Don’t Tell ‘Em It’s Science
Guest post by summer program student Adam Neal -
Agriculture and Natural Resources in the west has had a devastating impact on the American Prairie, mainly row crop agriculture. Ranching on the other hand, has proven itself to help ecosystems by replacing the buffalo, with the American cattle industry. It is still not the same or healthy as it was or has been for the last 15,000 years or more. Only in the recent years since colonial settlement, has the ecosystem of the American Prairie, been in desperate need of the ecological practices that sustained it from the ice age, up to when the first white man set foot on this precious and ancient soil.
Barbed wire, since its invention, has not produced anything good for anyone other than the greedy individual who decided to box in what they believed was their own. If society has shown us anything through history, it’s that having this greedy attitude shuts out everyone around you, and you’re left to the solidarity of land that needs the attention of an entire group. These tiny wires have specialized the in art of isolation, preventing someone’s livelihood from getting out, while simultaneously keeping the natural world from getting in.
We started our journey on the immense American Prairie, with our first stop being at buffalo camp, tucked in close to the American Prairie Reserve Research Center. We talked to the director of the American Prairie as he showed us around and talked about what his organization is doing and what the plans for the future, are. Currently, at 1.2 million acres of land dedicated to restoring the American prairie to its purest form, expanding its borders is a tough topic to sale to the families that have survived the tough business of ranching, since being spearheaded by Manifest Destiny in the early years of our nation’s quest for the west. The American Prairie’s plan is to expand to at least 3 million acres, in order to restore the life that once sustainably thrived, in the soft green rolling hills of what we call Big Sky Country”. In order to expand, the American Prairie Reserve plans to buy a lot of ranches and private property in order to reach their goal. This is not going over very well with the locals. Science experimentation need not get in the way of a well established and working property. To counter negative feelings about the federal government taking their land, the American Prairie Reserve’s first point of interest, is to meet with the bordering properties, and form healthy relationships with its neighbors.
Establishing a sense of community, rather than a land grab, that forces generational farmers and ranchers into giving up their family’s legacy, is a great step in getting everyone on the same page and opens the window to working together to restore native lands, somewhat back to the way it always had been, before these tiny wires that span endlessly into the great abyss, that is our nation’s historic prairie land. We then set sail toward the heart of the reserve, eyes wide open and the gear of our minds, at full speed.
After hustling to get our camping gear loaded up and the kiddos moving to the next stop, we press on to our next destination, Antelope Creek campground. During our tour of the prairie, we were taken to the Matador Ranch, to talk to 3 different federal agencies, that work with ecological restoration along with ranchers. Listening to how they describe their relationship with ranchers, it became clear that Science was very much taboo around here. Most of the time, the ranchers are already practicing ecological restoration, just simply letting their cows graze, and the wildlife come and go as they please. Just don’t tell them that.
I believe that the fear of a much-needed change, anything governmental or scientifically related, casts a dark shadow over the hard times endured, by the families that first staked out their place, in the wild west. Fear of encroachment, fear of lifestyle changes, and fear that someone is trying to take what they created through the past 100+ years, makes our jobs as ecologists, tougher to be accepted as a benefit for the modern Montanan.
Only through cooperation of restoration organizations, the modern rancher, and the involvement of indigenous tribes, we will find ourselves on the right path that leads to generational healing as well as ecological understanding and longevity. Showing these parties the data that backs up our science may be the only way we can coexist as humans and work together for a better legacy to leave our children. It’s very hard to prove that science is not the end of the rancher and that anything the government tries to do, is evilly detrimental to everything they know.
We already know that ranching is a form of ecological restoration, but it can be delivered in a different way. Education is everything and talking eye to eye with the rancher at hand can change the mindset that we are here to take what is theirs. Even though they once did the same thing to someone else. If there is a way to present the benefit of cooperation of state, private, tribal, and federal lands, it hasn’t been identified yet. The hope is that we can come up with a solution that is clear and concise to what has to happen for everyone to win.
Wildlife incentives, pay the rancher to identify certain wildlife that need help with conservation. Wildlife fencing allows for migratory and other big game mammals, to continue their ancient movements and improves the ecosystem. Wildlife conservation means the checks continue to roll in, as long as the rancher wants. But without some form of education to ensure the rancher isn’t being snuffed out, the legacy of ranching may be at the end of its journey. We have to find a way to educate, without it feeling invasive to the Montanan way of life. Just don’t tell ‘em its science.
