Be Stubborn About Your Goals, But Flexible About Your Methods
Guest post by Clemson Montana Summer Program student Amber Moore
The last few days of being in this marvelous scenery
involved driving along endless dirt roads for hours with no trees in sight, and
at times, cattle and pronghorns being our only visitors. The wonderful Dr. David
Jachowski took us to what seemed like a different world, north-central Montana.
I was excited about visiting Phillips County because I knew we would be
speaking with several different stakeholders with opposing views of one
another, which would make for an interesting conversation over the course of
the two days spent there.
The first group we were able to meet with was the
Ranchers Stewardship Alliance (RSA) on the property of Clyde and Jim Robinson,
brothers who own and operate Lazy JD Cattle Company, and are also a part of the
RSA. The other members that joined us were Leo Barthelmess, the President, and
Bud Walsh. Standing on one of the tallest buttes on the Robinson’s property, we
were in awe of the running 60,000 acre landscape that is home to their red angus-charolais
cross cattle. Not only was the land home to cattle, but everyone present from
the RSA stated how they loved seeing the various wildlife that meandered
through their properties on to their other destinations. Jim Robinson mentioned
that over the course of them owning the land, he has seen wildlife such as elk,
deer, sage grouse, mountain lions, and pronghorns, which all co-exist with the
cattle with not many problems ever occurring between them. One special thing
about their land is that it is able to support both wild and livestock animals
with enough forage and feedstuff for there to not be a problem. I found this intriguing because other
ranchers that we’ve spoken with have exclaimed how it is either one or the
other, but yet, this group of ranchers in Phillips County has found a way for
them all to coincide.
When asked about what they believe the RSA stands for,
all of the ranchers with different backgrounds and herds of animals agreed that
the main goal is to feed the world, preserve the prairie neighborhood, and
nurture the next generation. The multigenerational families that belong to this
organization are intermingled through millions of acres of tribal, public, and
private lands in the northern prairie. Ranchers that are a part of this
alliance engage with other conservationists so that they can identify ways that
conservation and ranching can provide mutual support. They implement prescribed
grazing plans with integrated stockwater systems during times of hard winters,
wildlife-friendly fencing, cropland to native vegetation, and the placement of
visibility-enhancing markers on fences to reduce bird collisions.
When asked about the American Prairie Reserve (APR),
they all had the same disgruntled look across their faces. They all agreed on
the fact that it was hard to compete with such a large non-profit agency that
was trying to own large amounts of land; APR has the money to compete, but
ranchers do not. The RSA members that we spoke with had also mentioned that the
grazing leases that the APR offered were outlandish because they required
things like a loyalty oath as well as that you couldn’t discuss public or
private sales with others.
The next agency that we were able to visit was The
Nature Conservancy (TNC) at Matador Ranch, which was right down the road from
the Robinsons. According to Charlie, the ranch manager, the 60,000 Matador
Ranch sits within some of North America’s best remaining northern mixed-grass
prairie, which is able to support grassland birds that are in decline. The
ranch is also able to support the longest migration of pronghorn on Earth and
is home to black-tailed prairie dogs. The conservation model that the Matador
runs on is known as grassbanking. Under this unique program, the local ranchers
pay discounted fees to graze their cattle on Matador in exchange for
wildlife-friendly practices on their own operations. At the minimum, members
must commit to control noxious weeds, have a grazing plan, and not break any
new ground - which is also known as sodbusting. After the initial lease, the
price drops the more conservation measures that are added. As an example,
Charlie stated that if a member vows to protect prairie dogs, they can earn a
discount, or modifying fences earns them more money off of the lease price.
Through this model of conservation, TNC is attempting to secure habitat for
grassland wildlife by increasing the use of wildlife-friendly fencing, protect
streams, control weeds, and preventing the plowing of native prairie. Proving
successful with the help of the
ranchers, they have been able to improve habitat across 250,000 acres in the
south of Phillips County, protect over 53,000 acres of habitat for the threatened
greater sage grouse, modification of over 50 miles of fencing that endanger
wildlife, and much more.
It was amazing to see Jason, the Matador Ranch
Steward, bring technology to this organization through the usage of drones. He
mentioned that he mainly uses them to map active prairie dog towns, as well as
to do random flyovers to check on the cows, which I found fascinating since I
would have never imagined such a rural area and ranch using such technology.
Also according to Charlie and his views on the APR, they are more community
based than APR since they focus on working with the ranchers. It was neat to
see that the RSA, an agency that was just members with their own private land,
and TNC have the same type of outlook for the grasslands and be just down the road
from one another.
The final organization we visited and the one that the
whole county talked about was the American Prairie Reserve. To get the full
story about this conspicuous organization, we were able to speak with Damien
Austin, the Reserve Supervisor. Damien stated that the mission for APR was to
create the largest nature reserve in the continental United States as a refuge
for people and wildlife, preserved forever as part of America’s heritage. To achieve
this astonishing goal, they plan to piece together three million acres of
existing public lands using the private lands that were purchased from willing
sellers; they will need roughly 500 thousand acres of private land to do this.
Damien explained that many of the rumors we had heard were false. For example, a 501C3, like the APR, is not
allowed to outcompete since it is a non-profit and they have a third party appraisal
for any land that they want to purchase. The determined way Damien had spoke made
me think that this association is strongly oriented to getting whatever they
say they are going to do, accomplished in as short amount of time as possible.
On the long drive back to Roundup that next evening I
was able to think about each agency and came to the realization that they all
had the same goal in mind: preserving the north-central plains of Montana. They
only differed in what they thought was the best way to do so. If all three
could work together and find common ground, there is nothing that would stop
them from reaching that goal. It’s also wishful thinking because the years of
dislike towards each other, especially APR, will not change since families love
to carry on traditions, and not giving in to people like APR is one of them. I
believe that they all go by the statement, “Be stubborn about your goals, but
flexible about your methods”, so it will be interesting over the course of the
next few years to see who will win this battle.
I
cannot believe the experience that I was able to have visiting not only
Montana, but South Dakota and Wyoming as well; visiting and falling in love
with these places that I had once dreamed about as they just took me in as one
of their own. I was able to explore and learn much more than I would have ever
been able to learn in a classroom. The last couple of weeks spent dabbling
in wildlife and fisheries biology, along with environmental and natural
resources were amazing because there is so much that coincides with animal and
veterinary sciences that I would not have known about. There is nothing I love
more than hands-on learning, and each professor was able to give that to me the
entirety of the trip; at the end of day when I was covered in dirt from hiking
and exhaustion from going non-stop, I was always excited for the next day of
adventures, which left a sparkle in my eye.
Throughout
this journey of the Great Plains I was able to find beauty in everything and
everyone that crossed our paths; their wisdom exuded from them and their
passion for their careers and what that stood for (or against) was motivating.
Since I started this series of blog posts with a quote, it would only be right
if I ended them with one also, and this one sums up the Great Plains for me:
“The sea, the woods, the mountains,
all suffer in comparison with the prairie…The prairie has a stronger hold upon
the senses. Its sublimity arises from its unbounded extent, its barren
monotony and desolation, its still, unmoved, calm, stern, almost self-confident
grandeur, its strange power of deception, its want of echo, and, in fine, its
power of throwing a man back upon himself.”
- Albert Pike
