that comes with this

honor sits on a big shellacked plywood tablein the ranch office. It’s next to Griggs’ 2014Cattleman of the Year Award, which he does-n’t even mention. It’s a lovely piece, but it’snot the important thing. The importantthing is out the north windows, across thehighway, up in the high country. The bunch-grass is starting, a Chinook is blowing. Thecreeks will soon be running bank-full withmore water than Elko County’s seen in years,and Jon Griggs will be up there on his redroan horse in those rough and beautifulplaces, keeping an eye on things. ■

Carolyn Dufurrena writes from the QuinnRiver Ranch, another rough and beautifulplace in northwestern Nevada.

A commitment to protecting the farm and ranch land in their care: Maggie Creek ranch received the prestigious 2015 National Environmental StewardshipAward from a group that includes National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and National Cattlemen’s Foundation. From left: David Petty, Iowa River Ranch;Scotty Searle; Dave Owens, DOW Agrosciences; Betsy Searle; mom Sally Searle; ranch manager Jon Griggs; Heather Johnson, FWS; and Sid Brantly, NRCS.

Branding is hard work but a lot of fun for kidsgrowing into the ranching tradition. Left, AndyStevens helps daughter Paislee, age 4, ride her firstbronco in 2014. Veteran Luke Baumeister lendshis expertise. ABOVE: Jon Griggs heads a calf forhis daughter Mackie, age 13.

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