#089, In Practice, May/June 2003

HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT

IN PRACTICE

Providing the link between a healthy environment and a sound economy MAY / JUNE 2003 NUMBER 89

in this Issue

Holistic Estate Planning

by Ann Adams

I

wrote my first contract at age 16. I had loaned a friend $500 to “tide her over” until she got a job. In the contract, I stated the possessions she owned that I would receive if she didn’t pay back her debt; they were not worth $500. That was only one of many mistakes I made in creating that contract. But, perhaps the biggest mistake I made when I signed that agreement was not taking seriously the document and the ramifications it would have on our friendship.

In the years that followed, the debt was not repaid in full and the friendship withered under the lack of trust that resulted from an ill-conceived document that was ultimately the result of youthful naivete. I feel lucky that this mistake cost so little as I have heard stories of similar scenarios where the stakes were much higher and the social costs greater.

I have thought about those lessons as I’ve prepared my will and agreed to be a part of someone else’s. I don’t want to fall into the trap of just filling in the spaces without thinking about the bigger picture of what I am legally and morally committing to—the social, economic, and environmental legacy I am leaving behind.

With a will or estate plan, you are dictating actions for a yet undetermined moment when many things are likely to be quite different than the future you currently picture. In turn, such dictating can profoundly affect people’s lives in many different ways. Often in ways you couldn’t foresee.

Perhaps that is why people shy away from creating wills and estate plans. They can be tricky things to do well even with competent legal and accounting help. However, I believe that people’s clarity about what they want and their willingness to discuss those options with those involved will limit the outcome of any estate planning more than any laws.

While my not so youthful naivete may be surfacing with that statement, I would challenge you to look at all the options and

tools available to you, and to answer the following questions before focusing on the legal restrictions: “What do I really want to leave as a legacy, rather than what I think I should leave as a legacy?” “What would be the consequences from such a decision?” “How do I feel about those consequences?” “What are the options available to me?”

Asking myself those questions has been a really eye-opening experience for me as I’ve created and been involved with wills and estate plans. For example, discussions about guardianship of children or ownership of property have uncovered assumptions about family obligations and privilege, and led to productive exploration of values, feelings, and creative options.

Even after you have created a will that fulfills all the “legal” requirements and family wishes, there may be many questions that arise from such discussions or as people continue to think about the ramifications of a will or a more involved estate plan. In that way a will or estate plan is just a starting point, not an end point in planning. It’s like a financial plan that you monitor and control.

Holistic planning (whether financial, land, grazing, estate, or whatever) is about keeping the big picture in mind and looking at the social, economic, and environmental consequences of that planning and the management that will bring that plan to fruition. It is an opportunity to step back from day-to-day management and evaluate relationships, events, interests, and myriad other factors in the context of your holistic goal.

That’s the powerful thing about holistic planning. It encourages us to look at reality, evaluate our role in the present, explore options with those important to us, and determine how we can create the future we want for our whole. I can’t imagine a greater gift to our children and communities than the kind of contributions that come from a life well-lived and a legacy well-planned.

Planned giving is more than just allocating assets. When David West left his ranch to the Savory Center, he provided us many new opportunities to fulfill our mission. In this picture Allan Savory and West Ranch Manager Joe Maddox complete work on transect monitoring as part of the Savory Center’s management contract with the estate.

To read more about the Savory Center's plans for this facility turn to page 2.

The West Ranch—A Legacy Born Ann Adams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

The Impact of Planned Giving Lee Dueringer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Where There’s a Will, There’s a Way Noel McNaughton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

LAND & LIVESTOCK— A special section of IN PRACTICE On the Trigg Ranch—Tough Challenges, Big Possibilities Jim Howell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 Grazing Planning Practicalities in the Dry, Cold Steppes Jim Howell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10

Savory Center Bulletin Board Savory Center Supporters

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Certified Educators . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 Marketplace

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The Allan Savory Center for Holistic Management Ad definitum finem

The ALLAN SAVORY CENTER FOR HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT is a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization. The center works to restore the vitality of communities and the natural resources on which they depend by advancing the practice of Holistic Management and coordinating its development worldwide.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Rio de la Vista, Chair Allan Savory, Vice-Chair Leslie Christian, Secretary Gary Rodgers, Treasurer Richard Smith Manuel Casas ADVISORY BOARD Robert Anderson, Chair, Corrales, NM Sam Brown, Austin, TX Leslie Christian, Portland, OR Gretel Ehrlich, Gaviota, CA Cynthia & Leo Harris, Albuquerque, NM Trudy Healy, Taos, NM Clint Josey, Dallas, TX Dianne Law, Laveta, CO Doug McDaniel, Lostine, OR Guillermo Osuna, Coahuila, Mexico Jim Parker, Montrose, CO Dean William Rudoy, Cedar Crest, NM York Schueller, El Segundo, CA Jim Shelton, Vinita, OK Richard Smith, Houston, TX FOUNDERS Allan Savory Jody Butterfield

STAFF Tim LaSalle, Executive Director; Shannon Horst, Senior Director, Strategic Projects Kate Bradshaw, Director of Finance and Administration; Kelly Pasztor, Director of Educational Services; Lee Dueringer, Director of Development; Ann Adams, Managing Editor, IN PRACTICE and Membership and Educator Support Coordinator , Craig Leggett, Special Projects Manager; Mary Child, U.S. Education Program and Case Study Development Coordinator; Constance Neely, Director of International Training Programs Development; Jessica Stolz, Bookkeeper.

Africa Centre for Holistic Management Private Bag 5950, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe tel: (263) (11) 213529; email: rogpachm@africaonline.co.zw Huggins Matanga, Director; Roger Parry, Manager, Regional Training Centre; Elias Ncube, Hwange Project Manager/Training Coordinator HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE (ISSN: 1098-8157) is published six times a year by The Allan Savory Center for Holistic Management, 1010 Tijeras NW, Albuquerque, NM 87102, 505/842-5252, fax: 505/843-7900; email: savorycenter@holisticmanagement.org.; website: www.holisticmanagement.org Copyright © 2003.

2 HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE #89

The West Ranch—A Legacy Born

by Ann Adams

T

he David West Ranch of Ozona, Texas arrived unexpectedly at the Savory Center’s doorstep in the fall of 2001, and I think it would be safe to say that neither the Savory Center nor the West Ranch will ever be the same again. While we will share many stories about the West Ranch in future issues of IN PRACTICE, this article focuses on how David West’s planned gift has already created a legacy.

Building From the Ground Up In 1991, David West wrote a will that named the Savory Center as the recipient of his estate. In 2001, when he died, that estate, including his 11,000+ acre ranch, was worth approximately $6.5 million. He wanted the Savory Center to use that estate to create a Holistic Management research and education facility. Although the estate remains in probate, the Savory Center began working toward fulfilling David West’s vision through a management contract with the estate executor,

including hiring Savory Center and HRM of Texas members, Joe & Peggy Maddox, as Ranch Manager and Director of Education.

When the Savory Center took over management, the West Ranch was an example of a common ranching philosophy in West Texas: “you can’t ranch without oil or gas.”

Gas revenues had increased wealth for the West Ranch while the land base continued to deteriorate.

So, one of the first assignments for Joe Maddox and intern Tom Redfern from Australia was to gather baseline monitoring data from 11 transects. That monitoring indicated that approximately 68 percent of the soil is bare with 70 percent mature capping; 40 percent of the grasses are overrested and 49 percent are dying. Predominant plants include prickly pear and redberry cedar, both low successional plants. In other words, there’s lots of room for improvement.

Luckily, that’s just the kind of ranch the Savory Center wanted. And its location in

The Impact of Planned Giving

by Lee Dueringer

T

he Savory Center has been blessed with many kind and generous members. Many of you have responded to our annual appeal for donations after determining the amount you can afford in a given year. But you may not be aware of the increased impact you can make by considering a planned gift, beyond your usual donation.

Like any other large decision, we encourage you to discuss these ideas with the professionals you hire and with those who are connected to those funds. Such planning should be a time of collaboration, not conflict.

To help you decide which option might be best for you, here is a brief summary of the different types of gift. After reading through them, please fill out the form at the right and send it to us in the enclosed envelope so we can better serve you.

• Cash—Still the Simplest - Gifts of cash are

fully deductible—up to a maximum of 50 percent of your adjusted gross income.

Moreover, some employers will match your charitable gifts, meaning your gifts are worth even more. Check to see if your company or firm has a matching gift program, or would be willing to create one.

• Gifts of Life Insurance - If you own a life insurance policy, consider giving the policy as a charitable gift. To receive a charitable deduction, name The Savory Center as both the owner and beneficiary of that policy. If the policy has a cash value, you can take a charitable deduction approximately equal to the cash value at the time of the gift.

• Gifts of Real Estate - Many members of The Savory Center own farms and ranches that may be sold in the next generation, or that are now returning limited income. Gifts can be made outright, as a bequest, or placed in an income-producing trust to benefit the

Texas was an added benefit because we could more actively collaborate with HRM of Texas, a collaboration that has benefited both organizations immensely in fulfilling their missions.

Peggy Jones, Executive Director of HRM of Texas, says “the West Ranch is one of the most exciting things to happen to HRM of TX in years. This is a grand opportunity to experience Holistic Management put to the test by starting from scratch on poor land in a very dry climate. It has given us a place to meet in that part of the state, and thus has greatly improved the sense of community between HRM of TX and the ranchers and agency people in that area. Even our kinship with the Savory Center has blossomed over our common affection for and interest in the West Ranch.”

That collaboration has already resulted in a handful of planning meetings and field days, necessary during this transition time for the ranch and also for providing a learning opportunity for our members and the local community. The foundation for these meetings is the West Ranch holistic goal as we all work to determine the best way to improve the land base and infrastructure.

This focus is essential if the West Ranch is

to successfully transition from a ranch dependent on gas revenues to one that thrives from the sustainable wealth based on the photosynthetic process (currently that means leasing out “pasture” and hunting).

Peggy Maddox, Allan Savory, and Joe Maddox at HRM of TX field day .

Fulfilling the Vision With current plans for another HRM of TX field day on June 14, more interns from the U.S. and Mexico to arrive in late spring or early summer, an ongoing invitation to the Ozona public schools and the local 4-H to use the West Ranch as an outdoor education site, and continued involvement of local

donor during his or her life.

• Appreciated Stocks or Bonds - If you own stock, it is almost always worth more tax-wise to contribute stock than cash. Giving the stock means the donor receives both an income tax charitable deduction for the full market value of the stock at the time of the gift and avoids paying the capital gains tax on the increased value of the stock.

• Bequests - Deferred giving is important in building a long-term endowment for The Savory Center. Many of you have already advised The Savory Center that we will be receiving a bequest in your will. Doing so allows donors and their families to gain all the benefits of the bequest property or cash during life, with The Savory Center receiving the property or cash only after their passing.

• Life Income Gifts - With money market rates at a low and many stocks paying less than one percent in dividends, your gift of cash or stock to The Savory Center, made in the form of a “Life Income Gift,” can actually increase your income. A life income gift allows the donor to transfer assets over to The Savory Center now, and yet continue to receive the income from the cash, stock, or other property contributed.

ranchers and university and government officials, David West’s vision of his ranch as a research and educational center for Holistic Management is already thriving—even before the distribution of his estate.

David West’s gift has increased The Savory Center’s asset base, which in turn gives us more leverage on numerous projects and offers us more flexibility in our funding.

Likewise, his gift helped us move toward our vision of managing more learning sites where we have ownership of the property so we can have the decision-making power to provide a learning environment that demonstrates what people can achieve with Holistic Management.

Like the Africa Centre for Holistic Management in Zimbabwe, the West Ranch will be a place where we can improve the land base, help the local community thrive, and offer assistance to interns, and visitors who seek solutions to the challenging issues we face as people concerned about the environment and the health of rural communities. And as we have watched the Africa Centre’s influence grow in its community, so too will we see David West’s gift continue to grow and expand, touching many lives for years to come.

Friends of The Savory Center Please complete and return this reply form in the enclosed business reply envelope ■ Enclosed is a gift for The Savory Center (amount $__________ ) ■ Please charge my gift (amount $__________ ) ■ My company has a matching gift plan

*

■ I have already provided for The Savory Center in my will.

■ Please send me additional information on planned giving Name: __________________________________________ Address:__________________________________________ City: ____________________________________________ State/Province:_______________ Zip/Postal Code __________ Country__________________________________________ Phone/Fax:________________________________________

*

Credit Card #:____________________ Exp. Date ________

For further information about these choices, please call or write Lee Dueringer, Director of Development at 505/842-5252, 505/843-7900 (fax), or leed@holisticmanagement.org (email). We would be pleased to provide Mail this form to: you, your attorney, your accountant or your tax The Savory Center advisor with additional information and 1010 Tijeras Ave. NW assistance in making sure your commitment Albuquerque, NM 87102 to The Savory Center’s mission is fulfilled.

HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE • MAY / JUNE 2003 3

Where There’s a Will, There’s a Way

by Noel McNaughton

F

or many people Holistic Management is synonymous with good planning.

You create a holistic goal and plan and manage toward it. Part of the holistic goal is the future resource base description. In the case of farms and ranches, this describes, and even shows, a map of the desired condition and layout of the land. The future resource base description helps you in your holistic land planning and making sure the whole under management moves in the desired direction. It is an integral part of the ongoing monitoring and planning.

Having a future resource base description is a good first step, but if you want to create that kind of landscape then you need to look at all the tools available to you. And, if you want to get the most out of exploring your options creatively, it helps to include others in the whole who will be influenced by your decisions as well as talking to others about how they’ve handled their estate plans. Such exploration and ensuing discussions can be challenging stuff, but the rewards have been great for those who have forged ahead.

Unfortunately, even good land managers can sometimes fall short when it comes to dealing with the people stuff for the longterm health of their land and their estate, such as preparing a will or estate plan. But remember, there is not much use having a goal or future resource base description for the whole if the legal owner doesn’t take steps to ensure appropriate ownership of that land after his/her death.

If you are managing holistically, you have a head start on holistic estate planning, as the family has written a holistic goal that describes what everyone wants. The financial and biological planning is taking you in that direction. But if you have no will or estate plan, you are heading for a crisis that can affect your family for generations because the government will be left in charge of figuring out what to do with your estate.

Trust in Your Planning Cal Brandley, a former solicitor for Alberta Agriculture, counseled hundreds of farm families on legal matters. One of the issues he pushed hardest was the need for a will.

“Here’s a typical scenario,” he told me one

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time. “A son has been working with his father on the home farm or ranch for a number of years with the understanding that he will inherit the ranch when the old man dies, but they have nothing on paper.

“Eventually the son marries, and at some point his wife asks him what they have if the dad dies. The son tells her he will get the farm, but she points out they have nothing on paper, so legally they have nothing.

“The son talks to the dad, who says ‘What’s the matter, don’t you trust me?’ The son assures the dad he trusts him, so the dad says ‘Oh . . . you think I’m going to die?’ The boy says ‘Oh no dad . . . you’ll never die,’ and goes home and climbs the walls. He’s trapped—he can’t get his dad to put their agreement in writing, so he can’t provide his family with any real security.”

For holistic managers, the holistic goal can be an easy entry point into estate planning.

The sad thing about such an arrangement is that the lack of planning can result in a lack of trust that can hurt relationships while all parties are alive and has the potential for even more damage when a parent dies.

Communication is critical, if challenging. For holistic managers, the holistic goal can be an easy entry point into estate planning. You can use a yearly holistic goal check to begin having those kinds of conversations that not only can be the basis for an estate plan, but can also engage other family members and decision makers in the current management of that whole.

A will is an absolute essential part of your estate planning no matter how uncomfortable the process might be. That’s why it is essential to get people you trust to help you with the legal document and with sorting out the personal and family issues that may arise as you create that legal document.

People get funny ideas about wills. Some

think that planning what to do about their estate will somehow cause them to die.

Others don’t know how to divide their assets among their children, so put off making a will. Cal said such people would tell him “they’ll figure out how to divide it after I’m gone.” He said nothing could be further from the truth. Many families have been torn apart by disagreements over who should get what because they are trying to figure these things out while grieving the loss of a family member (not the best time to have to make any decision). Ironically, many families don’t always have much say in what happens with the estate anyway—the government decides for them. When a person dies “intestate” (i.e., without a will), the government in most, if not all, states and provinces, appoints a trustee who oversees the allocation of assets. It is expensive, and often very unsatisfying for all family members. Cal used to say “You wouldn’t invite your neighbors to divide up your estate after you are gone, so why would you let the government do it?”

Preparing for Change Perhaps you have struggled for years to pay off the ranch, and leave it to your family.

But you left no will, and had no estate plan.

There is a good chance the family will have to sell the place in order to pay the estate and/or capital gains taxes that suddenly become due. That would be enough to make you turn over in your grave, wouldn’t it?

And a will, plus a bit of estate planning, could have prevented it.

It is never smart to die without a will, even if all you have is a modest house in town and a few furnishings. But a landowner dying without an estate plan and a will is an outright crime. Too much is at stake.

If you died tomorrow, (or later this afternoon, or as soon as you finish reading this sentence—any of these scenarios is entirely possible), who would take over the operation of your business? Do your spouse or children have all the information they need to deal with the legal and tax obligations they will have to face? It can be hard enough under normal circumstances, but when they are grief-stricken, leaving them with an accounting nightmare and

no knowledge of the business dealings of the Brandley used to say, it is way easier to feel if these conversations never happen. ranch is nothing short of cruel. divide cash among several children than to Staying on Top Are one or more of your children divide a ranch. involved in the ranch? Do you have written, None of our children is interested in When Elizabeth and I got married, we had legally-binding agreements with them? If not, running our farm, which is a combination of five children between us (my three and her stop reading and do it right now. Yes, it is grass and woodlot. We are waiting for a local two). We talked at some length about what that important. forestry company to offer a landowner’s should happen with our estate should we If you don’t feel comfortable talking with program for growing aspen. When they come chance to die, and then we got a lawyer to your family about who should get what up with it, and if it is attractive enough help us write a will. (Don’t write a will on when you die, hire a facilitator. Many of the financially, we may plant all the pasture to your own. It is too easy to make simple Certified Educators listed in IN PRACTICE are trees, and create a 100-year plan for the mistakes that nullify it.) We have updated trained to facilitate planning meetings and farm, guiding future generations in the the will three times in the past 13 years, as have a deep knowledge of the Holistic management of the woodlot. This will be our estate has changed. We will continue to Management® decision-making process. done in consultation with our children. We update it as needed.

A meeting facilitator can We believe this is be invaluable in helping important, and Cal everyone feel heard, and Brandley would agree. I in coming to an amicable remember him telling me agreement about how about a couple who the estate should be wrote a will when their handled. And don’t make oldest daughter was a planning your will a big baby. They left everything secret. The best way to to her at that time. They know what your family later had a son, who wants to see happen worked with his father with the ranch after you for 20 years on the are gone is to ask them. understanding he would Some people worry own the farm when the When Noel (third from left in back) and wife Elizabeth (second from left in front) about how to divide dad died.

They had no combined families, they needed to revise their estate plan. Keeping such documents their assets. They don’t written agreement.

When current is an important part of any ongoing holistic estate planning. This picture want to give the whole the parents died, the was taken at Elizabeth's daughter's wedding. farm or ranch to one daughter got the farm, as child, but they also don’t they had never updated want to bankrupt that child by making them will not, however, try to “rule from the grave” their will. Such a scenario demonstrates how take a big loan to pay off his or her sibling’s by putting any kind of conditions in our will critical it is to do not only the initial planning, “share” of the ranch. Cal used to counsel that prevents them from selling the farm if but also the monitoring of your plans and farm and ranch couples to treat their kids they would rather not own it jointly. making adjustments to them. equitably, rather than equally. If they had We no longer live on our farm, but While our holistic goal doesn’t usually three children, and had paid for university perhaps you want to stay on the ranch after change much after the first couple of years, educations for two of them, and maybe you retire. A variety of arrangements will the tools we use, our assets, our knowledge, helped them buy houses in town, he said it allow you to do so. The simplest is to sell and our experience base is constantly evolving was equitable in many instances for the child everything but the home quarters, with an and changing. Things don’t always turn out the that stayed behind to help run the ranch agreement that it will go to the buyer when way we planned, but that doesn’t mean we to receive it in the will. you die. Or, sell it all and have a “life estate” can’t correct course and keep moving toward After everyone agrees on what they in it. Talk to your lawyer about other our holistic goal. With estate planning and an would like to see happen after you die (and possible arrangements. up-to-date will that reflects your holistic goal, remember, you still get the last word), get The key to remember is that there are you create a family trust (in the truest sense your lawyer and accountant involved to infinite possibilities to create the results you of the word) that will serve your family in make sure everything happens as planned. It want for yourself, the land, and for future your current day-to-day management as may cost some money, but it’s an investment generations. It takes time and the courage well as the future generations. that will pay handsomely in the long run. to talk about things we’ve been conditioned not to discuss. However, if the older Edmonton, Alberta-based Noel Everybody Wins generation leads the way in setting up such McNaughton is a journalist, personal planning sessions and asking questions Hard as it may be emotionally to part coach, Holistic Management ® Certified of all those in the family who will be with the farm or ranch, if none of your kids Educator and grass farming enthusiast. influenced by such estate planning, it can wants it, you will be doing them a favor by He can be reached at 780/432-5492 ease the stress that the younger generation selling it to someone who does want it, well or noel@mcnaughton.ca or may be currently feeling and certainly will before you are likely to die of old age. As Cal www.ravenseyeconsulting.com.

HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE • MAY / JUNE 2003 5

LAND&LIVESTOCK A Special Section of

IN PRACTICE MAY/JUNE 2003

#89

On the Trigg Ranch—

Tough Challenges, Big Possibilities

by Jim Howell

C

onscious management toward a triple bottom line, where decisions are simultaneously evaluated in light of social, financial, and ecological soundness toward a holistic goal, is a concept unique to Holistic Management. This is the Land and Livestock section, so most of what appears here is weighted toward discussions of grass, soil, sunshine, rain, and grazing planning—all the ecology stuff. However, as Allan Savory realized several decades ago, an ecologically regenerating ranch is ultimately doomed to fail if expenses exceed income, and family members and ranch staff are pulling in opposite directions. In many, if not most, situations, the people and money issues are actually the most daunting challenges.

Sorting out relationships, clarifying and articulating shared values, developing disciplined financial habits, and climbing out of a draining debt load are not only challenging pursuits—for many of us, they are painfully dreaded pursuits. It’s just way more fun to build fence, move cows, and watch the grass grow.

With that said, it’s encouraging, eye-opening, and inspiring to come across a ranching family that is heads and tails above the norm in the social and financial realms. I recently had the chance to visit such a family on the Trigg Ranch, just north of Tucumcari, New Mexico.

Rick and Kristen Holmes (and daughters Caitlin and Hilary) are the managers and part owners of the ranch. Both are currently enrolled in the Savory Center’s Ranch and Rangeland Manager’s Training Program.

We met last summer when my wife, Daniela, and I hosted the first session of their program at our ranch in western Colorado. I’ve been trying to get down for a visit ever since, and finally worked it into my winter schedule last February.

Ranch History Kristen’s maiden name is Trigg, and her ancestors founded the ranch in 1918. Her grandfather, Steve Trigg Sr., his father D.C., and Steve’s brothers partnered on the vast XIT Ranch in the Texas Panhandle in the early years of the 20th century. They were some

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LAND & LIVESTOCK

IN PRACTICE #89

The Holmes family—Hilary, Caitlin, Rick and Kristen. “It’s encouraging, eye-opening, and inspiring to come across a ranching family that is heads and tails abo ve the norm in the social and financial realms.”

of the first cattlemen to introduce Black Angus cattle into the West, upgrading the native Texas Longhorns into a more marketable brand of beef. During World War I, they hit a good lick peddling their blackhided cattle to the federal government, and when circumstances led to the dissolution of their XIT lease, the brothers headed straight west to the current location of the Trigg Ranch to start new lives. Originally 238,000 acres (96,300 hectares), the surviving lineage of Steve Sr. still holds title to just under 50,000 (20,200 hectares). The ranch was carved out of the famous (and enormous) Bell Ranch, which still lies to the north and west, and a big chunk of it was part of the massive Pablo Montoya Spanish Land Grant. Like lots of New Mexico, it’s an area rich in tradition and colorful local history. The Triggs have taken the time and made the effort to capture their own history on the ranch.

Numerous photo albums of the old days, and a memoir written by Kristen’s Aunt Adaline, document scores of important events, memorable stories, and daily ranch life through the years.

Kristen’s father, also named Steve, ran the ranch throughout most of the past 60 years after the death of Steve Sr. He took over at a young age and developed a rigid set of management policies that didn’t bend much over the years. Kristen and her sister Sally (who was also at the ranch at the time of my visit) remember their father with tremendous affection and respect (he passed away in July 2002), but they’re quick to point out that he was the boss and wasn’t overly open to suggestions. Since the early 1970s, Rick has spent most of his adult life working on the ranch, and he can’t recall Steve asking for much advice either.

Family Bonds While Steve may not have been much of a collaborator, he evidently did something right to maintain family harmony. His sisters Adaline and Louise were adamant about keeping the ranch intact and under Steve’s management after their mother passed away in 1976.

They didn’t create a family war and fight for their share of the pie.

They loved the ranch and knew Steve deserved to continue to derive his living from it. They valued generational continuity and a connection to place.

Louise, Adaline, and Steve successfully passed these same values

ranch’s convoluted, steep, rocky canyons and buttes led to the natural selection of a strain of bovines more akin to wild bighorn sheep than domestic cattle. Bull calves from these “wild bunches” also added to the bull battery. No cattle are ever vaccinated (except for a couple of initial shots at branding), and they’re never wormed or treated for external parasites in any way. Bulls are never pulled, and the cows are left to calve as nature sees fit, which in their part of New Mexico means a calving bulge in the spring.

Historically, cows were kept in the herd for years, and were never individually identified in any way. As long as she could hold her condition and breed back, she had a home. The only significant direct input into the cowherd is a little protein cake during the cold months of mid-winter. About three years ago, they also started to use an abundant and renewable resource to raise the winter plane of nutrition—cholla cactus. They burn off the spines with a propane burner and the cattle maul the defenseless succulents (see “A Renewable Winter Feed Source,” page 8).

The result after all these years is a herd of small framed, easy keeping, incredibly tough, and very fertile black cattle. When they’re fat in the summer, they might weigh 900 pounds (409 kgs). My visit coincided with the widespread drought currently sweeping most of the West, and grass was scarce at best across the ranch. Considering their meager rations, these little black cattle were all in excellent condition. They had a at the Trigg Ranch. good shine for late winter, and the few calves that had already hit the ground were frisky and healthy. The cows are feminine and the bulls are small but thick, and very easy Financial Frugality fleshing. They don’t look anything like the Black Angus cattle typical of the breed today. And they aren’t. With the exception of their black So that’s a taste of the social/people side of the ranch. As with all hides, they have a lot more in common with their Texas Longhorn families, little nagging conflicts will always be present, but with their ancestors than their Angus contemporaries. common purpose and aligned values, the likelihood of molehills Historically, the ranch sent all the weaned calves to a nearby leased turning into mountains seems slim. Moving into economics, the ranch ranch and marketed them as yearlings, or ownership was retained is in very sound financial health due largely to Steve’s extremely frugal through the feedlot.

Incidentally, their adaptation to their wild, rocky spending habits over the years. The ranch is totally debt free, with no home didn’t diminish their performance in the feedlot. Feeders were money owed on either land or cattle. A healthy cushion of operating continually amazed at how efficiently these funny little cattle would capital also eliminates any need for operating credit. On our trips gain in the pen. They’ve since lost the leased ranch, so are now visiting ranches around the world, the most financially stable, and marketing calves at weaning. They’ve been selling to ranchers who often the most financially prosperous, are the operations that keep lease winter wheat pasture to grow out yearlings through the winter things simple and focus on basic essentials. That’s definitely been the and spring.

Trigg philosophy for many decades.

The calves have developed a reputation for being so tough and Black Angus Longhorns and Bighorns maintenance free that Rick and Kristen can’t meet the demand. Rick says that, when it comes to settling on a price, “we don’t have to do Steve wasn’t into anything fancy, including cattle. With the any haggling.” The ranch has historically run 1,000 cows (give or take), exception of a brief experiment into Charolais bulls in the ‘70s (which, and has averaged a weaned calf crop of about 800, with average according to Rick and Kristen, was totally out of character for Steve), he never bought a fancy bull from a fantasy world seedstock producer. weights of about 400 pounds (181 kgs). That’s pretty good for an extremely low input, survival-of-the-fittest management philosophy.

He actually was reluctant to buy a bull period. At branding, Steve If success is measured by profitability and happy customers, it’s hard would occasionally direct the man with the knife to “let that one go,” to argue with their results. and those lucky few bull calves grew into herd bulls. Rugged terrain also lent to the establishment of a few groups of wild cattle. The continued on page 8 onto the current generation of Triggs in charge of the ranch. Prior to Steve’s death, the family established a creative set of legal structures (including a family limited partnership, a trust, and a corporation) to prepare for the smooth passing of the ranch onto the next generation.

The fact that Steve and his family had the foresight to take these vital actions says a lot about Steve’s character and leadership qualities.

Without going into any details, these legal structures have enabled the ranch to maintain the extremely strong financial position that was generated by Steve’s management over the years (more on that below).

Continuing with the theme of “family working together,” the Triggs have established an annual tradition that they call “work week.” All of Kristen and Sally’s generation (which includes two brothers, Eric and another Steve, as well as several cousins), plus all of their children, get together for a week in the summer and tackle a meaningful ranch project. Several years ago, the family decided that comfortable, inspiring accommodation was lacking when they came for visits, so during work week in recent years, they’ve been remodeling/refurbishing one of the original ranch houses where Kristen’s grandparents lived. It’s a beautiful, expansive stone house at the head of a dramatic canyon, and no doubt will receive lots of use as future generations of Triggs continue to work on and visit the ranch. The whole family maintains a reverence for their grandmother Bess, who was Steve Sr.’s wife, and has wonderful memories of spending time up at “Nana’s house” in their youth, so Family work week remodeling the house is also a means of preserving a meaningful part of family and ranch history.

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Tough Challenges, Big Possibilities continued from page 7

Keys to Ranching for Profit Gregg Simonds, vice president of Ensign Ranches of Utah, Wyoming, and Nebraska, emphasizes that profitability in ranching is determined by three primary factors—cow fertility, cow longevity, and low feed costs (which means not feeding hay), and that “everything else is recreation.” Those are exactly the factors Steve Trigg emphasized all those years. Allan Savory emphasizes a fourth factor, which he places at the top of the profitability list—stocking rate. A ranch has to efficiently utilize its forage resources, which means that stocking rate has to be pushed as high as possible under well-planned grazing, while also leaving the appropriate forage drought reserve. Unless a ranch is using its grass (in a sustainable and regenerating manner), maximum profit per acre—the only truly important economic measure—will never be reached. Fertility and low feed costs mean nothing if they’re not examined in light of profit per acre.

Also entering this equation is cow mature body size. A ranch that

A Renewable Winter Feed Source

T

he Trigg Ranch uses cholla cactus as a winter protein/energy supplement. It contains about 10 percent protein, and taking into account the cost of the propane and the time it takes to burn, provides the same amount of nutrients as commercial protein cake for one-third the cost. When favorable moisture conditions are present, the cholla grows right back as well. Rick Holmes is seen here torching the spines off a cholla.

A singed cholla is a fantastic attractant—without sharp spines for defense, the cattle attack it like candy, and create lots of good impact.

The cattle leave the cholla “trunks” and create a welldisturbed soil surface.

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is maximizing its stocking rate with large framed cows will always carry less animal numbers than a ranch stocked with small cows. For example, on the Trigg Ranch, we estimated the long-term historical stocking rate at about 1,000 of these small-framed black cows. If they wean 800 calves weighing 400 pounds (181 kgs), that’s 320,000 pounds (145,455 kgs) of total production. If they had cows that could wean 500-pound (227-kg) calves at the same age, we figured the number of cattle they could run might drop to 800 cows, since the cows would have to be bigger, produce more milk, and therefore eat more grass.

Assuming the same 80 percent weaning rate, that’s 640 calves weighing 500 pounds, which is also 320,000 pounds of total production.

But when you figure those 400-pound calves will always bring 5 to 10 cents more per pound than the 500-pound calves, those small cows come out much more profitable. As a percentage of total body weight, the big cows would probably need more protein and energy supplementation to maintain acceptable body condition during the winter as well. This is the reason the beef industry’s obsession with weaning weights and per head production hasn’t resulted in more profitability. Steve Trigg must have known that all along.

Having said all that, Rick and Kristen nonetheless have long thought they needed to upgrade their cowherd with a little more mainstream type of bull. They’re also concerned that after years and years with no outside gene infusions, inbreeding might be starting to become a problem. I would encourage them to stick with what they have. The results speak for themselves. There is definitely room for improvement with their selection and culling policy, but they’ve got a set of cows that are supremely adapted to their country. If they really think a few new genes might be necessary to slow down some possible negative consequences from inbreeding, sourcing bulls from similar country and from ranchers with stringent, straightforward culling criteria is a must.

To reiterate, placing an inordinate degree of focus on complicated selection criteria, fancy genetics, and traits other than fertility is almost never profitable. Keep it simple, push stocking rate under sound grazing planning, and let nature sort things out.

Back to the Land That’s the good news. We’ve covered the social and financial dimensions of this outfit—now for a little ecology. Like nearly every other western ranch, the Trigg Ranch has been living on biological capital for a long time. It’s been a slow and gradual decline. Steve probably wasn’t conscious of it. Rick, Kristen, and the rest of their generation have been aware of it for a long time, but Steve’s inflexible management style stifled most serious attempts to address it. Now, with Rick and Kristen in the driver’s seat, the whole family is excited about turning this trend around.

Eroding soil, mesquite and cedar proliferation, stunted grasses, bare ground, and blue grama monocultures (a low-growing warm-season perennial grass that is highly resistant to continuous grazing—or overgrazing) are the norm across much of the ranch.

Rough Country Logistics As they plan how to address this ecological decline, Rick and Kristen are faced with several genuine challenges. One is the tough nature of most of their country. On the drive down to the ranch across northeastern New Mexico, easy rolling short grass prairie is overwhelmingly dominant. This landscape persisted all the way to the tiny town of Mosquero, just 17 miles (27 km) north of Trigg Ranch headquarters. Rick and Kristen had told me they were in rough country.

Based on the view out my windshield, I just couldn’t believe it. I began to think that maybe their definition of rough was different from mine. Then all of sudden, everything changed dramatically.

Just south of Mosquero, the landscape quickly transformed into a maze of cedar-studded canyons and cliffs. It’s not impossibly rough (with the possible exception of a couple of paddocks where the wild sheep-cows hang out), but it’s rough. Figuring out how to create big herds of cattle, and then move them in a logistically feasible manner, requires a serious commitment. In this sort of country, it takes several years of trial and error before the best way to get from “here to there” with several hundred (or several thousand) animals becomes apparent. The chance of having demoralizing and energysapping wrecks is high (100 percent in my experience). But I’ve never seen a case where determination and “sticking with it” failed to overcome logistical obstacles to sound grazing planning.

The important thing, I think, is to not expect to walk before you crawl, not expect to run before you walk, and not expect to sprint before you run. It will take a long time before things are really humming, and that’s true even on flat country, let alone vertical cliffs. You just have to be aware of it and not give up.

Cow Culture Considerations It’s not just the logistics of moving cattle from one canyon or plateau to the next that’s challenging; dealing with the entrenched habits of the cattle is also tough. Animals that have lived their whole life in one canyon or mesa understand how to make their living there. They know where the grass is sweetest. They know which mesquite plants taste good and which ones are too bitter to bother with. They know the easiest route to water, the best places to give birth, the coolest spots when the temperature climbs to 110 F, and the best hollows to take cover in when the mercury plunges below zero. They know their place, and have developed a culture to successfully survive within it. It’s really no different than any other critter, including ourselves.

When we decide all our cows need to be in one herd, animals that aren’t familiar with their new surroundings suddenly lose all the advantages they had back in their old neighborhood. The combination of all those tidbits of knowledge that result in survival (which translates into calves to sell) suddenly no longer applies. They also have to figure out how to get along with a bunch of new faces they’ve seldom had to deal with previously. This all creates stress, not just on the livestock, but on the people trying to implement the change. It can also break the bank account and can lead to even worse ecological conditions without careful planning, and continual monitoring, controlling, and replanning.

The goal of the manager is to accomplish this transition from sedentary, overgrazing, land degrading herbivores to moving, impacting, resource-revitalizing herbivores with a minimum of overall stress. It will be stressful, no matter what, but it should also be fun, motivating, and satisfying.

So that’s what Rick and Kristen and I talked about for most of a day—making the transition. Understandably, the complexity of their challenge had left them unsure where to get started. Taking into account the above realities of logistics and bovine culture, Rick and Kristen got started by first identifying regions of the ranch that made sense to manage as distinct units, or grazing cells, at least initially. They looked at topography mostly, as well as water sources, trying to imagine how a herd of cattle could get up and around and down and through all these mesas and canyons, where they could get a drink,

The Trigg Ranch is a maze of cedar-studded canyons and cliffs. “Nana’s House” is shown lower left.

what fences needed significant attention, etc.

In most cases, they could visualize making things work, but it took some creative thinking. They also looked at how the cattle currently are spread out around the ranch, and allocated these different bunches to different grazing cells. We surmised that even though a cow will tend to spend most of her life in a fairly small area, she certainly must have ventured over the rim and down into the adjacent canyon at least a few times. On the other hand, a cow that’s spent her whole life down in the Creek Pasture probably never made the 15-mile (23-km) trek north to Wild Horse Flat.

Combining existing small bunches of cattle within an area that they already know (and with other cattle they most likely know), even if they don’t know it intimately, is potentially a lot less stressful than pushing them into totally novel surroundings already occupied by a bunch of strangers. Just imagine how you’d like it.

Rick and Kristen ended up identifying three regions of the ranch that they felt made sense to manage as distinct grazing cells. Each cell ended up having five to six paddocks. We did a practice grazing plan for the coming growing season for each cell, just so they could see how it could all potentially come together. The prospect of a majority of the ranch being free of grazing pressure for most of the growing season was exciting. Time control, stock density, and herd size will still be a long ways from the ideal, but they’ll be a whole lot more wellmanaged than anytime in the past. They’re going to keep thinking about it all, and between now and summer rains, refine this quick and dirty plan to make it even more achievable. Once they’ve made this first step and have a few seasons under their belts, have monitored carefully, adapted accordingly, and are comfortable that things are moving in the right direction, it will be time to test further refinement of their fencing layout and grazing planning toward the ranch’s holistic goal.

It was a pleasure to meet a ranching family with so many positive things going for them. With people and financial issues well under control, Rick and Kristen are well-poised to begin working on the ecological side of things. With locally adapted cattle, the support of the entire family, a healthy financial cushion, and a strong desire to improve, the Trigg Ranch really is bursting with possibility.

To learn more about the Trigg Ranch and their projects, visit www.triggranch.com.

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Grazing Planning Practicalities in the Dry, Cold Steppe In Holistic Management, Allan Savory and Jody Butterfield state, “Occasionally when testing a decision we disco ver a gap in our knowledge that research could help to bridge. If such research exists, we have to ensure that it is relevant to our own situation and in line with what we hope to achieve in our holistic goal.” In IN PRACTICE #87, I wrote an article titled “Springtime Begins in the Fall,” summarizing several decades of research by Dr. Lee Manske of North Dakota State University. It generated some good discussion between myself, Doc and Connie Hatfield of Brothers, Oregon, and Tony Malmberg from Lander, W yoming.

The following is an edited version of our exchanges, most of

which is centered on the practical aspects of applying Manske’s findings to real life ranching situations on cold, dry brittle rangelands. As you read through this article, bear in mind Allan and Jody’s statement abo ve. Each of us has to evaluate these grazing management specifics in light of our own “whole under management” and our own holistic goal. I believe that Manske’s work fills a significant gap in our understanding of nature’s dynamics on rangelands dominated by cool season grasses. It’s up to each of us to evaluate where that knowledge might fit in our own operations. The same applies to the specific grazing planning details discussed belo w. — Jim Howell

Doc and Connie Hatfield Brothers, Oregon:

J

im Howell’s article, “Springtime Begins in the Fall,” successfully tied the general principles of holistic planned grazing with some very pertinent specific realities of how cool season grass plants grow.

In a number of his other pieces, Jim also addresses the challenges of laying litter on the ground in low production, brittle environments.

In our cold desert country, if you manage at a high stocking rate and graze every pasture every year sometime between April and August (which is our yearling cattle high gain period), very little litter will be placed on the ground. All the forage is high quality at that time and will be consumed, with the exception of a few areas of high animal impact where the vegetation becomes soiled and trampled before it can be grazed.

In our experience, our best litter-laying technique is supplementing our cows in the winter with about five pounds (2.2 kgs) of dairy quality alfalfa per day and feeding it on the snow and sagebrush. Over 26 years, this has changed our 8,000 acres (3,240 hectares) of winter country to more of a grassland with less brush. However, we’re pretty sure, after reading Jim’s article and thinking about it, that while the government’s (Bureau of Land Management/BLM) long-term monitoring shows a significant improvement in trend (more grass plants, more litter, and less brush), we are probably limiting our total grass production by grazing that country every year from October through February and sometimes March. We are removing many of those fall-initiated lead tillers during the fall, winter, and early spring, thereby stunting productivity during the following growing season.

Our second successful litter laying is done in the spring (March through mid-May), primarily with mouths, not hooves. That requires a year’s worth of old grass and new green leaves a couple of inches tall in the bottom of the plants. When the cows root around in the plant to get to the green, most of the ranker stems from the previous growing season spill onto the ground.

In light of the above observations, we would like to know Jim’s

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Doc and Connie Hatfield

response to the following question: In the Great Basin cold desert, could grazing every other year on a majority of pastures actually produce more usable forage plus litter than an every year carefully timed grazing? The opportunity for the extra boost in the current season’s production from grazing lightly at the third leaf stage only exists for a few weeks at most, and would be hard to apply to much area with a year-round cow operation like ours. Also, even if it is more effectively done with a seasonal yearling operation, the problem of no litter still remains. So, might every other year grazing increase both production and litter co ver?

Jim Howell Montrose, Colorado

I

n regard to your first question, I think every other year grazing can potentially produce more usable forage plus litter, but not immediately . If a paddock is producing 10 animal days per acre every year (on average) from a single grazing, I don’t think it will yield 20 ADA or more every other year until litter has had a chance to accumulate, more plants have had the chance to establish, and existing plants have developed greater vigor—in other words, until the ecosystem processes have all improved significantly. That might take quite a while. In my experience, nothing happens fast in these cold, low-production brittle environments with short growing seasons.

On our place (with 14-inch precipitation, cool-season perennials, and with most growth occurring in May and June), in the small plots where we have given a two-year recovery period, i.e., every other year grazing, the vigor of the plants in the second season is superior to those that were grazed for just one 1-3-day grazing period the year before. There is also lots more potential litter making material, but I don’t think production is double. This coming summer will be the first year that we will go back onto paddocks that have had a two-year recovery period, so we’ll have a better idea next fall about how production (ADA) is affected by giving this extended recovery period.

Our biological monitoring will also indicate if we’re moving in the right direction in terms of reducing bare ground, increasing litter, decreasing plant spacing, etc.

At this point, our long-term plan, following the Holistic Management® Aide Memoire for Grazing Planning, is to graze a paddock heavily one year, then not graze it at all the following year, then graze it lightly to moderately for 3 years, then heavily again (after those 4 years of light, moderate, or no grazing). This creates a bank of ranker material in the first four years, much of which will get laid on the ground during the fifth year of heavy grazing. We’d like to be able to graze every other year, but to start out with that means we’d have to halve our stocking rate, which we just can’t afford to do.

Under this alternate plan of treating our land paddock by paddock and grazing four out of five years at different levels of intensity and at different points in the growing season, and still following the Aide Memoire, we’ll be able to maintain an economically viable stocking rate and cash flow, while also allowing for the accumulation of older material to provide litter.

Regarding the effect of winter grazing on production potential, I always assumed that winter grazing had a benign, if not positive, affect on any grass. But after learning about fall tiller development, I can definitely see that severe winter grazing, especially if it’s repeated year after year, could have definite negative consequences. So, as you noted,

being on your winter country every year from October to February/March could be hindering your potential, since lots of those fall tillers will be removed. Varying the severity and timing of grazing, on a paddock-by-paddock basis from year to year, including an occasional year of no winter harvest, are steps that may be taken to address this. These actions can be easily planned in the context of Holistic Management® grazing planning, and any action needs to be taken in light of all the other factors affecting the whole ranch (financial implications, animal performance considerations, etc.).

Tony Malmberg Lander, Wyoming read Jim’s article with great interest since I’d also read Dr. Manske’s work several years ago. Based on Dr. Manske’s research, I went to twice per season grazing on our ranch.

John Likins, a Lander BLM range conservationist, cautioned me against using a study conducted in northern Great Plains range conditions to modify the management in our more brittle, less productive sagebrush steppe.

It turns out that John’s caution was wellTony Malmberg surveying the sage grouse founded. As we population on his ranch. implemented “twice-over grazing” at a high stocking rate, the increased plant palatability exported all of our potential litter-making material. I can’t say if this was exported in beef or if less residual cover allowed litter to blow away. I think a major part of the equation was that an increase in plant palatability (twiceover grazing kept most plants in a vegetative, leafy condition) did not allow for stemmy material to accumulate, break off, and become litter.

The supple, vegetative leaves were less prone to breakage by hoof action, and our high stock densities and high stocking rates resulted in very efficient (maybe too efficient) removal.

Our litter cover didn’t decrease, but it didn’t increase either, and those initial years of grazing twice in the same season were good precipitation years and should have resulted in increased ground cover.

What did decrease very significantly was production. I stopped seeing expression of the high yielding bunchgrasses. They just shut down. In 1999, with a good moisture year, our yield fell from 10.3 ADA to 8.3,

I

continued on page 12

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11

Grazing Planning Practicalities in the Dry, Cold Steppe continued from page 11 and the current drought, probably exacerbated by those years of twice-over grazing, has brought us down to 4.2 ADA. Now, taking into account Jim’s distinction between different types of brittle environments, I would make the distinction between our area and the Northern Plains as follows: our sagebrush steppe is highly brittle/low production, while the northern plains might be semi- to highly brittle/moderate production. In other words, the study site was less brittle and higher producing than we are.

With this added awareness of a production axis added to the brittleness scale, coupled with the fact, as reiterated by Allan Savory in “Completing the Feedback Loop” (IN PRACTICE #87) that part of the definition of recovery is a supply of litter, I would be very cautious of grazing regrowth or secondary tillers in a low production brittle environment. The increased production resulting from the early light grazing will go much further as a supply of litter and increased plant vigor for the following year. Once we get the soil surface covered with a layer of mulch, we might predict a different grazing planning strategy; i.e., with greater soil surface cover and more effective ecosystem processes, production may eventually increase to the point that two grazings in the same growing season are possible without

any adverse affects.

Most of us graziers managing low production brittle environments haven’t yet seen a completely covered soil surface.

I have not seen less than 25 percent bare ground on our low production, brittle environment ranch. If we get below that, we might be amazed at where our monitoring and feedback loop will lead us.

Until we do, I’ll leave the second grazing to increase plant vigor and provide a litter supply.

Jim Howell

M

ost western ranchers are running on huge expanses of low production, topographically chaotic country with low paddock numbers, scarce labor resources, and tight financial circumstances.

Because of these common constraints, planning a light early grazing, followed by a second heavier grazing later in the year, is a challenging feat to manage in most situations.

Finally, the decision to take any of this information into account needs to be considered within the full context of the whole being managed. For many reasons, twice-per-season grazing (or early light grazing, or every other year grazing, or any other practice alluded to in this article) may not pass testing toward the holistic goal of a particular operation, even if it is logistically possible. If a particular practice does pass, make sure it is still planned within the context of the Holistic Management® Aide Memoire for Grazing Planning, and definitely monitor under the assumption that you’re wrong, because (at least initially) you probably will be.

A Lesson Learned

T

he photo pictured here is a good example of the response an early light grazing can have on cool-season plants. The photo was taken on our ranch on August 6, 1999. It shows an ungrazed plant (headed out on left of book) and a grazed plant (on right with several vigorous secondary tillers). The pasture was grazed at a light stocking rate from June 1-7 that year, which would have coincided with the post-third-leaf, pre-flowering period. The elapsed recovery time, when the photo was taken, would have been approximately 60 days. Precipitation that year was above normal, especially during the critical month of April, which brought 6.44 inches (164 mm)—4.56 inches (116 mm) better than average!

The point is that this type of response is possible with sufficient well-timed moisture. In this specific example, the moisture pattern was more typical of the Northern Great Plains than the Wyoming sagebrush steppe, and the grass responded exactly as Manske’s work predicts.

I used this pasture again from September 1-14 that year. Since then, the extended drought has prevented this sort of grass growth from

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occurring. If only I had left that regrowth in 1999. It was my last chance before the drought to get litter cover, and I grazed it. Oh, the cost of experience! —Tony Malmberg

Savory Center Bulletin Board Meet Our New Executive Director

A

s Chair of The Savory Center's Board of Directors, it is my privilege and pleasure to introduce our new Executive Director.

However, I first wish to acknowledge the grace and contributions that Shannon Horst has given the organization and the movement at large over her 12 years with The Savory Center, 11 of which she served as our Executive Director. Shannon has dedicated her life and considerable talents to the growth and well being of the organization and the spread of Holistic Management globally. She has led us to the current stage of stability and phenomenal opportunity for all involved. In the process, she created multiple jobs for herself, several of which she will be taking forward in the time ahead.

We are very lucky and pleased to have Shannon’s continued leadership and energy with us. Among her several on-going roles, she will be directing the development of The Savory Center's new international headquarters at La Semilla in Albuquerque. It is very gratifying that it was her choice to initiate this transition and open the way to bringing in additional leadership capacity for the organization in this time of growth.

I am extremely grateful for the assistance of the Search Committee members who worked diligently to find an exceptional candidate to recommend to the Board of Directors. Leslie Christian and Richard Smith, now both members of the Board of Directors, Advisory Board Chair Robert Anderson, Dianne “Sam” Law, who has just joined our Advisory Board, and our co-founders Jody Butterfield and Allan Savory all joined me in this search process. After a concerted outreach effort, we received close to 100 applications for the position. There were so many excellent candidates, and they brought such tremendous enthusiasm and passion to their applications, that it made our task exceptionally difficult. We sincerely hope that many of the applicants will continue to be in contact with us and develop other opportunities together.

By the end of this process, after several inperson interviews with the Search Committee and Savory Center Staff and Board members, as well as several other advisors and

colleagues, we came to a unanimous choice.

Thankfully the person we chose also chose us and will be joining us April 15th.

Tim LaSalle

I

t is with great anticipation and excitement that I join The Savory Center staff to further the work and vision of Allan and the very capable team led by Shannon Horst these last 11 years.

I decided to apply for this position last December when my wife, Judelon, and I were traveling in Spain and Morocco. After viewing miles and miles of eroded landscape that have been mismanaged by human ignorance or exploitation for centuries, all we could think about, because of our exposure to Holistic Management, was what needed to be done to correct it, and we were stunned by the magnitude of the task. I called Shannon Horst right then to let her know that the impact of this realization had been significant enough to shift my commitments from California to The Savory Center and its work.

I am humbled by my selection as the new Executive Director. The tasks are large and the challenges many to help this essential organization accomplish the global reach it desires and the world needs.

Tim LaSalle has led the most dynamic Agricultural Leadership Program in the U.S. for the past 26 years. As President/CEO and Educational Director of the California-based Agriculture Education Foundation, he developed what a colleague called “the gold standard” of such programs in the U.S. and overseas. In the course of his work he traveled internationally every year with a class of 30 agricultural leaders and has thus developed a broad network of contacts and colleagues around the world.

Tim grew up on his family’s farm in California, received degrees in dairy science and population genetics and is now completing a Ph.D. in Depth Psychology. He managed his own dairy farm for several years until recruited by Cal Poly (San Luis Obispo, California) at the age of 25 to teach in the Dairy Science Department. He had become a full professor in 1986 when the Agriculture Education Foundation lured him away to direct its California Agricultural Leadership Program. During his tenure there, he grew and refined the program to its current status and exceptional educational offering.

Tim was referred to Holistic Management several years ago and quickly took it upon himself to connect with The Savory Center.

After a day of learning about it in Albuquerque with Allan Savory and Shannon Horst, he proceeded to incorporate Holistic Management into his leadership program curriculum. This has provided him the chance to develop his knowledge and understanding of Holistic Management and incorporate it into his life.

Please join me in welcoming Tim and his wife, Judelon, to Albuquerque, to The Savory Center, and to our shared work in the world.

We look forward to creating as many opportunities as possible for Tim to meet you, our circle of friends. He will be attending the HRM of Texas’s Rendezvous on September 2628 so we hope to see many of you there!

Tim’s e-mail address will be timl@holisticmanagement.org as of April 15th.

Again, I want to thank everyone who assisted in this process, everyone who applied for this position, and everyone who will help us grow the organization and fulfill its mission in the years ahead.

With appreciation, Rio de la Vista, Chair, Board of Directors continued on page 14

HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE • MAY / JUNE 2003 13

Bulletin Board continued from page 13

fortunate to now have the benefit of his energy, insights and commitment on our Board of Directors.

Board of Directors Expands

New Advisory Board Members

W

In March, the Savory Center added two new members to its Advisory Board. Dr. Dean Rudoy received his education at The Johns Hopkins University and Fordham University and the core of his training in clinical psychology at the New York University-Bellevue Medical Center. He has Dean Rudo y served on the graduate

e’re pleased to announce that Richard Stowers Smith, who has served on our Advisory Board since 2001, has now joined The Savory Center’s Board of Directors.

Upon graduating from Yale University, he worked in a family business and then commenced a career in investment banking, Richard S. Smith starting with Lazard Freres & Co. in New York, and ending with Rotan Mosle, Inc., in Houston. For the past 15 years he has been President of Ventex Management, Inc., a private equity investment firm in Houston. And for the past 35 years has also managed the Stowers Ranch, near Hunt, Texas, a cattle, hunting, and nature tourism operation that has been in his family since 1904.

He was first exposed to Allan Savory’s thinking in 1980 and immediately recognized its relevance and importance. Soon after, his family and their ranch manager attended several Holistic Management courses and incorporated the new ideas on their own ranch. Richard’s concern for the protection and restoration of rangelands and his desire to reverse desertification wherever it occurs, has made him an active advocate of Holistic Management ever since.

Richard has also served on the boards of the Houston Ballet, the Contemporary Arts Museum of Houston, and the Houston Child Guidance Center, of which he was President, and for many years has been actively supportive of his wife Josephine’s involvement in education and the environment. We feel

Correction

I

n the March/April #88 issue of IN PRACTICE, we regrettably forgot to list two trainees in our current Certified Educator Training Program. Heather Amundson is the Assistant Coordinator of the River Country Resource Conservation and Development Council in Wisconsin and Larry Dyer is a research associate at Michigan State University. Our apologies for the oversight.

14 HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE #89

faculties of the New York University School of Medicine, the University of New Mexico, and Webster University. He is past president of the New Mexico Psychoanalytic Society, and currently serves on the Board of Directors of New Mexico Voices for Children.

For 26 years, Dean has worked as a psychotherapist, teacher, consultant, and researcher with a focus on children, adolescents, and their families. He has also produced four plays on adolescent life issues, and published articles and books in the fields of psychology, sociology, and political science. Over the years, Dean has also served as a consultant to both national and international political and research organizations and several U.S. Senators.

Over the past year, Dean has assisted us with the development of the La Semilla project, which has benefited greatly from his many skills and tireless advocacy. In accepting his

appointment to the Advisory Board he spoke eloquently of its meaning to him: “In illuminating the vital relationship of all life forms, The Savory Center offers a promise to the world and to the earth—that we might live abundantly and peacefully upon this planet. It honors me to support the work of the Center toward the fulfillment of that promise.”

Dianne “Sam” Lathrop Law comes to the Advisory Board following a 20-year career as a corporate executive with Polaroid Corporation where she was involved in worldwide corporate communications, corporate education, leadership development, and long-term strategic planning.

She holds Masters degrees in Organizational Communications from Boston University and Environmental Leadership from Naropa University. Sam became familiar with Holistic Management as an environmental graduate student and after attending a course taught

by Allan Savory in 1998.

Sam Law She looks forward to bringing her experience in organizational processes and communication to the exciting task of growing the Center and to the transitions this entails. Sam currently makes her home in southern Colorado where she and her sister are about to begin the “green” renovation of Uptop, a ghost town they own on 300 acres in the Sangre de Cristo mountains which will one day be home to a retreat where corporate leaders can meet, out of the public eye, with the top minds in environmental thinking and economics.

In Memoriam

L

ong time Advisory Board member Bunker Sands, died March 4 after a year-long battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 54 and leaves behind a daughter and two grown sons, and his wife, Gayle, who is expecting twins in May. Bunker was an Executive Director of the Dallas-based Rosewood Corporation, which owns and manages a variety of hotel and ranch properties. He first got acquainted with the Center in the mid 1980s when he attended courses with the intention of managing the ranch Bunker Sands properties holistically. His successes in doing so have been recounted in 1948 - 2003 past issues of IN PRACTICE, most recently in April 1998 (#59).

Bunker had a keen interest in the development of wetlands, which he worked tirelessly to create. Today his constructed wetlands cover over 2,000 acres on the Texas working cattle ranches, providing essential nesting and wintering areas for migratory birds.

In honor of Bunker, The Savory Center will develop the Bunker Sands Wetlands Garden adjacent to our new international headquarters (to be built in 2005) at the La Semilla Nature Center in Albuquerque.

The Savory Center Supporters We’d like to offer our deep appreciation to those who made financial contributions to the Savory Center in the last year. Your contributions enabled us to expand our community-based conservation ef forts in

Africa and in the U.S. and better support our practitioners and educators around the world with new and impro ved educational programs, materials, and research. Together we can make a dif ference!

Savory Circle ($5,000-100,000)

Benefactors ($500-999)

The Arntz Family Fund, San Rafael, CA Sam Brown, Austin, TX Harriett Dublin, Midland, TX Bud & Mary Lou Flocchini, Reno, NV The Flora Family Foundation Menlo Park, CA Cynthia & Leo Harris, Albuquerque NM M.A. Healy Family Foundation, Taos, NM The William & Flora Hewlett Foundation, Menlo Park, CA The Hunter Fund, Cleveland, OH J. Rukin Jelks, Jr., Elgin, AZ Clint & Betty Josey, Dallas, TX The Lumpkin Family Foundation, Mattoon, IL Doug McDaniel & Gail Hammack, Lostine, OR James & Carol Parker, Montrose, CO Jane Reed, Cave Creek, AZ Rosewood Corporation, Dallas, TX Dean William Rudoy, Cedar Crest, NM Bunker Sands, Dallas, TX Allan Savory & Jody Butterfield, Albuquerque, NM The San Francisco Foundation, San Francisco, CA The Tides Foundation, San Francisco, CA

Ken Alston, Earlysville, VA Robert & Shelley Bernick, Salt Lake City, UT Don & Bev Campbell, Meadowlake, SK, Canada Edith Cather, Parkersburg, WV Ron Chapman, Albuquerque, NM Mary Child, Sugar Grove, WV Rio De La Vista, Monte Vista, CO John & Leslie Flocchini, Gillette, WY Don & Randee Halladay, Rocky Mt House, AB, Canada Blake Holtman, Taber, AB, Canada Christine Jurzykowski , Glen Rose, TX Joe & Peggy Maddox, Ozona, TX James A. McMullan, San Antonio, TX Gary Rodgers, Highlands Ranch, CO York Schueller, El Segundo, CA HR Stasney, Houston, TX Jack and Teresa Southworth, Seneca, OR Bill Thompson, Denver, CO Liz Williams, Austin, TX George & Elaine Work, San Miguel, CA Don Youngbauer, Forsyth, MT

Patrons ($1,000-4,999) Thomas Brown, Hershey, NE Leslie Christian & Heather Anderson, Seattle, WA Bruce Condill, Arthur, IL Nancy Dickenson, Santa Fe, NM Lee & Jill Dueringer, Scottsdale, AZ Paul Engler, Amarillo, TX Stephen, Judy, Betty, & Jack Greenhalgh, Salt Lake City, UT Shannon & Taylor Horst, Albuquerque, NM William Jenkins, Goodlands, KS Craig & Jessica Leggett, Los Lunas, NM Bonnie Lesser, Taylor, MO Larry Madge, Sweet Grass, MT Kim McDodge & Terence Dodge, Portland, OR John & Sandra McDonald, Essex, England New England Small Farm Institute, Belchertown, MA Kelly & Robert Pasztor, Albuquerque, NM Progressive Investment Management, Seattle, WA Richard & Josephine Smith, Houston, TX John & Cynthia Sparks, Albuquerque, NM C. Pat & Nancy Spurlock, Payson, AZ Mike & Vicki Turpen, Albuquerque, NM Andree Wagner Peace Trust, Arcata, CA Herb West, San Anselmo, CA Drausin Wulsin, Cincinnati, OH

Friends ($100-499) Ann Adams & Ellen Ashbrook, Tajique, NM Eve Adams & Betsy Cahill, Las Cruces, NM Mary & Dan Adams, Payson, AZ Michael & Susan Ahlers, Hartley, IA Dieter Ali Albrecht, Beijing, China Christina Allday-Bondy, Austin, TX Steve & Rachel Allen, Crawford, CO Donna Attewell, Mill Valley, CA John Ball, Jr., Germantown, MD Monte Bell, Orland, CA Mike Benziger, Glen Ellen, CA Jody Birks, San Miguel, CA Duncan K. Blair, Patagonia, AZ Eric Brown, Hershey, NE Tamsin & Bruce Boardman, Bluff Dale, TX Don Bouma, Jr., Carpenter, WY Andy & Geni Braman, Albuquerque, NM Bill Burrows, Red Bluff, CA Manuel Casas, Huixquilucan, Mexico Celtic Jewelry, Santa Fe, NM Nate & Angela Chisholm, Madison, WI Combined Federal Campaign, Baton Rouge, LA Peter Day, Kilauea, HI Dick DeVore, Wichita, KS Michael D’Mura, Peoria, AZ Byron and Wayne Eatinger, Thedford, NE Aspen & David Edge, Granada, Spain Kathryn Ehrhorn, Benson, AZ Ella Erway, Hanover, NH John Fairbairn, Arkville, NY

Jake Flake, Snowflake, AZ Brigitte Fleeman, Mountain View, CA Mark Frasier, Woodrow, CO Floss, Jerry & Tony Garner, Brownlee, NE John F. Gerber, Amherst, MA John C. Glenn, Pensacola, FL Robert Gloy, Grant, NE Donald A. Gonzales, Santa Fe, NM Goodrich Ranch Co., Lampasas, TX Bob Gray, Newbury, VT Arlin Grimes, Driggs, ID John & Charlotte Hackley, Jacksboro, TX Caroline J. Hadley, Carson City, NV Louis I. Hagener, Havre, MT John M. Hall, Nice, France Robert D. Henry, Newburg, ND Susan Scott Heyneman Foundation, Fishtail, MT Rodney & Carol Hickle, Center, ND Duane Hilborn, Albuquerque, NM Jerry Holtman, Taber, AB, Canada Robert L. Homer, Albuquerque, NM Gerda & Dayton Hyde, Chiloquin, OR Taylor & Becky Hyde, Chiloquin, OR William P. Jones, Harlowton, MT Roxanne Jordan, Forestville, CA Miles Keogh, Buffalo, WY Dale Lasater, Colorado Springs, CO Laurence Lasater, San Angelo, TX Dianne Law, Laveta, CO Joy Law, Hollister, CA Ellen and Stan Lee, Bloomington, IN John & Jane Leeser, Taylor, MO Brad Little, Emmett, ID Jo Luck, Little Rock, AR Bill & Debbie Mackay, Custer, MT Sue Lani & Craig Madsen, Edwall, WA Kate McBride, Aspen, CO Patrick McCarty, Parachute, CO Donna & William McCormack, Prineville, OR Joseph P McElligott, Ione, OR Mike & Catherine H. McNeil, Monte Vista, CO Douglas McRae, Forsyth, MT Arnold G. Mendenhall, Hickman, NE Joe Middleton, North Fork, CA Bill Milton, Roundup, MT Anne and Rich Morris, San Juan Bautista, CA Robert Nelville, Purdys, NY The Tom Norton Family, Madras, OR Pulakos & Alongi, Ltd., Albuquerque, NM John W. Ravenscroft, Nenzel, NE Margaret Phelan Reed, Beaumont, TX James F. & Colleen Reeves, Wimberly, TX Frank & Katherine Russell, Lethbridge, AB, Canada continued on page 16

HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE • MAY / JUNE 2003 15

Savory Center Supporters continued from page 15 Pat Rutledge, Monitor, AB, Canada Charles F. & Jennifer Sands, Phoenix, AZ Mary Ann Sharon, Dillon, MT Jim and Sara Shelton, Vinita, OK Bob Siemens, Fiske, SK, Canada Brian Sindelar, Belgrade, MT Kirvil Skinnarland, Seattle, WA Johanna Smith, Wimberley, TX Anne Stilson-Cope, Elizabeth, CO Milton B. Suthers, Arvada, CO Livingston K. Toomer, Gypsum, CO Pono and Angela Von Holt, Kamuela , HI Dennis & Jean Wobeser, Lloydminster, AB, Canada Perry & Bette Wilkes, Albuquerque, NM Jack & Zera Varian, Parkfield, CA Demetrio Vazquez, Rancho Santa Fe, CA

Members ($50-99) Don Adams, Folsom, NM Kathie Arnold, Truxton, NY Kim & Erich Barmann, Springer, NM Xavier Basurto, Tucson, AZ Terry Beck, La Farge, WI Craig A. Beckner, Newcastle, WY Thomas Bedell, Philomath, OR Ben Berlinger, La Junta, CO William Blaiklock, Arrowsic, ME Thomas D. Bonomo, Cottonwood, AZ Donald & Janice Braman, Jr, Albuquerque, NM Barton A. Brown, Coarsegold, CA Dick Byrd, Vaughn, NM Powhatan Carter III, Fort Sumner, NM Eddie and Betty Sue Conway, Payson, AZ Mr. & Mrs. David R. Corrigan, Dallas, TX Colleen Daniel, Walla Walla, WA Dennis Demmel, Ogallala, NE Virginia Dierker, West Falmouth, MA Victoria Dietz, Worland, WY Douglas T. Dockter, Farmington, NM Bill C. Dorrance, Hollister, CA Amy Driggs, Albuquerque, NM James F. Dudley, Albuquerque, NM John & Joyce Engels, North Bend, OR Harold & Wanda Euwer, Leander, TX Michael Evans, Saratoga, WY Sally Fallon, Washington, DC Kathryn & Lloyd Ferge, Echo, OR Steven T. Fettig, Wishek, ND John Fichtner, Elizabeth, WV Blair Fitzsimons, Carrizo Springs, TX Cornelia Flora, Ames, IA Lowell & Mary Forman, Antelope, OR Chris E. Frasier, Limon, CO Sally Gamauf, Copley, OH Leonard Garrison, San Rafael, CA John S. Gay, Sahuarita, AZ Joe Glode, Saratoga, WY Mary Ellen Gonzales, Santa Fe, NM

16 HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE #89

Hawk & Shelley Greenway, Aspen, CO Kevin Gruntmeir, Kingfisher, OK Steve Hailstone, Adelaide, Australia Jack Ham, Post, TX Elizabeth Haverfield, Winona, KS Gerald S. Henrikson, Madras, OR Allen Hewko, Neilburg, SK, Canada Jeff and Denise Hunewill, Wellington, NV Joann M. Hutton, Glenwood, WA Larry Johnson, Winona, MN Edward Keith, Coffeyville, KS Margaret Kinnett, Maybell, CO John King, Richmond, New Zealand Neal Kinsey, Charleston, MO Paul Krebs, Bowling Green, OH Roland Kroos, Bozeman, MT Jim & Barbara Long, Roseburg, OR Norman & Gail Lowe, Flagstaff, AZ Richard Luciano, Morristown, NJ Sheila R.V. Luoma, Arcadia, NE Sandra M Matheson, Bellingham, WA Gary Markegard, Eureka, CA Tom McAllister, Lincoln, NE Earl & Sharon McKinney, Prineville, OR William Kenneth Medlin, Moscow, ID Nathan Melson, Dodd City, TX John L. Merrill, Crowley, TX Eudoro Moreno Moreno, Aguascalientes, Mexico Deb Morley, Cambridge, MA Jim & Shari Morrison, Pampa, TX Cynthia Noble, Graeagle, CA Wallace Olson , Vinita, OK Charles Orchard, Bozeman MT Michael Orr, Eureka, CA Joyce Osborne, Salt Lake City, UT Kelli & Bill Parker, Calhan, CO John Phelan, Mountain Park, OK Allen & Tauna Powell, Laclede, MO Mark & Wendy Pratt, Blackfoot, ID Dina & Bill Quigley, Clearlake Oaks, CA Jim & Liz Rehfeld, Holly, CO Dick & Judy Richardson, Vryburg, South Africa Tom Rietmann & Katie Cook, Condon, OR Merlyn Rix, Wetaskiwin, AB, Canada Dale Robinson, Paragonah, UT Richard Rominger, Winter, CA Marcus Rogers, Newport, RI Kathleen Sayce, Nahcotta, WA Charles D. Schmidt, Fredericksburg, TX Dr. & Mrs. Robert Scholes, Rodeo, NM David Scott, Cochrane, AB, Canada Homer A. & Mildred S. Scott Foundation, Sheridan, WY Ridge Shinn, Hardwick, MA Joe & Michele Simmons, Newcastle, WY Bob Steffen, Bennington, NE Pete Tatschl, Tucumcari, NM Federico Urioste, Argentina Arne Vanderburg, Cedar Crest, NM Arne van Garrel, Amsterdam, The Netherlands W. Doug Warnock, Ellensburg, WA James D. Weaver, Causey, NM Bryan Wehrli, Cedar Crest, NM

Tom White, Lakin, KS Don Whitten, Colorado Springs, CO Dennis & Brenda Wohlgemuth, Crooked Creek, AB, Canada Peter Young, Plainfield, VT Friends ($1-49) Victor Abdul-Nur, Pueblo, CO Ivan & Martha Aguirre, Hermosillo, Mexico Dave Baker, Isanti, MN Cindy Bohna, Hornitos, CA Denise Bostdorff and Dan O’Rourke, Wooster, OH Scott Butterfield, Santa Barbara, CA Mary Cannon, Mt. Prospect, IL Patricia Cavicchioni, Saratoga, WY Kirkwood M. Cunningham, Boulder, CO Allen Darrow, Albuquerque, NM Michael Diem, Cascade, ID Peter Donovan, Enterprise, OR Rita Donham-Burgess, Cora, WY Ken Gallard, Taos Ski Valley, NM Mark Gordon, Buffalo, WY Berkeley Harris, Diamond Bar, CA Margaret Holske, Cortez, CO Jay Holzmiller, Anatone, WA Paul Kane, Sterling, IL Jim & Sue Keating, Bennington, KS Lawrence Levine, Sunnyvale, CA Priscilla Marden, Jackson, WY James Matthews, Buena Vista, CO James E. McCollum, Great Falls, MT Kirk Mills, Arvada, CO Ralph B. Montee, Cullowhee, NC Jeff Moser, Denver, CO Alice Moore, Raton, NM Paul Nehring, Wausau, WI Michael T. Nepereny, Stratford, IA Charlotte Rhodes, Dripping Springs, TX Rosebud Conservation District, Forsyth, MT Walt Ruzzo, Mountainview, CA Preston Sullivan, Fayetteville, AR David Tepper, Deerfield, IL Ken Tager, Albuquerque, NM Jan Wright, Bonanza, OR Greg Young, Bolivar, MO

Volunteer Thanks

T

his issue we’d like to thank Ken Roberts, Tina Pilione, and Wilma Keppel for their efforts in producing and promoting two wellattended workshops in California in connection with Allan Savory’s keynote speech at the American Farmland Trust national conference in March. Thanks also to Nancy Butler of the Rio Grande Headwaters Trust and Vivianne Holmes for helping us get our information and materials to a wider audience. Your contributions are invaluable.

Certified Educators To our knowledge, Certified Educators are the best qualified individuals to help others learn to practice Holistic Management and to provide them with technical assistance when necessary. On a yearly basis, Certified Educators renew their agreement to be affiliated with the Center. This agreement requires their commitment to practice Holistic Management in their own lives, to seek out opportunities for staying current with the latest developments in Holistic Management and to maintain a high standard of ethical conduct in their work.

For more information about or application forms for the U.S., Africa, or International Certified Educator Training Programs, contact Kelly Pasztor at the Savory Center or visit our website at www.holisticmanagement.org/wwo_certed.cfm? ❖ These Educators provide Holistic Management instruction on behalf of the institutions they represent.

UNITED STATES ARIZONA Kitty Boice P.O. Box 745, Sonoita, AZ 85637 520/907-5574 KatieMackK@aol.com ARKANSAS Preston Sullivan P.O. Box 4483 Fayetteville, AR 72702 479/443-0609; 479/442-9824 (w) prestons@nwaisp.com CALIFORNIA Monte Bell 325 Meadowood Dr., Orland, CA 95963 530/865-3246; mbell@glenncounty.net Julie Bohannon 652 Milo Terrace, Los Angeles, CA 90042 323/257-1915 JoeBoCom@pacbell.net

Chadwick McKellar 16775 Southwood Dr. Colorado Springs, CO 80908 719/495-4641; cmckellar@juno.com

GEORGIA Constance Neely

1160 Twelve Oaks Circle Watkinsville, GA 30677 706/310-0678; cneely@holisticmanagement.org IOWA 1800 Grand Ave. Keokuk, IA 52632-2944 319/524-5098; wpccasey@interl.net

Richard King 1675 Adobe Rd. Petaluma, CA 94954 707/769-1490; 707/794-8692 (w) richard.king@ca.usda.gov

Tina Pilione P.O. 923, Eunice, LA 70535 phone/fax: 337/580-0068 tinamp@charter.net

Christopher Peck P.O. Box 2286, Sebastopol, CA 95472 707/758-0171 ctopherp@holistic-solutions.net COLORADO Cindy Dvergsten 17702 County Rd. 23, Dolores, CO 81323 970/882-4222; cdvergst@fone.net Rio de la Vista P.O. Box 777, Monte Vista, CO 81144 719/852-2211; riovista@rmi.net

LOUISIANA

MINNESOTA Terri Goodfellow-Heyer 4660 Cottonwood Lane N Plymouth, MN 55442 612/559-0099; tgheyer@attbi.com Larry Johnson RR 1, Box 93A Winona, MN 55987-9738 507/457-9511; 507/523-2171 (w) lpjohn@rconnect.com MONTANA

Daniela Howell 63066 Jordan Ct. Montrose, CO 81401 970/249-0353 howelljd@montrose.net

Wayne Burleson RT 1, Box 2780, Absarokee, MT 59001 406/328-6808; rutbuster@montana.net

Tim McGaffic P.O. Box 476 Ignacio, CO 81137 970/946-9957; tim@timmcgaffic.com

Roland Kroos 492 Itana Circle Bozeman, MT 59715 406/522-3862; KROOSING@earthlink.net

Amy Driggs 1131 Los Tomases NW Albuquerque, NM 87102 505/242-2787 adriggs@orbusinternational.com

Ken Jacobson 12101 Menaul Blvd. NE, Ste A Albuquerque, NM 87112 505/293-7570 kbjacobson@orbusinternational.com

Byron Shelton 33900 Surrey Lane Buena Vista, CO 81211 719/395-8157 landmark@my.amigo.net

Bill Casey

NEW MEXICO ❖ Ann Adams The Savory Center 1010 Tijeras NW Albuquerque, NM 87102 505/842-5252 anna@holisticmanagement.org

Kirk Gadzia P.O. Box 1100, Bernalillo, NM 87004 505/867-4685; fax: 505/867-0262 kgadzia@earthlink.net

Chandler McLay P.O. Box 262, Dolores, CO 81323 970/882-8802 mcchand@msn.com

Jeff Goebel P.O. Box 1252, Willows, CA 95988 530/321-9855; 530/934-4601 x101 (w) goebel@palouse.net

❖ Cliff Montagne Montana State University Department of Land Resources & Environmental Science Bozeman, MT 59717 406/994-5079; montagne@montana.edu

❖ Kelly Pasztor The Savory Center 1010 Tijeras NW, Albuquerque, NM 87102 505/842-5252 kellyp@holisticmanagement.org Sue Probart P.O. Box 81827 Albuquerque, NM 87198 505/265-4554 tnm@treenm.com Vicki Turpen 03 El Nido Amado SW Albuquerque, NM 87121 505/873-0473; mvt9357@aol.com Arne Vanderburg P.O. Box 904, Cedar Crest, NM 87008 505/286-6133 asvanderb@hotmail.com NORTH CAROLINA Sam Bingham 394 Vanderbilt Rd. Asheville, NC 28803 828/274-1309; sbingham@igc.org NORTH DAKOTA ❖ Wayne Berry University of North Dakota—Williston P.O. Box 1326 Williston, ND 58802 701/774-4269 or 701/774-4200 wayne.berry@wsc.nodak.edu OHIO ❖ Deborah Stinner Department of Entomology OARDC 1680 Madison Hill Wooster, OH 44691 330/202-3534 (w); stinner.2@osu.edu

HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE • MAY / JUNE 2003 17

OKLAHOMA Kim Barker RT 2, Box 67, Waynoka, OK 73860 580/824-9011; barker_k@hotmail.com OREGON Joel Benson 613 Fordyce St., Ashland, OR 97520 541/488-9630; ytka@jeffnet.org Cindy Douglas 2795 McMillian St., Eugene, OR 97405 541/465-4882; cdouglas@omri.org TEXAS Christina Allday-Bondy 2703 Grennock Dr., Austin, TX 78745 512/441-2019 ; tododia@peoplepc.com Guy Glosson 6717 Hwy 380, Snyder, TX 79549 806/237-2554; glosson@caprock-spur.com ❖ R.H. (Dick) Richardson University of Texas at Austin Department of Integrative Biology Austin, TX 78712 512/471-4128; d.richardson@mail.utexas.edu

Peggy Sechrist 25 Thunderbird Rd. Fredericksburg, TX 78624 830/990-2529; peggy@ fbg.net WASHINGTON Craig Madsen P.O. Box 107, Edwall, WA 99008 509/236-2451; madsen2fir@centurytel.net Sandra Matheson 228 E. Smith Rd., Bellingham, WA 98226 360/398-7866; smm1@gte.net ❖ Don Nelson Washington State University P.O. Box 646310, Pullman, WA 99164 509/335-2922; nelsond@wsu.edu

Doug Warnock 151 Cedar Cove Rd. Ellensburg, WA 98926 509/925-9127 warnockd@ elltel.net WISCONSIN Elizabeth Bird Room 203 Hiram Smith Hall 1545 Obseratory Dr Madison WI 53706 608/265-3727 eabird@facstaff.wisc.edu WYOMING

Maurice Robinette S. 16102 Wolfe Rd., Cheney, WA 99004 509/299-4942; mlr@icehouse.net

Miles Keogh 450 N. Adams Ave. Buffalo WY 82834 307/684-0532; mkeogh@trib.com

Lois Trevino P.O. Box 615, Nespelem, WA 99155 509/634-4410; 509/634-2430 (w) lois.trevino@colvilletribes.com

Tim Morrison P.O. Box 536 Meeteese, WY 82433 307/868-2354; mcd@tctwest.net

INTERNATIONAL AUSTRALIA Helen Carrell “Hillside” 25 Weewondilla Rd. Glennie Heights, Warwick, QLD 4370 61-4-1878-5285; 61-7-4661-7383 helenc@upfrontoutback,com Steve Hailstone 5 Lampert Rd., Crafers, SA 5152 61-4-1882-2212 shailstone@internode.on.net Graeme Hand “Inverary” Caroona Lane; Branxholme, VIC 3302 61-3-5578-6272; 61-4-1853-2130 gshand@hotkey.net.au

Kelly Sidoryk Box 374, Lloydminster, AB, S9V 0Y4 403/875-4418 hi-gain@telusplanet.net CHINA/GERMANY Dieter Albrecht 2, Yuan Ming Yuan Xi Lu Beijing 10094 86-10-6289 1061 alialb@gmx.net (international) MEXICO

Mark Gardner P.O. Box 1395, Dubbo, NSW 2830 61-2-6882-0605 gardnerm@ozemail.com.au

Ivan Aguirre La Inmaculada Apdo. Postal 304 Hermosillo, Sonora 83000 tel/fax: 52-637-377-8929 rancho_inmaculada@yahoo.com

Brian Marshall “Lucella”; Nundle, NSW 2340 61-2-6769 8226; fax: 61-2-6769 8223 bkmrshl@northnet.com.au

Elco Blanco-Madrid Cristobal de Olid #307 Chihuahua Chih., 31240 52-614-415-3497; fax: 52-614-415-3175 elco_blanco@hotmail.com

Bruce Ward P.O. Box 103, Milsons Pt., NSW 1565 61-2-9929-5568; fax: 61-2-9929-5569 blward@holisticresults.com.au Brian Wehlburg c/o “Sunnyholt”, Injue, QLD 4454 61-7-4626-7187 ijapo2000@yahoo.com CANADA Don and Randee Halladay Box 2, Site 2, RR 1; Rocky Mountain House, AB T0M 1T0; 403/729-2472 donran@telusplanet.net Noel McNaughton 5704-144 St., Edmondton, AB, T6H 4H4 780/432-5492; noel@mcnaughton.ca Len Pigott Box 222, Dysart, SK SOH 1HO 306/432-4583 JLPigott@sk.sympatico.ca

18 HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE #89

Manuel Casas-Perez Calle Amarguva No. 61, Lomas Herradura Huixquilucan, Mexico City CP 52785 52-558-291-3934; 52-588-992-0220 (w) tolintepec@aol.com Jose Ramon “Moncho” Villar Av. Las Americas #1178 Fracc. Cumbres Saltillo, Coahuila 25270 52-844-415-1542 ffmh@prodigy.net.mx NAMIBIA Gero Diekmann P.O. Box 363, Okahandja 9000 264-62-518091 nam00132@mweb.com.na Wiebke Volkmann P.O. Box 182, Otavi, 067-23-44-48; wiebke@mweb.com.na

NEW ZEALAND John King P.O. Box 3440, Richmond, Nelson 64-3-547-6347 succession@clear.net.nz SOUTH AFRICA Johan Blom P.O. Box 568, Graaf-Reinet 6280 27-49-891-0163 johanblom@cybertrade.co.za Ian Mitchell-Innes P.O. Box 52, Elandslaagte 2900 27-36-421-1747 blanerne@mweb.co.za Norman Neave Box 141, Mtubatuba 3935 27-35-5504150 norboom@saol.com Dick Richardson P.O. Box 1806, Vryburg 8600 tel/fax: 27-53-927-4367 judyrich@cybertrade.co.za ZIMBABWE Mutizwa Mukute PELUM Association Regional Desk P.O. Box MP 1059, Mount Pleasant, Harare 263-4-74470/744117 fax: 263-4-744470 pelum@mail.pci.co.zw Liberty Mabhena Spring Cabinet P.O. Box 853, Harare 263-4-210021/2; 263-4-210577/8 fax: 263-4-210273 Sister Maria Chiedza Mutasa Bandolfi Convent P.O. Box 900, Masvingo 263-39-7699, 263-39-7530 Elias Ncube P. Bag 5950, Victoria Falls 263-3-454519 rogpachm@africaonline.co.zw

Local Networks There are several branch organizations or groups

affiliated with the Center in the U.S. and abroad (some publish their own newsletters.) We encourage you to contact the group closest to you:

United States CALIFORNIA Holistic Management of California Tom Walther, newsletter editor 5550 Griffin St. Oakland, CA 94605 510/530-6410 tagjag@ aol.com COLORADO Colorado Branch of the Center For Holistic Management Jim and Daniela Howell newletter editors 1661 Sonoma Court, Montrose, CO 81401 970/249-0353 howelljd@montrose.net GEORGIA Constance Neely 1160 Twelve Oaks Circle Watkinsville, GA 30677 706/310-0678 cneely@holisticmanagement.org IDAHO National Learning Site Linda Hestag 3743 King Mountain Rd. Darlington, ID 83255 208/588-2693; mackay@atcnet.net

MONTANA Beartooth Management Club Wayne Burleson RT 1, Box 2780, Absarokee, MT 59001 406/328-6808rutbuster@montana.net NEW YORK Regional Farm & Food Project Tracy Frisch, contact person 148 Central Ave., 2nd floor Albany, NY 12206 518/427-6537 USDA/NRCS - Central NY RC&D Phil Metzger, contact person 99 North Broad St., Norwich, NY 13815 607/334-3231, ext. 4 phil.metzger@ny.usda.gov NORTHWEST Managing Wholes Peter Donovan 501 South St., Enterprise, OR 97828-1345 541/426-2145 www.managingwholes.com OKLAHOMA Oklahoma Land Stewardship Alliance Charles Griffiths Route 5, Box E44, Ardmore, OK 73401 580/223-7471; cagriffith@brightok.net

Africa Centre for Holistic Management (A subsidiary of the Allan Savory Center for Holistic Management since 1992) Board of Trustees

Staff

Allan Savory, Chair Ignatius Ncube, Vice Chair Chief D. Shana II Chief A. J. Mvutu Chief B.W. Wange Chief D. Nelukoba Chief S.R. Nekatambe Councilor Ndubiwa Mary Ncube Lot Ndlovu Emeldah Nkomo (Staff Representative) Elias Ncube (Staff Representative) Osmond Mugweni - Masvingo Hendrik O’Neill - Harare Sam Brown, Austin, Texas, ex-officio

Huggins Matanga, Director Elias Ncube, Community Programmes Manager Emeldah Nkomo, Village Banking Coordinator Forgé Wilson, Office Manager Sylvia Nyakujawa, Bookkeeper Dimbangombe Ranch and Conservation Safaris: Roger Parry, Manager Trish Pullen, Assistant Manager, Catering Richard Nsinganu, Assistant Manager, Safaris Albert Chauke, Ranch Foreman

To order products inAustralia/New Zealand or southern Africa contact: Australia: Holistic Decision Making Association, Irene Dasey, P.O. Box 543, Inverell NSW 2360, tel: 61-2-6721-0123; idasey@hdma-anz.com South Africa: Whole Concepts cc, PO Box 1806, Vryburg 8600; tel/fax: 27-53-9274367; judyrich@cybertrade.co.za PENNSYLVANIA Northern Penn Network Jim Weaver, contact person RD #6, Box 205 Wellsboro, PA 16901 717/724-7788 jaweaver@epix.net

TEXAS HRM of Texas Peggy Jones, newsletter editor 101 Hill View Trail Dripping Springs, TX 78620 512/858-4251 hrmoftx@earthlink.net

International AUSTRALIA Holistic Decision Making Association (AUST+NZ) Irene Dasey, Executive Officer P.O. Box 543 Inverell NSW, 2360 tel: 61-2-6721-0123 idasey@hdma-anz.com CANADA Canadian Holistic Management Lee Pengilly Box 216, Stirling, AB, T0K 2E0 403/327-9262 MEXICO Fundación para Fomentar el Manejo Holístico, A.C. Jose Ramon Villar, President Ave. Las Americas #1178

Fracc. Cumbres Saltillo, Coahuila 25270 tel/fax: 52-844-415-1542 ffmh@prodigy.net.mx NAMIBIA Namibia Centre for Holistic Management Anja Denker, contact person P.O. Box 23600 Windhoek 9000 tel/fax: 264-61-230-515 unicorn@iafrica.com.na SOUTH AFRICA Community Dynamics Judy Richardson P.O. Box 1806 Vryburg 8600 tel/fax: 27-53-9274367 judyrich@cybertrade.co.za

Come Visit Us! AT DIMBANGOMBE

We Offer: • Guided Bush Walks • Horseback Tours • Game-Viewing Drives • Anti-Poaching Patrol Experience • And much more!

In an unforgettable setting with comfy lodging, memorable meals

Private Bag 5950 Victoria Falls Zimbabwe

Roger Parry Email: rogpachm@africaonline.co.zw Tel. (263)(11)213 529

www.africansojourn.com HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE • MAY / JUNE 2003 19