#117 In Practice JAN/FEB 2008

healthy land. sustainable future.

JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2008 January / February 2006

Number 117 Number 105

www.holisticmanagement.org www.holisticmanagement.org

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Taking HMI to the Next Level

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s HMI moves into its 24th year of operation, the Board of Directors has named a new Executive Director for HMI. Chief Operating Officer Peter Holter has been named the new Executive Director.

Shannon Horst will move to the newly created position, Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives.

At the end of 2007, the Board and Senior Management team of HMI undertook a team assessment process to realign those management skill sets best suited to create rapid and effective growth for HMI. The result of that process is a shift with Shannon Horst moving to a newly created role in the organization that will take full advantage of her unique knowledge of Holistic Management and her considerable abilities in the marketplace.

This move to focus Shannon on her strengths and areas of interest is made possible by the presence of Peter Holter—who comes with 30 years of senior management experience in the private sector and is able to provide additional depth in management to HMI. Having served with HMI since 2005 in a variety of roles, including most recently as COO, Peter is known to the Holistic Management community, familiar with the issues and opportunities HMI faces, and is equipped with the skills and passion to work with Shannon and the team, to take HMI to the next level.

Board development and growth throughout 2007 has also been a key focus for HMI. New Board members brought on to strengthen board capacity in the area of leadership, finance, fundraising, and product and service development include: Christopher Peck, Roby Wallace, Andrea Malmberg, Daniela Howell, Mark Gardner, and Sallie Calhoun. In 2008, additional Board members will continue to strengthen these core areas. Ben Bartlett will take the helm as Board Chair with continued assistance from the past

Chair, Ron Chapman. These Board members are dedicated to serving HMI’s mission and working with the staff to achieve the strategic objectives outlined for 2008.

Strategic goals for the next year include continued expansion of HMI’s marketing and sales efforts in reaching stewards of large landscapes, farmers and ranchers, development agencies, and pastoral communities through contracts and grants.

As a result of the collaborations formed from the 2007 International Gathering, we have many new avenues to reach new audience sectors who are just learning of HMI’s work. HMI will also continue to improve its support of the Certified Educator community with additional curriculum materials, as well as additional communications, outreach, and training oportunities. We will also continue our public relations efforts to help people understand how Holistic Management offers powerful results with such issues as global climate change, desertification, and sustainable agriculture. Lastly, HMI will continue to develop quality programming and data and documentation on our learning sites as well as begin to develop protocols for our informal learning sites.

All of these efforts are focused on bringing Holistic Management into the mainstream, helping the general public and more agriculturalists understand the basic principles and practices inherent within Holistic Management so others can achieve the on-theground successes that our many practitioners have achieved. As environmental issues become more pressing, it is time for all of us to take whatever steps we can to get this information out to the larger audience that is searching for answers to these questions. We look forward to working with our network to take Holistic Management International to the next level.

2007 International Gathering

With over 450 people attending from 8 countries, HMI’s 2007 International Gathering was a huge success. Joel Salatin roused the crowd with his talk on “Building a Local Food System that Works.” He also expressed his deep gratitude for Allan Savory and all the knowledge he has shared with others.

To read about this event and view the festivities, turn to page 3.

FEATURE STORIES From the Board Chair BEN BARTLETT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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HMI International Gathering MIKE EVERETT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Collaborating to Solve Big Game Depredation DOUG WARNOCK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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A Holistic Approach to Town Planning JOEL BENSON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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LAND & LIVESTOCK Surviving or Thriving in Drought TONY MALMBERG & JIM HOWELL . . . . . . . . .

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Lite Planned Grazing—Another Approach to Planned Grazing ASPEN EDGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Simple Ideas—Loading Chute TONY MALMBERG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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NEWS & NETWORK Book Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Certified Educators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Marketplace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

healthy land. sustainable future.

Holistic Management International works to reverse the degradation of private and communal land used for agriculture and conservation, restore its health and productivity, and help create sustainable and viable livelihoods for the people who depend on it.

FOUNDERS Allan Savory

Jody Butterfield

STAFF Peter Holter, Executive Director Shannon Horst, Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives Kelly Bee, Director of Finance & Accounting Jutta von Gontard, Director of Development Craig Leggett, Director of Learning Sites Ann Adams, Managing Editor, IN PRACTICE and Director of Educational Products and Outreach Maryann West, Executive Assistant Donna Torrez, Customer Service Manager Marisa Mancini, Development Assistant

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Ben Bartlett, Chair Ron Chapman, Past Chair Roby Wallace, Vice-Chair Gail Hammack, Secretary Christopher Peck, Treasurer Ivan Aguirre Jody Butterfield Sallie Calhoun Mark Gardner Daniela Howell Andrea Malmberg Jim McMullan Ian Mitchell Innes Jim Parker Sue Probart Jim Shelton Dennis Wobeser

ADVISORY COUNCIL Robert Anderson, Corrales, NM Michael Bowman,Wray, CO Sam Brown, Austin, TX Lee Dueringer, Scottsdale, AZ Gretel Ehrlich, Gaviota, CA Cynthia Harris, Albuquerque, NM Edward Jackson, San Carlos, CA Clint Josey, Dallas, TX Doug McDaniel, Lostine, OR Guillermo Osuna, Coahuila, Mexico Soren Peters, Santa Fe, NM York Schueller, Ventura, CA Africa Centre for Holistic Management Private Bag 5950, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe Tel: (263) (11) 404 979; email: hmatanga@mweb.co.zw Huggins Matanga, Director HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE (ISSN: 1098-8157) is published six times a year by Holistic Management International, 1010 Tijeras NW, Albuquerque, NM 87102, 505/842-5252, fax: 505/843-7900; email: hmi@holisticmanagement.org.; website: www.holisticmanagement.org Copyright © 2008.

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IN PRACTICE

From the Board Chair

by Ben Bartlett

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reetings! My name is Ben Bartlett and I am the new HMI Board of Directors Chair.

I am very honored to be part of this great organization and following the super work that past Chair Ron Chapman has accomplished. My goal in this short article is to keep you posted on what HMI and the Board are doing to further the practice and development of Holistic Management. I want to make the board something more than a list of names on the inside cover of IN PRACTICE. Since you are reading this, you are interested in Holistic Management, either for yourself and or for the health of the land around us all. One of the key steps in setting a holisticgoal is getting all the right people at the table. By communicating and working together, you, others interested in Holistic Management, the HMI staff, and the Board can move Holistic Management forward. Doing things holistically is critical as good decisions for people and the planet are sorely needed. Good decisions require good communication—which Ben Bartlett is a two-way street.

“You’re It” was the parting comment from radio talk show host Thom Hartman, one of the keynote speakers at the recent, very successful Holistic Management International Conference held in Albuquerque in early November. He challenged people to take up the cause of taking care of the land. . I can’t begin to recap the entire conference since it involved 42 sessions with four outstanding keynote speakers, Joel Salatin, Temple Grandin, Thom, and our own Allan Savory. Over 450 people attended all or parts of the sessions. The biggest take away for me, was the new found energy around Holistic Management, the practice, the teaching, the beyond USA borders involvement, (Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Southern Africa, and Europe). This excitement was fueled by the realization that fires in California, carbon credits, drought, and floods are just opportunities for practitioners of Holistic Management. We do seem to be the right thing in the right place at the right time.

As often occurs, growth means change. As mentioned on page one, we have a new Executive Director and a new position, Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives—which will focus on sales.

This change only came after long and serious deliberation on what was best for HMI and Holistic Management. We are expanding our contract work in the USA, we have more grants and activities in Africa, and the opportunities are there if we can organize the people power to capture them. Stay tuned for an update on what is happening on the ground around the world where Holistic Management is being practiced. And don’t forget, you’re “it.” I want to hear from you—both your ideas and your concerns.

“Excitement was fueled by the realization that fires in California, carbon credits, drought, and floods are just opportunities for practitioners of Holistic Management.”

January / February 2008

Ben Bartlett HMI Board Chair

HMI International Gathering— Connection & Inspiration

by Mike Everett

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e arrived at the Hotel Albuquerque in time for the Opening Reception and the ballroom was almost completely full by the time we got there. We enjoyed the great food and conversation, partly catching up with what all were doing and partly on Holistic Management.

The opening reception of the conference was sponsored by Horizon Organic.

The opening reception was a good time for folks to catch up after many years, such as Allan Savory visiting with Kay and Bill Burrows from Red Bluff, California.

Terry Gompert (Nebraska) and Neil Dennis (Canada) share a light-hearted moment during the opening reception.

Key sponsors for the conference were: Healy Foundation, Horizon Organic, Intel, Nancy Dickenson, La Montanita Coop, Diamond Tail Ranch, Organic Valley, and Whole Foods

Friday morning there was 400 attendees from 8 countries and 15 states to hear Joel Salatin’s keynote address. He began by thanking Allan Savory for opening the way for so many producers and others with his work. Then, he started to dissect the current state of American agriculture and national security.

He said that the American food system is vulnerable in three areas: centralized production, centralized processing, and long-distance hauling and inventory. Most supermarkets currently have three days worth of food on the shelves and there is only a 45-day supply in the pipeline at any one time. He said the obvious answers to these problems are exactly the ones that government and industry refuse to take: diversified, local food producers, local food processing, and local marketing.

As the title of his new book states, Everything I Want to Do is Illegal, he described what could happen if policy decisions allowed producers, small processors, and consumers to meet each other on their own terms. His number one recommendation was to abolish the USDA. But in concrete terms he is pushing for what he calls the Food Emancipation

Policy, which would allow consumers to opt-out of the industrial system and deal directly with food producers without interference. He called it a person’s most fundamental right: the right to choose where to get food. He told us of a new program set up by the Weston Price Foundation, continued on page 4

HMI’s Shannon Horst introduced Joel Salatin.

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HMI International Gathering the Farmer Legal Defense Association, providing 24-hour legal advice on farm issues for $120 per year. He urged all producers to join.

He entertained and educated the crowd with his stories of his farm and how by serving his customers and his family’s quality of life goal his farm keeps expanding in area and in products.

Besides his famous chickens, eggs, salad-bar beef, he has opened his wood lots up to his pigs, who feed on acorns part of the year now. He advised us to be innovative and to invent, adapt, or construct what we needed to get the job done, not just go out, and buy something we could make ourselves. It was a very inspiring talk and a good opening for this conference of innovators from around the world.

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of the large restaurant chains, including McDonalds and Wendy’s. She urged the audience to work as consumers or producers with local processors to adapt them to their own ranches and facilities in order to match the big boys.

Addressing the largely producer audience, she said there should be no yelling or whistling when working livestock; electric prods should not be carried but placed where one had to walk to get one as a last resort for a balky animal. What most Chuck Stocks donated his auctioneering skills that netted HMI over $12,000 for projects and services.

Fred Provenza spoke on Behavior-Based Grazing Management for Animal Wellbeing, Ecosystem Diversity, and Enterprise Sustainability.

Betsy Ross spoke on her experience of plant succession with the soil food web in Texas.

After many parallel sessions during the course of the day and a fine lunch, the day finished with yet another excellent meal (beef donated by Byron & Shelly Shelton of Landmark Harvest) and entertainment from Raphael Cristy recreating Charlie Russell’s Yarns, a very entertaining oneman show. After the show, the evening finished with a Live and Silent Auction that included a number of photo safari trips to ranches in Mexico, Texas, and HMI’s ranch next to Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe. What may have been the most interesting item, was a fly rod that ended up at $1,100 in a duel between Allan and Roger Savory, with Roger finally outlasting Allan.

Early Saturday morning we gathered in the ballroom and partook of a thought-provoking and challenging keynote from Dr. Temple Grandin on creating animal handling welfare audits for many 4

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can cause dark cutters as scar tissue from a bruise which can last up to six months, the animal could hurt itself or humans, many plants now dock producers for “wild” animals that jump and chase, etc. She gave short lists of critical control points that she uses for both processing facilities and farms. Overall, it was a stirring and very thought-provoking address which had the conference attendees discussing it the rest of the conference.

After more parallel sessions, we broke for another great lunch and conversation with a keynote speech on “The Human Relationship to Environment” from Thom Hartmann, author, lecturer, radio show host, and

Temple Grandin speaking with filmmaker Aaron Lucich. often is called working livestock is based on fear, and a fearful, stressed animal takes up to 30 minutes to calm down. Calm animals work much easier than stressed animals and are less likely to hurt themselves or humans. She then gave us a list of dos and don’ts when working any animal, whether on the ranch or farm or at the processing facility, and to watch out for transporters as well, as many of them are very aggressive in their treatment of animals.

She told us the reasons calm animals were better for everyone: easier to work, getting a bruise

January / February 2008

Author and radio host Thom Hartmann drew a big local crowd for his talk and booksigning.

psychotherapist. He described using ancient texts including Gilgamesh and the Bible to draw out the warnings of civilizations as to the destruction of the environment (Gilgamesh and the Forest God) and the dangers of tillage agriculture (Cain and Abel). He said we ignore these warning at our peril. He described the possibly fatal myth that Aristotle and Descartes created that humans are separate and above Nature instead of Nature, and how that path has led us to where we are today with 45,000 people starving to death and 132 species becoming extinct daily. He warned us that if we did not reconnect with Nature in a very serious and lasting way and correct our mistakes, we were doomed. He called on us to help form a new myth to make that reconnection.

Saturday’s closing reception was much awaited as the keynote speaker was Allan Savory himself, speaking on “Healing the Land.” This is what the attendees, including myself, had waited for all weekend. He reminded us all of how important the work each of us were doing, but we must expand our reach and share with others the

Allan Savory gave the final keynote speech for the conference and received a standing ovation.

Financial planner, investment advisor, and Certified Educator Christopher Peck spoke about Values-Based Finances for the Conscious Consumer. message of Holistic Management: 1) land degradation can be reversed by using livestock, 2) decisions can be made in a better way, and 3) everyone’s quality of life can be improved. But, there is not much time left. Humans only join together long enough to overcome a challenge, then revert to killing each other.

On global climate change, our greatest challenge yet and a true battle for survival, he said the best outcome we can hope for is major social disruptions, with urban areas being the worst; the worst outcome is runaway weather leading to the destruction of all higher life forms on Earth.

Nevertheless, we should be optimistic, because this is the first time in history that we have the knowledge and technology to make the changes necessary. We know the cause—land degradation, which has lead to biodiversity loss and global climate change. We have on the shelf technology to mitigate and reverse land degradation.

George Work spoke on a number of topics at the conference including Ecotourism and Estate Planning.

Outgoing HMI Board of Director Chair Ron Chapman introduced Thom Hartmann.

He told us that in order to survive this challenge there is no “silver bullet.” A combination of high tech—alternative fuels, lower emissions, etc.—and low tech – carbon continued on page 6

A Certified Educator Breakfast brought together Certified Educators from around the world to discuss issues of recertification.

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HMI International Gathering sequestering in soil and oceans—must be used.

The greatest hope lies in soil carbon sequestration in the near term as ocean sequestration will take longer. If we can reverse land degradation on the large scale, it will 1. Stop carbon loss into the air 2. Sequester carbon in the renewing soils 3. Store massive amounts of water in the soil 4. Allow us to deal head on with poverty and hunger 5. Offer humanity its best chance to survive As an example, he told us that approximately 30 million acres worldwide are being managed

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holistically at present. The organic matter on those acres has, on average, increased by one percent. That one percent increase in organic matter leads to an increased sequestration of 3.6 gigatons of carbon in the soil. Because the fate of water and carbon are tied to organic matter, increased water infiltration has also been noted.

On one holistically managed ranch, water infiltration has increased 775 percent. With increasing organic matter, carbon, and water, rangelands are again being covered with grasses and forbs. On HMI’s ranch in Africa, even after two years of drought, there has been a 500 percent

A Collaborative Approach to Solving Big Game Depredation

by Doug Warnock

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n increasing amount of depredation on private property in Kittitas County, Washington concerned local citizens, leading to the formation of a volunteer group that set about searching for solutions.

Management policies and practices on public lands, increased human activities on public lands, plus rural residential development had altered elk behavior resulting in damage to privately owned farms and ranches. Elk were spending less time in the higher elevations of the traditional habitat on publicly held land and journeying down to the green pastures and fields in the valley floor.

Many areas of the West are experiencing such increased depredation from big game animals, because these animals are spending less time in the intended habitat, mostly public lands, and more time on agricultural land and near human populations. This depredation includes damage to crops, pastures, rangeland, haystacks, fences and other structures. In Washington State, this has become a big expense for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) in terms of both processing damage claims and time spent dealing with big game complaints. But, my experience with this issue and what we’ve been able to accomplish through integrating Holistic Management and consensus building suggests to me that we have a way to address these concerns both short- and long-term.

Building Trust The Big Game Management Roundtable (BGMR) was formed in the spring of 2003 to address the problem of increasing depredation by elk in 6

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Kittitas County, Washington. The idea to form a focus group to tackle the problem came from two people who had worked together on another project: Dave Duncan, local rancher, and Jeff Tayer, South Central Region Director for WDFW. “The problem continued to grow, and we had not been effective in dealing with it. We needed to get a group working on it, bringing together all of the interests that have a stake in the wildlife and the land,” says Tayer.

Duncan brought the idea to form such a group to Solar $, a non-profit corporation that manages holistically and promotes Holistic Management.

Solar $ supported the proposal and agreed to provide the facilitation for it. I became involved at that point and served as primary facilitator.

Our knowledge and experience in Holistic Management and consensus building guided us through the organization and operation of this collaborative effort.

The group began meeting on a monthly basis to gather and evaluate information and to develop a plan to address the problem. The Roundtable is a group of several dozen volunteers, all of whom have an interest in solving the problem. It represents most all of the stakeholder groups, including agricultural producers, sportsmen, wildlife advocates, other outdoor recreationists, conservationists, local university faculty and WDFW personnel.

It was apparent to both WDFW personnel and the landowners that the depredation had been increasing in recent years. At the same time, it had changed from being seasonal to being a year round problem and resulted in considerable economic loss to ranchers and farmers.

January / February 2008

increase in stocking rate and the return of elephants, buffalo, and antelopes. They can’t keep up with the grass.

He told the audience that there must be a rapid expansion of what they were doing— practicing and/or teaching Holistic Management.

People at the grassroots level were needed who had the knowledge to do the right thing, and there must be policy changes to empower them to do what they knew to be right. He left us with a word to be optimistic, to get to work, and to spread the word. At the end, there was a deafening standing ovation.

Members of BGMR have found that the change in elk behavior leading to depredation stemmed from not just one, but several causes. The changes in grazing practices and the associated decline in forage quality and habitat suitability was a major factor. The changes in logging practices and the associated effect on forest health and forage quantity has also contributed to the problem. There are fewer functional springs in this area, which reduces the number of water sources for game animals. Moreover, there were some landowners who unknowingly created safe havens for elk in agricultural areas, which enabled elk to raid nearby fields.

Rural residential development and the increased human presence in areas that were traditional elk migration routes contributed to the changed elk behavior. Another cause was the increased use of public lands for outdoor recreation and the expansion of recreational use year round.

The problem didn’t appear to be too many elk. The problem was too many elk in the wrong place, being displaced by human activities and ineffective management.

Addressing Short & Long-Term Issues The group met for a period of time the first year developing a dialogue and building trust and understanding among its members. The first agreement reached was recognition by all that there was indeed a problem. Next, was the agreement that the members would work together to attempt to solve the depredation problem. A two-part mission statement was developed: (1) “To identify and remedy big game damage to private property,” and (2) “work collaboratively to improve overall health of wildlife and public lands.”

The BGMR’s strategies were to encourage elk use of public lands, to discourage the elk use of private property and to inform citizens of the county about the problem and enlist their support and

Conference participants enjoyed learning from 30 exhibitors who filled the exhibit hall and lined the hallways.

Couldn’t make it to the conference?

Order your conference CD’s and DVD’s of all the events by printing out an order form and sending to Backcountry Productions today!

To receive an order form, contact us at 505/842-5252 or hmi@holisticmanagement.org or go to: www.holisticmanagement.org/n7/Internat_Gath/orderform.pdf.

participation in addressing it.

Through the efforts of Jim Huckabay, Central Washington University professor of Geography and a BGMR Steering committee member, several students including a graduate student, assisted BGMR. They contributed greatly by keeping minutes, distributing meeting notices, doing research and providing other valuable services.

An immediate need was to put some programs in place to provide relief to those landowners who experienced losses from concentrated elk groups moving onto and across their land. Elk damaged fences were repaired and pressure was applied to the marauding elk through selected hunters that were guided by a hunt coordinator.

The longer term objective was to encourage projects that would change management practices on public land and allow selective livestock grazing to restore biological health to the rangeland. Forage plants on much of the state and federal land had become old and coarse, making them unattractive to big game animals. Elk were coming down out of the hills to eat on the green plants growing in the pastures and fields in the valley floor.

brochure on “Living With Wildlife in Kittitas County” and conducting several public meetings to discuss pertinent topics, such as the implications of individuals feeding big game animals. The feeding of big game animals and the availability of safe havens were greatly reduced as a result of these efforts.

A major accomplishment of BGMR was the formation of the Wild Horse Coordinated Management Planning Program. BGMR requested and sponsored the Wild Horse CRMP, which brought together the owners of 60,000 acres of rangeland that are an important part of the elk habitat.

The CRMP group formed a holisticgoal, developed a grazing plan for the area, and established a baseline monitoring system on the property. The group was able to convince the state legislature of the importance of its efforts to restore health to the land and received a $490,000

Successes Realized

Organizing

In the four years since the beginning of the project, a number of successes have been achieved.

• A diverse group was brought together to address the problem resulting in hundreds of volunteer hours focused on combating elk depredation.

• The hunting coordinator was able to guide efforts of volunteer “Master Hunters,” which greatly helped in pressuring elk away from problem areas.

• Over twenty miles of elk-damaged fences were repaired.

• Relations between private landowners and WDFW were vastly improved and landowners opened up additional land to hunting.

• The public relation efforts included printing a quarterly newsletter, publishing and distributing a

appropriation for the development of water sources to improve big game habitat on the project.

The establishment of the CRMP Program is a long-term effort to address one of the main causes of the problem, the decreased health of the ecosystem.

Dr. Huckabay, who is writing a book entitled Collaborative Management of Local Resource Conflicts, summed it up well, “The Big Game Management Roundtable has had remarkable success in finding and instituting solutions to wildlife depredation on private property. Through its efforts, levels of damage have dropped off dramatically. The BGMR model remains an excellent model for those who wish to manage resource issues in a collaborative manner.”

Doug Warnock can be reached at: 509/525-3389 or dwarnock@charter.net.

Tips On Organizing & Maintaining Effective Collaborative Groups • Engage all stakeholders – continue to recruit • Mutual ownership of the objectives and the goal • Take the time necessary to have everyone on

board

• Community support • Awareness of the problem • Ways they can help

Keys to Success • Open discussion & interaction among the

Maintaining

participants

• Keep people engaged • Continue to recruit new members • Inform new recruits and integrate them into the

• Trust & acceptance among members • Non-threatening forum • Good & effective communications within the

group • Manage dissent – keep the group focused • Be accountable – both the group and the members • Be creative – use all the groups’ resources

group & between the group & the community • Experienced, effective facilitators • Break problems down into attainable parts • Shorter term • Longer term Number 117

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A Holistic Approach to Town Planning

by Joel Benson

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hree years ago I officially started my political life in our small community in the Rocky Mountain West when I became involved with a few committees, the Planning and Zoning Commission, and later our town’s Board of Trustees. Over the years, I have struggled with the nebulous direction of the community, the process by which elected officials make a decision, and the visioning potential that characterizes currently accepted urban and community planning. While the process has been frustrating at times, I believe we are now beginning to take some steps to improve that process.

Historic Turmoil

cannot effectively take place if there is no understanding of the direction of town from the community members and elected decisionmakers. Furthermore, the particular documents that town uses as guiding tools have been disjointed and self-contradictory, especially when held up to each other.

Expanding the Vision When I joined the fray three years ago, we were faced with several major and minor subdivisions. The minor ones tended to be infill projects, while the major involved 200 or more homes. We also had a potential annexation development that would bring an additional

Comprehensive Plan. “Clearly it fits,” was the response. “The plan states that we will encourage affordable housing in town.” Yes, it also says that we will encourage infill, pedestrian safety and walkability, adequate water supplies, and a downtown corridor and community feel, none of which would be supported by this subdivision. I asked our former Town Administrator what the vision of town was. He hemmed and hawed a bit, but gave no answer. I asked a few former Trustees and was met with the same response. Grasping at the affordable housing issue, and unable to view the situation through non-linear eyes, they rejected my desire to deny and the application was approved.

Need for Context The town is Buena Vista, Colorado, located at 8,000 feet As fortune has it, we recently (2,667 m) in the heart of the contracted with professional Rockies. Mining, agriculture, planners to rewrite the Town and the railroad contributed to Comprehensive Plan. The founding the town in the late charette process used was fairly 1880’s. Now, mining and the effective at eliciting public input railroad are virtually gone, and on how people wanted the agriculture is sporadic. We have town to look thirty years from very difficult growing conditions, now, highlighting some with only eight inches (200 mm) environmentally sensitive areas, of precipitation seasonally steep slopes, proximity to schools distributed, virtually no topsoil, and emergency services, etc. and, as some ranchers are Citizen participants mapped out experiencing, up to a 700-day the future of the town using recovery period. Approximately color-coded chits to indicate 2,400 voting citizens live in desired density for residential and town with seasonal influxes for commercial zones. We came up recreational biking, rafting, with a town-wide Euclidian fishing, hunting, skiing, and zoning prescriptive for the year Having a vision to use along with questions to filter policies, objectives, and even quilting. We are absolutely 2035. The professionals then plans will help Buena Vista keep the attributes the citizens want. dependent upon tourism, which drafted 277 policies and goals supports small businesses in the to create this map, which the winter season through strong sales in the summer. 500-plus homes into town, and a 100-plus Planning and Zoning, followed by Board of We are always looking to grow the annual sales unit industrial complex. All of these would Trustees, were to pore over and edit to be sure it tax base, balancing development, and subsequent significantly affect the look and feel of fit the desired direction of town. future water demand with a very limited supply. our community.

Every member of the Board received the draft We have some new energetic staff, many One application came in two years ago document with a score sheet that we were to use seasoned staff members, several consistent requesting a zone change from R-1 (light to classify each policy and goal, with “keep,” advisory board members and a transitioning residential) to R-3 (high-density residential). The “delete,” or “amend.” For example Goal 1E2_A make-up of the Board of Trustees. In general, property in question lies at the edge of town, away states, “The Town will work to provide a common the town is blessed with many visionary people from any commercial district and on a dangerous parking area for the East Main Street commercial working and volunteering their time to help create intersection. The zone change would permit core area.” The decision at hand: should we keep a community that is welcoming and prosperous. unregulated condominiums and town homes, this or delete this? And Goal 1E2_B states, “The However, our colorful political history has made it place additional demands on the water system Town itself will play a lead role in sponsoring and difficult to maintain consistency of action by the and water supply, and increase traffic by upwards supporting at least two additional annual events elected decision-makers. of 1,000 vehicle trips per day while discouraging to be held on or near East Main Street. This may Given the historic turmoil of the Board and any pedestrian traffic. require the addition of an events coordinator staff, planning for change in a community I asked staff about the fit with the staff position and will definitely require the 8

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January / February 2008

check to see that any isolated item fits within continuation and expansion of volunteer the whole direction of town. The score sheet assistance.” Again, keep or delete this? We are to that asks us to “delete” or “keep” takes on a look at the sentence and make an informed, different meaning since we have context for each unified decision on the best course of action.

I posed my question again, “What is the vision piece of the plan. We can look at the Collective of the Town? What direction are we headed?” I see Vision Statement and make an informed, a map, but do not know how we want our town to directed judgment.

One additional piece is the litmus test that we feel. What does someone experience when they spend a night or stop by the park for a break from have introduced—a series of filtering questions. driving? How do people experience their daily lives Hopefully, with practice, the filter questions will become more ingrained in the minds of the town making a living here? The sincere input of our staff, the Planning and Zoning Commission, and citizens, input they have provided in countless the Trustees. The Holistic Management® Testing planning meetings over the past decade, was not Questions have been used as the model, and found anywhere in the plan. Without identifying adapted for the town. Staff has worked to adjust what the citizens want and using this description some of the questions so that they were more when we discuss policies and goals, we could not easily understood for this application. Trustees isolate a sentence and say whether it fits or not.

There was no context.

After we were given the plan, I told the consultants and our staff that I could not make a judgment on even one of the 277 statements. I can look at any particular policy or goal and make an argument to keep it or delete it when I isolate it from the whole of town.

The new task at hand became how to effectively make a decision about the future of town within a contextual framework that citizens support, and how do we insert a process into the statutory framework dictated by the state. The framework discourages true dialogue with the Without a context for decisions, community planners like Joel are public, creates fear among elected being asked to pass judgment on housing that may indeed be officials for litigious backlash, and affordable but also causes a host of other problems because they has historically been driven solely are not being considered within the larger whole of Buena Vista’s by disjointed codes and erratic many other needs and issues. allocation of resources.

Testing Towards the Collective Vision Statement Now, at the front end of the Comprehensive Plan, we have what is being called a Collective Vision Statement. This statement was created from notes recorded during the charette as well as other planning meetings with citizens about the desired state of town. It describes the life people want here.

We also have a description of what we need to create to produce that life. These statements have become the “Policy” statements embedded within the plan. Any action item or goal contributes to the policies from the Collective Vision Statement.

Also, we are working on a description of how our resources should be well into the future to sustain that life that people want. We will also include a description of how we, as a town, need to behave.

While some of this may not be directly referenced later in the Comprehensive Plan, we have it all in one place, and we can mentally

have commented that they can be used for filtering elements of the Comprehensive Plan, but also for any decision that comes before us during our regular meetings.

The hope is that staff will have passed their planning recommendations through these filters and present an analysis of them at our regular meetings. If they generally pass these questions, we could approve a policy/application/decision with a fair degree of certainty, acknowledging that we cannot account for every possible variable.

The following is the list of filtering questions: 1. Is the proposed action/strategy/policy in reaction to something? If so, what? Does it address the root cause of whatever we are reacting to?

2. Will this enhance, or degrade the overall natural, social and economic resources that we need in the future to sustain our

Collective Vision Statement?

3. Will this negatively affect the quality of life of others? Will this so offend neighbors, the County, our constituency, etc that we will stop progress toward our Collective Vision?

4. If you have to chose between various options, which will take you toward the Collective Vision most effectively?

5. What is the source and use of energy needed for this action, if any? Is it the best fit for our Collective Vision?

6. What is the source and use of money needed for this action? Is it the best fit for our Collective Vision?

7. Will this contribute to our sales tax? (or: Will this enhance our local economy?)

8. If we plan to spend money, will we be channeling our resources in the most appropriate way, according to what we presently need most as a town: Capitalizing on/enhancing staff’s capabilities and/or our current resources, enhancing our “brand” as a town, or actually marketing ourselves to potential tourists, new residents and/or businesses?

9. If this is a new enterprise, what is its potential gross profit and how does that compare with other enterprises the Town has?

10. Now that you’ve answered the other questions, will this particular action/strategy/policy take us toward our Collective Vision?

We still have some work ahead of us.

But, we have taken some steps to adjusting the process within town. The town staff has been very cooperative with this different approach to the comprehensive planning process, and supports the idea of the Collective Vision. Next trustee meeting, I will work with the filtering questions as we decide where to contribute limited financial resources for this year’s upcoming budget, and analyze an annexation petition, two minor subdivisions, and a street closure request for a parade. But with upcoming elections, there will be two new trustees by the end of the month, and with them a change of perspective. The introduction of the Collective Vision and the filtering questions is one hurdle; their integrated use through generations of trustees is our next challenge.

Joel Benson can be reached at: 719/395-6119 or joel@outburstllc.com.

Number 117

IN PRACTICE

9

& Surviving or Thriving in Drought

by Tony Malmberg & Jim Howell Tony, Andrea, and KD Malmberg own and manage Twin Creek Ranch, just a little southeast of Lander, Wyoming. At Twin Creek, a normal year sees a scant 8.5 inches (213 mm) of precipitation, erratically spread throughout the year, and temperature extremes from 105 to -25 F(41 to -32C).

In the process of managing their livestock and trying to make a

W

e established four permanent trend and condition transects in 1999, so we have solid data on the health of our upland range prior to the drought. Since then, our monitoring has primarily been through close daily observation and informal step transects. But, this past summer, we hired Charlie Orchard of Land EKG (www.landekg.com) to come re-read our permanent biological monitoring transects. We felt it was time for a more objective reading of how our drought-induced management adjustments have enabled us to maintain the integrity of the ecosystem processes.

In the chart titled 1999 vs. 2007 Monitoring Data, we get a quick sense of how our measured indicators have changed over the course of the eight-year drought. This chart averages the change in all four transects. At first glance, we see that we had about the same number of indicators change for the positive as for the negative. But, if we look at the major changes (and disregard any

living, they’ve also been scrambling to adjust to the worst eight-year drought in recorded history. Here is their story of how they arrived at this drought, how they’ve negotiated the drought, and how their ranch’s ecological base has “weathered” the drought. Most importantly, it’s the story of lessons learned throughout this tough period, and how those lessons will help all of us negotiate more tough times down the road. change of less than 10 percent), we can get to the heart of the matter.

The two big positives, increased Litter Contact and reduced Plant Pedestaling, might be explained due to greater stock density and regular herding practices. Charlie Orchard suspects the forbs dried up early and before the transects were read, explaining a portion of the Species Diversity decline. Many of the negative trends, such as declines in Production Potential, Plant Vigor and Total Canopy, can be at least partially explained by drought and little precipitation. If it rains less, less forage is going to grow, no matter how good the state of the ecosystem processes.

To us, the primary concerns are the changes in Bare Ground and Plant Distribution. The significant drops in these indicators mean that we are struggling to retain what little moisture we have received (due primarily to evaporation off of the bare surface), and that plants are dying. Is our management causing this, or can we blame it all on the drought? Could our management adjustments have been more appropriate from the point of view of the effectiveness of the ecosystem processes?

Playing with Drought To begin to answer these questions, and to help put these trends in the proper context, let’s review our history of Holistic Planned Grazing on Twin Creek. In the chart titled Stocking Rate vs. Rainfall, we can get a quick sense of how our stocking rate has varied relative to our annual changes in precipitation. The stocking rate is shown as a percentage of the baseline stocking rate (which is based on our ten-year average ending in 1990 before we started to plan our grazing, and which is represented by the heavy horizontal line in the chart). The precipitation is shown as a percentage of the long-term average (LTA) precipitation, which is 8.51 inches (216 mm).

Informal step transects revealed greater than 50 percent bare ground in 1990, the year we began to plan our grazing holistically. As we concentrated our cattle into one herd, the increased stock density immediately began knocking overrested plants onto the ground and created litter cover. We were benefiting from the abundant standing dead plant material, typical of season 10

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January / February 2008

animals that are present tend to be highly migratory. It stands to reason that these large migratory herds in the low production environments would have most likely frequented a place less often.

He said if we look at the migratory patterns of herbivores in fairly low production environments (that have survived into modern times along with their associated predators—wildebeest of the southern Serengeti, Mongolian gazelle, Tibetan antelope, saiga antelope, caribou)—this is what we actually find. Multiple year intervals between grazing events tend to be the norm.

Jim’s presentation was an “Ah Ha” moment, and our history suddenly made more sense. I went home and began planning longer recovery periods.

Now, instead of twice per season grazing, I was determined to only graze each pasture one time per year, at the most. Gradually, we began to extend frequency between grazing periods out to 400+ days so a pasture grazed in spring wouldn’t be grazed until the following summer. Then, it wouldn’t be grazed until the following fall, and then not until the following spring a year and half later (with one whole growing season off in between).

Then in 2002 we had the worst drought anyone in our neighborhood could remember, and definitely the worst on record. But the longer recovery periods began paying off and our stocking rates stopped their free fall. In 2002 our stocking rates were 70 percent of our baseline, while most surrounding grazing allotments were 50 percent. I could see more litter in the areas that went longer than one year between grazings. I was hopeful. long grazing at low livestock densities. Our increased densities laid this material on the ground and improved the water cycle. In only a couple of years, our step transects showed our bare ground had been cut in half, and was down to 25 percent. Following a very dry year in 1994, a wildlife biologist told me that elk from all over the country were wintering on our ranch. We coasted through that year without cutting our stocking rate, which by that time was 30 percent more than before we started planning grazing five years earlier.

I felt like I was bulletproof and went back to whipping and spurring stocking rates, eventually building up to 165 percent of where we started. We coasted through another dry year in 1996 without dropping stocking rates, but then we began to struggle. Bare ground started increasing. In 1998, I shortened recovery periods in an attempt to get regrowth trampled into the ground and reduce the bare ground. In other words, I started grazing this low production country twice within the same growing season, thinking that the second time around with the cattle would get the little bit of new regrowth back onto the soil surface.

It wasn’t working. The absence of litter supply started slapping me in the face by 1999. Our monitoring that year showed we were back up to 33 percent bare ground. In 2000, our production fell off significantly and bare ground increased even more. We cut our stocking rates, and I was frustrated because I couldn’t figure out the problem. Looking back, I believe that, by 1996, we had "used" all of the standing litter that had built up from lower stock densities.

By that point there was no longer any older material to serve as a source of litter, and bare ground started increasing because most of the plants were now vegetative and pliable. No matter how hard I pounded it with animal impact, the plants would not lie down as litter. This is characteristic of low production brittle environments. Once overrested plants are cleaned up, those plants are highly nutritious and palatable, even after they cure. So, I felt I knew why the litter was decreasing, but I wasn’t sure what to do about it.

The Road to “Recovery” Then I heard Jim Howell discuss his hypothesis that low production, brittle environments most likely evolved under grazing patterns that incorporated longer recovery periods than high production, brittle environments (such as tropical savanna grasslands). Both brittle environments have large herds, but low production areas, like our sagebrush steppe, necessarily support much lower natural stocking rates, and the

The years 2003 to 2005 were still dry, but reasonable compared to 2002.

We actually began to increase stocking rates once again. It was dry, but due to longer recovery periods, more litter on the ground, and a better water cycle, we were growing more grass again. In the fall of 2005, with good fall moisture in the soil profile, and believing the longer recovery periods were magic, I planned for a hefty stocking rate in 2006. And then, in the spring of 2006, for the first time in recorded history, we had no measurable precipitation in April or May (which typically are our “wet” months). I hung on until our last chance for rain at the end of May. When it didn’t come, I called the trucks and shipped 30 percent of the cattle. We got the rest of the cattle through, but it cost in reduced litter cover. When Charlie read our transects in 2007, bare ground had shot back up to 56 percent—ouch!

Fine-tuning Stocking Rate Anytime we get into a bad situation it's urgent that we survive. Aggressive stocking rates are necessary to keep profits high, and in the midst of lots of financial pressures, we needed to make money. But, could we have managed our situation differently—to result in both healthy profits and increasing ecological resilience, even during this tough string of dry years? This is where hindsight is good.

First, look at the dark line which is our actual stocking rates in "Stocking Rate vs. Rainfall" chart. To recap, we were doing great increasing stocking continued on page 12 Number 117

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11

Surviving or Thriving in Drought continued from page 11

rates and covering the soil surface through 1996. Then our bare ground started increasing just before we went into the long term drought beginning in 1999. Our free fall in stocking rates stabilized in 2003 after increasing our recovery periods. It was really dry in 2006, and there was insufficient growth for both litter supply and livestock feed. Our bare ground increased again, and now we’re trying to sort out what indicators, or decision making benchmarks, we could have used to have responded more quickly and prevented the deteriorating conditions.

Determining stocking rate is always tricky in our cold steppe environment.

In year round grazing environments (hot and mild steppes, tropical and subtropical savannas, mild temperate prairies), stocking rates are always controlled by the amount of standing vegetation going into the dry (or nongrowing, or dormant) season. If, after the growing season (when overstocking is seldom an issue), your assessments of forage on hand indicate that there is insufficient quantity to make it to the next likely precipitation and new growth, then you’ve got to destock. The decision is fairly straightforward.

In seasonal grazing environments like ours, where it is only feasible to graze during the growing season due to winter snow cover, this determination of stocking is less straightforward. Here, we aren’t attempting to build a bank of forage to take into the dry season. If we want to graze it, we have to graze it before the snow flies. But, at the beginning of the season, it’s really hard to know how much grass we’ll have, since none (or least very little) of it has grown yet. We typically have predictable early growth thanks to stored soil moisture which has accumulated through the cold winter, but the amount of growth we actually end up having is hugely impacted by the amount of moisture that arrives through the spring and early summer. By that time, we’ve already got all our cattle on hand.

So, is there a benchmark we can use to help us make these stocking rate decisions? In the past, our stocking rate decisions were largely based on “hope”, as in “let’s hope it rains.” With bare ground back up to 56 percent, we realize we have to do better than that.

our stocking rates would have looked like if we had adjusted them for the moving average (MA) of the actual precipitation for four years preceding that year’s turnout. Charlie Orchard suggested this as a benchmark that we think might lend more rationality to our stocking rate decision making.

This is how it’s calculated. First, we determine what our baseline stocking rate is from the historical long term average stocking rate based on traditional set stocking and average precipitation. From this stocking rate (expressed as total number of Stock Days harvested in the year), we can divide by the average precipitation, which gives us an Average Stock Days per Inch of Precipitation (ASDIP). Yearly adjustments to stocking rate can then be made by taking the average precipitation of the previous four years, and multiplying that by ASDIP. We selected four years in an attempt to mimic Nature. When a drought hits, Nature doesn't destock immediately, rather gradually with lower conception rates initially. If the drought persists, stocking rate further reduces with higher rates of winter (or dry season) starvation of the old and weak. When Nature comes out of the drought, it takes a few years to get the stocking rates up again as reproductive success increases. In other words, when it starts raining again, it takes the herbivore populations a while to catch up to the new forage abundance, and in the meantime, nature “stock piles” a supply of litter for herding animals to lay on the soil surface.

For this reason, a four-year average gives us a guideline to mimic this process on our ranch (and it might even need to be longer than that). This methodology isn’t as precise as it could be, since timing of precipitation, not just total precipitation, has a big impact on the amount of grass we grow, but it’s a good place to start. If we had planned our stocking rate this way, the result would have been the gray line on our chart.

But our actual stocking rate was much more after we started planning our grazing in 1990. Of course, we minimized overgrazing after we bunched our herds and covered bare ground because our increased stock density trampled the large supply of overrested plants to cover the soil surface with litter. In effect, we had created a more effective water cycle. As a result, we coasted through the 1994 drought, even with 30 percent higher stocking rates than our baseline stocking rate and had grass left for wildlife.

So let's use that as the stocking rate baseline (with the understanding that we must come back to our pre-grazing planning stocking rate baseline if we lose improvement in the ecosystem processes that allowed for the increased production), and adjust our average stock days per inch of precipitation (ASDIP) up by 20 percent to arrive at the third line on the graph, titled Target SR (stocking rate), the white line.

Benchmarks & Projections Based on hindsight, these two lines are what I propose to assist us in the future as our benchmark for determining stocking rate. When our ecosystem processes are performing well, with a covered soil surface, we will use the Target SR. When we make mistakes, create bare ground and need to replan, we can start with the Baseline Adj. / In. guideline. Both of these are based on a four year average of actual precipitation (the previous four years). For example, the 1993 stocking rate would have been determined at 132 percent of the baseline because the previous four years of precipitation was 9.34 inches (234 mm). So the formula is: 9.34 inches (precipitation average) X 17,675 stock days per inch (ASDIP) = 165,085 total stock days, which is 132 percent of the baseline stocking rate.

Mimicking Nature In the graph above the gray line titled "Baseline Adj. / Inch MA," which is the baseline stocking rate adjusted for precipitation, gives us an idea what 12

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January / February 2008

While we started increasing bare ground in 1997, if we would have had this methodology in place, the chart shows how we wouldn’t have increased our stocking rates from 1995-1999 as aggressively as we actually

did. They would have increased more gradually. And if we had been planning longer recovery periods during this time, we likely wouldn’t have picked up an increase in bare ground in our monitoring.

Based on this methodology, our stocking rates still would have peaked out in 1999, close to where they actually were, but with a covered soil surface, and we could have coasted down to 2003, with higher stocking rates than we actually had (as modeled in the chart). Then, rather than responding so exuberantly to improvements made due to longer recovery periods in 2004, we would have continued to use the four-year precipitation average as our guide, which would have kept our stocking rates lower, which would have had a positive impact on litter supply. And that brings us to the pivotal year of 2006.

We went into 2006 planning to graze 25 percent more than we actually did. We planned this stocking rate based on a four year upward trend in stocking rates and improving ground cover (due to longer recovery periods). Adequate moisture in the fall of 2005 combined with euphoric anticipation of a better year kept me leaning towards a higher stocking rate. If we would have had the four-year average precipitation benchmark, we would not have even been considering increasing stocking rates (due to a good stretch of moisture in the fall). As we got into the bad spring, with no moisture for the first time in recorded history during April and May, we could have begun destocking from a lower level. Who knows—if we had planned our stocking rates this way through this whole time period, destocking in the spring of 2006 may not have even been necessary, because our soil cover and drought-resilience would have been greater.

But, that’s not what we did. With no spring moisture in 2006, we started shipping cattle, but not early enough or fast enough. We ended up with very high utilization, and we increased bare ground considerably. In 2007, despite reasonable moisture, our water cycle was much less effective. We didn't have a cushion, and had to make a drastic reduction in stocking rate. Stocking rates can coast through a dry year or two, if we have deep rooted plants and a covered soil surface. When faced with long term drought, we simply have to adjust stocking rates down so we can keep the soil surface covered. Once we let the ground go bare, decreases in stocking rate become exponential, which really stinks from the point of view of our bank account.

If we can stick to this new methodology, we should steer clear of getting ourselves into this situation again. This won’t be enough—we always assume we’re wrong when making land-based management decisions.

To make sure we’re staying on track with maintaining ground cover, our on-the-ground biological monitoring will have to continue. But, if we can make initial stocking rate decisions based on a rational methodology (as opposed to “hope”), chances of getting into a bare ground wreck are much less.

Drought Insurance In looking at our 2007 monitoring data, our environment is still intact for the most part. We have more bare ground and fewer plants, but evidence of erosion hasn’t worsened (so we aren’t losing soil), the litter we do have is contacting the soil better, germination sites have slightly increased, our most desired plants have increased, etc. We still have our basic ecological resource base to support our forms of production. And with the changes in pre-season planning, combined with continued careful monitoring (and a little help from Nature to get some rainfall), we are poised to heal quickly and continue generating solar dollars.

Another bright side of this story has been the resilience of our riparian areas. Healthy riparian areas and grassy creek banks catch sediment during high flows and narrow the creek channel. Eventually the bed elevation of the creek rises. Like pinching off a water hose, the water table rises to the

flood plain. Two good things happen with high water tables. Spring thaws and summer cloudbursts run out and across the flood plain, carrying sediments, nutrients, and an effective dose of irrigation. Water seeps into the creek bank and sub-irrigates plants far away. Sub-irrigated ground grows many times more grass than the uplands. In fact, 35 percent of our total production grows on these narrow ribbons of riparian corridors comprising only 2.5 percent of our ranch.

And, during the last eight years of drought, that 2.5 percent of our ranch has produced 100 percent of its long-term average. With higher water tables and lateral bank storage, there was no drought! Healthy creek channels are the best drought insurance we have. In terms of increasing the drought resistance and ecological resilience of our ranches, improving creek channels is our best marginal reaction for the time and money spent.

By-products of healthy riparian areas are better fisheries, waterfowl habitat, and vertical vegetation diversity. Increased willows provide food and dam building material for beavers. Beaver dams raise the water table and slow flows for even more production. Moose have year-around habitat, and migratory songbird populations increase (we’ve measured a 40 percent increase on Twin Creek). In addition to cleaner water, fish benefit from thermal refuge sites, where water that’s cooled from lateral bank storage returns to the creek system.

So how do we improve creek channels? The same way we do everywhere else—by controlling time and keeping stock density as high as possible with grazing periods of less than 21 days using temporary electric fences to keep cattle moving up and down creek corridors. It takes about 30 minutes to put up a mile of temporary fence and one-hour to roll it up. The key is having our cattle trained to the electric fence and daily checks of the cattle.

It’s the best marginal reaction we have.

We hope this eight-year drought is a historical anomaly and not the trend of the future. But, given the vagaries of climate change consequences, we can only guess what awaits us. Most information suggests that the trends that certain environments and regions are currently experiencing are the trends that are likely to continue under global warming. If that’s the case, the last eight years have taught us some important survival lessons.

Keep those water tables high in the creek beds, keep the soil covered in the uplands, and always look to Nature’s model for guidance.

In Low-Production Brittle Environments • Pause after initial success—increased stock density will

result in immediate gains in production that will not continue to increase. Don’t take success seriously.

• Observe litter supply—after a few years most of your plants

will be vegetative. You may need longer recovery to stock pile.

• Coast through a dry year or two. Good ground cover and

deep-rooted plants will carry your stocking rates for a year or two.

• Replan if you lose your ground cover. Go back to pre-planned grazing stocking rates, or less. Building litter is slow in low production environments.

• Protect and improve your riparian areas. They are great drought insurance.

Number 117

Land & Livestock

13

Lite Planned Grazing—

Another Approach to Planned Grazing

by Aspen Edge

W

ith a degree in animal husbandry and a doctorate in veterinary medicine, Ben Bartlett is no stranger to livestock— he’s been raising them for almost 50 years in the upper Midwest of the United States. He has also put his knowledge to work for operations in Japan and Korea, and has worked as an educator with the Michigan State University Extension system for over 30 years. These experiences have given him extensive insights into how animals can be most effectively managed to maintain both pasture and livestock performance in non-brittle environments. But at the end of the day, Ben simply likes livestock, which is why they have always been part of his life in Michigan.

Use It or Lose It

Back to the Basics The key missing factor was farmers were not looking at total grazing area and were managing just for current rotation, and not for the whole year and for years to come even thought they followed Intensive Grazing practices. Ben also felt it was difficult and discouraging for graziers in non-brittle areas to try and chart every move. So the concept of ‘lite’ holistic planned grazing was born.

Ben went back to basics. He knew the focus of holistic planned grazing was for a person to control the harvesting of solar energy (grazing of plants) to ensure indefinite profitability and sustainability—having the livestock at the right place at the right time for the right reasons. He also saw he needed to be in certain paddocks at certain times of the year and that certain paddocks should not be grazed at particular times and so on.

He began with the idea that if people did no more than note those special situations, it did not really matter where they were in between those particular circumstances as long as they had enough feed. From those two starting points, he did a rough projection of how many acres/paddocks he would need for the “average” year.

Ben, and his wife Denise, live in Traunik in the north most part of Michigan, where they experience a very short growing season, cool summers, and very snowy winters. Here they have been managing their 988 acres (400 ha) of owned and rented land for the last 30 years. Operating under the name of Log Cabin Livestock, they currently have 150 head of stocker cattle, purchased in the autumn and sold 12 months later as large feeders for the feedlot, and a 500-head ewe flock producing about 750 lambs for replacements and feeder lambs, sold to feedlots.

They manage their land in a way which emphasizes the utilization of their high quality grazing forage which uses the excess spring growth for wintering the ewe flock and small steers. They get 50 percent of their forage growth in the first 60 days of the growing season, the other 50 percent of their forage in the next 120 days, and then no forage growth for about 180 days with an average of 150 inches (375 cm) of annual snow fall.

They have lots of sunshine during the peak growth period because they are so far north, about the 47th parallel, which Ben and Denise with their grandchildren. Good grazing planning means generates a very fast growth rate. The forage that grows in the first improved quality of life.

60 days has to be used, or it’s lost due to the non-brittle conditions.

It was these conditions, which posed particular challenges when using holistic planned grazing protocols.

A plan would give him the acres that he knew he would graze and the acres he would mechanically harvest, and would help identify those acres New Tools that would be flexible depending upon the weather. He also needed to know As they harvest at least twice a year and sometimes up to five, they found early in the season if his growth was on track or if he was running short of that the current holistic grazing planning procedure did not really suit their pasture or stored feed in the winter. This would enable him to make circumstances. They found it very challenging to be grazing a group of appropriate decisions, such as shift some land planned for late mechanical sheep, a group of cattle and mechanically harvesting the spring excess, and harvest to pasture or simply to know that the pasture season would be shorter trying to plot this out on the grazing plan—particularly when rainfall would and he would require more stored feed. Despite the fact that there are no require re-planning. They needed to intensively harvest/capture the flush of “average” years, it is possible to shift fields from mechanical harvest to early growth while working towards finding the right balance of grazing and grazing and vice versa. Now the principles needed to be put into practice mechanical harvest. They felt they really needed another process to help Putting Principles Into Practice them in their planned grazing.

For example, if they put stock in a paddock for two days, there was not The summer of 2007 was to be the first time “lite” grazing was put into enough feed left to leave them in that paddock for another day. If the grass practice, on Ben and Denise’s operation. Unfortunately, they had the worst growth slowed, it was not simply a matter of slowing down rotation: more drought in about 20 years and ended up feeding stored feed for 30 days. This paddocks had to be found. was the first time they had to feed during the grazing season in 30 years!

In addition, Ben and his farming clients, found the existing holistic Despite the challenge, they were able to keep in mind they needed certain grazing plan worksheet intimidating, and this resulted in lack of paddocks for certain activities such as weaning lambs or late autumn commitment to following the plan once created. The result was that some grazing of weaned lambs or newly purchased calves. very important “grazing scheduling” issues were being missed, simply Even with 30 years of experience, Ben still found it valuable to have his because the cure was considered to be worse than the condition! ‘lite’ grazing plan to look at. By referring to his paddock inventory this 14

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January / February 2008

Lite Grazing Plan 1) Outline objectives for both the grazing livestock and the grazing land. A

Holstein cattle and Polypay cross sheep must be considered along with haying operations as part of Log Cabin Livestock operations.

holisticgoal is the best option for determining objectives. For example, husband and wife unit with 40 beef cows for recreation and some income, requiring simplicity of management, wanting to decrease costs, sell weaned calves in autumn, and make winter feed.

2) Determine grazing and stored feed parameters and potential yield. For example, the acreage of the areas to be grazed or mechanically harvested, the expected yield in terms of tons of mechanical harvest or the number of times each area could be grazed.

3) Identify feed needs for grazing and non-grazing periods. For example, 40 cows (including replacements and bulls) Assume 1,200 lbs (545 kg) of feed harvested per acre per grazing.

Assume 1 cow grazes 45 lbs (20.45 kg) grass per day.

So, 40 cows graze 1,800 lbs (818 kg) per day.

So, number of acres needed per day = 1,800 divided by 1,200 = 1.5 acres per day Stored feed 35 lbs (16 kg) feed per cow/day x 40 head = 1,400 lbs (636 kg) x 180 days = 126 tons.

4) Make note on grazing plan of special considerations. For example, sheltered calving area, paddock used for hunting, area too wet for grazing during damp autumn season, weaning paddocks.

5) Schedule in the number of days grazing. For example, number of days grazing (D) by area and by month or the tonnage of mechanical harvest (T) by area and by month.

This was completed by working backwards from the previously identified special considerations and considering necessary recovery periods for grasses.

6) Review plan. Review for appropriate recovery times, identify flexible use of acreage (hay or graze), double check for considerations, and identify animal production goals that determine successful grazing practices.

winter, for instance, he could see what modifications he could make in case they experienced a severe feed shortage again. The “lite” grazing plan also provided a history of cattle moves so they could avoid turning up at the same paddock at the same time each year.

With this experience to draw upon Ben created the form and the process to introduce “lite” holistic planned grazing to other graziers in Michigan. He thought it would encourage farming clients to do a field inventory, and begin to see what their operation would look like on paper. This would enable them to see what fields might need improvement or modification.

Through this “lite” grazing process, graziers were introduced to the concept of balancing Pg. 4 Grazing & Stored Feed Plan the relationship between people, animals For Non-Brittle Areas and plants in a planned way. They were Name Sample Year 2007 also exposed to the trade off between Farm Size 160 Acres holistic planned grazing, which can be Grazing Stored Stored perceived as management intensive, and Field Acres Yield Considerations May June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov- Dec Jan- Apr Homestead 10 -capital inputs, such as barns, tractors and A 20 2T/3G Early Calving Area 12 D 12 D 12 D so on. And, they were encouraged to take B 30 2T/3G Graze Only 18 D 18 D 20 D 18 D * a long-term view and consistently move C 30 2T/3G Graze Only 18 D 10 D 10 D D 20 2.5 T Hay or Graze 30 T 12 D 12 D towards the outcomes they wanted.

E 20 2.5 T Hay or Graze 30 T 20 T Ben believes that adapting the holistic F 10 2.5 T Hay or Graze 15 T 7 D 7 D grazing plan, to meet situations that are G 20 2.5 T Hay or Graze 30 T 13 D 12 D H particular to non-brittle environments I and to lighten the content, has made the J whole process more relevant, accessible, K and quick to complete. As a result, it is L more likely to be created, maintained, Signifcant Time Events Calving Vacation Wean and consulted by farmers. Although still 20T /30D30 D 31 D 30 D Yields 30 D 105T / 30D 30 D Animal Performance Factors a “work-in-progress,” he sees “lite” Cow Condition Scores 3.5 On April 1st * Depending on snow cover Reproductive Rates holistic grazing planning gives a quicker Weight Gains/ WeaningW ts.

WeaningW ts - 550 # avg. return on investment, which probably Milk Production Levels Other suits the non-brittle farming psyche, Notes T = Tons G= Grazings where the landscape and the people Hay Yield 2.5 T = 1.5 T 1st cut / 1.0 T 2nd Cut are more hasty! _________________________________________ Ben Bartlett can be reached at: bartle18@msu.edu or 906/439-5880.

Totals Hay Yields Grazing Days

125 Ton 210 Days

Requirements 126 T 180 Days

Net Spring Summer Fall Recovery Periods - 1 Ton 20D 30D 45D + 30 Days

Number 117

Land & Livestock

15

Simple Ideas

by Tony Malmberg

I

am amazed at how many simple ideas from around the world have made my life so much easier. The Zimbabwean and South Africa practice of hooking temporary electric fence on brush so they don’t need as many posts makes putting up a fence so much easier and faster. The Argentinean idea of holding up a single electric wire with a PVC pipe so livestock can pass under is simple brilliance. I’m sure there are many more simple ideas out there that will make all of our lives easier.

When we are home, we might not recognize the elegance of simplicity that we have taken for granted. However, when we are at our neighbors, or traveling, we do notice elegant simplicity. When you see something, please send it to me at Tony@LifeEnergy.us. I’ll write it up for IN PRACTICE, and we can all benefit.

Loading ChuteWyoming, USA Due to a series of circumstances, I have worked on ranches across an eight-state region.

Years ago I needed to build a loading chute so I sat down and thought about all the chutes I With solid sides and a solid floor, this chute removes used to load cattle. potential concerns for the cattle as they board the Many loading truck—resulting in less stress and weight loss for chutes had one or the animals. two characteristics that made them better. Some were total misery. After identifying five characteristics common to the best, I built a loading chute incorporating all five. I can honestly say, this loading chute loads cattle and goats better than any loading chute I’ve ever used.

What They Can’t See Won’t Hurt Them.

Principle One: Make the sides of the chute solid so the animals can’t see out.

Principle Two: Make the chute turn before it gets to the truck. If the animals in the crowding area can only see animals disappearing around a corner, they are in a hurry to follow.

Make What You Want Them To Do Easy.

Principle Three: Put the “climb” in the first section BEFORE the chute turns. This section is 10 feet ( 3 meters) on our chute. Level the chute at the turn and put a flat section in before they get to the truck, so they don’t have to climb up into the truck. This section is also 10 feet on our chute. The important aspect is to have it longer than one animal so animals behind can always see an animal ahead.

Principle Four: Build the chute with solid sides all of the way to the ground and fill it with dirt so the animals are walking on dirt with no hollow sound. I filled the bottom ¾ with rock for two reasons. First, it allows moisture to drain out and away. Second, we have a lot of rock and it fills quickly and settles little.

16

Land & Livestock

January / February 2008

Think Ahead.

Principle Five: Just a few pounds of shrink adds up to a lot of money on shipping day if the cattle aren’t weighed before they are loaded, as is our case. Each shipping day we need to think Here’s the chute in action. The only problem is the about our crew cows can see the trucker. If the perch was on the other and who will be side, the cows wouldn’t see him until they had where. When we rounded the curve. are building our chute we need to think about where the sun will be for the majority of our paydays. The loading that affects our payday happens between September 15 and October 31. We built our loading chute so the sun would be behind and shining directly into the truck from 8:00 to 9:00 AM in the fall.

String ‘Em On! So how does it work? Three of us loaded 800 head of yearling heifers on 14 trucks in less than one and a half hours. They simply file on following the animals disappearing around the corner in front of them.

Improvements Needed The first change to make on our design is where the trucker stands as the cattle load. The animals come up the ramp and turn to the right, where it levels off before they go into the chute. We built the walkway for truckers on the left side of the animals as they go to the truck. It should have been on the other side so the animals would not see people standing above them at the turn. As the animal starts up the ramp they are looking directly at anyone standing on the The curve in the chute means the cow behind walkway. If the walkway doesn’t see the truck and just sees the back end of the cow in front moving out of view— were on the other side they would not see them. encouraging the cow behind to move forward The second change is instead of balk. on the ramp. The floor is dirt so to keep the dirt from working down and out the back of the chute, we put “cleats,” or boards nailed from each side every two feet going up the ramp. Several of these pulled lose. To prevent this, notch the planks so the “cleat” can slide into the notch on both sides so a nail doesn’t have to hold the entire weight.

Book Review Leadership and the New Science: Discovering Order in a Chaotic World

by Margaret Wheatley 218 pages Berrett-Koehler Publishers; 3rd ed.

L

eadership and the New Science was originally published in 1992, but it is currently out in its third edition, which includes an appended chapter dealing with the "real world." This book was recommended to me by George Work, one of the early adopters of Holistic Management. He was introduced to the book as a part of his participation in the Roots of Change organization here in California.

In a nutshell, the book is “where quantum physics meets organizational structure,” and it has exceptional relevance to Holistic Management. There are certainly no references to things like decision tests, or tools, or planning guidelines—but every chapter gets more and more at the very core of holism and the paradigms that keep it from the mainstream.

Deeply held paradigms prove to be difficult to “break through.” I have found that these breakthroughs are at least partially due to a variety of experiences from a variety of sources— the power of diversity. So too, this book provides a different look from a different direction for me— which helps me to further absorb the reality of holism and articulate to others. As is suggested in Holistic Management: A New Framework for Decision Making, until one can really make these paradigm shifts, managing holistically is not likely to happen. We need to consider how our language and our structures get in the way of those paradigm shifts.

A continuing notion throughout the book is that life is about patterns and relationships— not things. Wheatley notes our Western society operates on Newtonian science—17th century physics—“We manage by separating things into parts, we believe that influence occurs as a direct result of force exerted from one person to another, we engage in complex planning for a world that we keep expecting to be predictable, and search continually for better methods of objectively measuring and perceiving the world.”

But, "Life is relentlessly non-linear…There

by Rob Rutherford

are no recipes or formulas, no checklists or expert advice that describe ‘reality’.” In fact, I perceive that one of the difficulties with the adoption of Holistic Management is that the “framework” is perceived as a recipe – and used as such – so it is not likely to produce the desired understanding or results because the paradigm shift to a holistic perspective still has not taken place.

The new science holds that simply performing the exercise of observation changes the relationship of that being observed—and that “what we are will determine what we observe.”

In other words, we must make a paradigm shift before we can observe in a way that we can take in all the information, not only the “linear”

The book is “where quantum physics meets organizational structure,” and it has exceptional relevance to Holistic Management. information. This book has helped me to explain how the monitoring we do with Holistic Management is different from, yet complimentary with, traditional monitoring done with conventional Western science because we are looking at all the information to continue to adjust our plans or actions to create the desired outcome, the big picture, rather than focusing specifically on certain objectives.

In Leadership there is repeated reference to life being about relationships and patterns and shapes—not facts. There are a lot of comparisons of soft and natural systems to hard systems, although they are not presented with those labels. Likewise, Wheatley discusses the concept of self-organizing tendencies, of networks that change constantly as relationships change within, and the ease with which we fall into referring to soft and natural systems with hard system terminology such as describing an organization that “works like a clock” and other such phraseology. Such terms indicate we have not yet made the paradigm shift to working

effectively within those organizations, engaging in networks that are fluid and adapting to the feedback loop, moving toward the desired outcome with less resistance.

In her final, and newly added chapter, Wheatley answers those critics who challenge her approach with “but what about the real world?”

The two examples she chooses to discuss to demonstrate the differences between Newtonian approaches and the new science of quantum physics are responses to natural disasters (specifically Hurricane Katrina) and terrorism.

Wheatley’s analysis is very similar to Allan Savory’s analysis in his essay written following the events of September 11, 2001. Wheatley notes the new science recognizes terrorist organizations as networks without hierarchy. “New science explains the behavior of networks in great detail because this is the only form of organization used by the planet…We [the U.S. Military leadership] use factors that apply to our world but not to theirs, to the behavior of hierarchical organizations, not to networks…We must understand that we lose capacity and in fact create more chaos when we insist on hierarchy, roles, and command and control leadership.”

Because a Holistic Management approach is necessarily humble (recognizing the uniqueness of each whole), because it embraces complexity, because it strives for a more desirable state of being rather than setting benchmarks, I believe it represents the mirror image of command and control—and, therefore, holds much greater hope of reducing catastrophic relationships.

In reading this chapter I was left with the sense that Wheatley’s analysis of the national approach to terrorism is not that much different than the national approach to sustaining our society. Even as I write this, various plans are being created to reduce emissions, capture carbon, change the farm bill, redesign college curricula, and the list goes on. All these approaches are coming from the very same hierarchal, command and control approaches that were used to cause the current conditions. The current leadership does not perceive that which is to be sustained as a series of relationships, rather as a magnificent engine that needs some parts adjusted—best done by experts under the watchful eyes of those in control.

I know I will read this book again, and now I know it won't be the same book that I read before.

My relationships to everything will have changed and this non-linear world will continue to demand a fresh approach.

Number 117

IN PRACTICE

17

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 HMI. 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 HMI’s Certified Educator Training Programs, contact Ann Adams or visit our website at: www.holisticmanagement.org.

THESE EDUCATORS PROVIDE HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT INSTRUCTION * ON BEHALF OF THE INSTITUTIONS THEY REPRESENT.

UNITED STATES

UNITED STATES Roland Kroos 4926 Itana Circle, Bozeman, MT 59715 406/522-3862 • KROOSING@msn.com * Cliff Montagne P.O. Box 173120 Montana State University Department of Land Resources & Environmental Science Bozeman, MT 59717 406/994-5079 • montagne@montana.edu NEBRASKA Terry Gompert P.O. Box 45 Center, NE 68724-0045 402/288-5611 (w) tgompert1@unl.edu

CALIFORNIA

GEORGIA

NEW HAMPSHIRE

Bill Burrows 12250 Colyear Springs Road Red Bluff, CA 96080 530/529-1535 • 530/200-2419 (c) sunflowercrmp@msn.com Richard King 1675 Adobe Rd. Petaluma, CA 94954 707/769-1490 707/794-8692(w) richard.king@ca.usda.gov Christopher Peck 6364 Starr Rd. Windsor, CA 95492 707/758-0171 Christopher@naturalinvesting.com * Rob Rutherford CA Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo, CA 93407 805/756-1475 rrutherf@calpoly.edu

Constance Neely 1160 Twelve Oaks Circle Watkinsville, GA 30677 706/310-0678 cneely@holisticmanagement.org 39-348-210-6214 (Italy)

* Seth Wilner 24 Main Street, Newport, NH 03773 603/863-4497 (h) • 603/863-9200 (w) seth.wilner@unh.edu

COLORADO

IN PRACTICE

* Margaret Smith Iowa State University, CES Sustainable Agriculture 972 110th St., Hampton, IA 50441-7578 515/294-0887 • mrgsmith@iastate.edu LOUISIANA Tina Pilione P.O. 923, Eunice, LA 70535 phone: 337/580-0068 tina@tinapilione.com MAINE

Joel Benson P.O. Box 4924 Buena Vista, CO 81211 719/395-6119 joel@outburstllc.com Cindy Dvergsten 17702 County Rd. 23 Dolores, CO 81323 970/882-4222 hminfo@wholenewconcepts.com Daniela and Jim Howell P.O. Box 67 Cimarron, CO 81220-0067 970/249-0353 howelljd@montrose.net Craig Leggett 2078 County Rd. 234 Durango, CO 81301 970/946-1771 crleggett@holisticmanagement.org Byron Shelton 33900 Surrey Lane Buena Vista, CO 81211 719/395-8157 landmark@my.amigo.net Tom Walther P.O. Box 1158 Longmont, CO 80502-1158 510/499-7479 tagjag@aol.com

18

IOWA

Vivianne Holmes 239 E. Buckfield Rd. Buckfield, ME 04220-4209 207/336-2484 vholmes@umext.maine.edu Tobey Williamson 52 Center St., Portland, ME 04101 207/774-2458 x115 tobey@bartongingold.com MICHIGAN Ben Bartlett N4632 ET Road, Traunik, MI 49891 906/439-5210 (h) • 906/439-5880 (w) bartle18@msu.edu MINNESOTA Gretchen Blank 4625 Cottonwood Lane N Plymouth, MN 55442-2902 612/670-9606 ouilassie@comcast.net MONTANA Wayne Burleson 322 N. Stillwater Rd., Absarokee, MT 59001 406/328-6808 • rutbuster@montana.net

January / February 2008

NEW MEXICO * Ann Adams Holistic Management International 1010 Tijeras NW, Albuquerque, NM 87102 505/842-5252 anna@holisticmanagement.org Kirk Gadzia P.O. Box 1100, Bernalillo, NM 87004 505/867-4685 • (f) 505/867-9952 kgadzia@msn.com David Trew 369 Montezuma Ave. #243 Santa Fe, NM 87501 505/988-1508 • trewearth@gmail.com Vicki Turpen 03 El Nido Amado SW Albuquerque, NM 87121 505/873-0473 • kaytelnido@aol.com Kelly White No. 4 El Nido Amado SW Albuquerque, NM 87121-7300 505/873-1324 (h) • 505/379-1866 (c) kellyw@h-a-s.com

OHIO Larry Dyer Olney Friends School 61830 Sandy Ridge Road Barnesville, OH 47313 740/425-3655 (w) • 740/425-2775 (h) larry@olneyfriends.org PENNSYLVANIA Jim Weaver 428 Copp Hollow Rd. Wellsboro, PA 16901-8976 570/724-7788 • jaweaver@epix.net TEXAS Christina Allday-Bondy 2703 Grennock Dr. Austin, TX 78745 512/441-2019 tododia@sbcglobal.net Guy Glosson 6717 Hwy 380, Snyder, TX 79549 806/237-2554 glosson@caprock-spur.com Peggy Maddox P.O. Box 694, Ozona, TX 76943-0694 325/392-2292 westgift@hughes.net * R. H. (Dick) Richardson University of Texas at Austin Section of Integrative Biology School of Biological Sciences Austin, TX 78712 512/471-4128 d.richardson@mail.utexas.edu Peggy Sechrist 106 Thunderbird Rd., Fredericksburg, TX 78624 830/990-2529 sechrist@earthtones.com Elizabeth Williams 4106 Avenue B Austin, TX 78751-4220 512/323-2858 e-liz@austin.rr.com

NEW YORK

WASHINGTON

Erica Frenay 454 Old 76 Road Brooktondale, NY 14817 607/539-3246 (h) • 607/279-7978 (c) efrenay22@yahoo.com Phil Metzger 99 N. Broad St. Norwich, NY 13815 607/334-3231 x4 (w) • 607/334-2407 (h) phil.metzger@ny.usda.gov John Thurgood 17 Spruce St., Oneonta, NY 13820 607/432-8714 jthurgood@stny.rr.com

Craig Madsen P.O. Box 107, Edwall, WA 99008 509/236-2451 Madsen2fir@gotsky.com Sandra Matheson 228 E. Smith Rd., Bellingham, WA 98226 360/398-7866 mathesonsm@verizon.net Doug Warnock 1880 SE Larch Ave. College Place, WA 99324 509/525-3389 (w) 509/525-3295 (h) 509/856-7101 (c) dwarnock@charter.net

NORTH DAKOTA * Wayne Berry Williston State College, P.O. Box 1326 Williston, ND 58802 701/774-4277 wayne.berry@wsc.nodak.edu

WEST VIRGINIA Fred Hays P.O. Box 241, Elkview, WV 25071 304/548-7117 sustainableresources@hotmail.com

UNITED STATES WISCONSIN Heather Flashinski 16294 250th St., Cadott, WI 54727 715/289-4896 amun0069@hotmail.com Andy Hager W. 3597 Pine Ave., Stetsonville, WI 54480-9559 715/678-2465 • ahager@tds.net * Laura Paine Wisconsin DATCP N893 Kranz Rd., Columbus, WI 53925 608/224-5120 (w) • 920/623-4407 (h) laura.paine@datcp.state.wi.us WYOMING Andrea & Tony Malmberg 768 Twin Creek Road, Lander, WY 82520 307/335-7485 (w) • 307/332-5073 (h) 307/349-1144 (c) • Andrea@LifeEnergy.us Tony@LifeEnergy.us

INTERNATIONAL AUSTRALIA Jason Virtue Mary River Park 1588 Bruce Highway South, Gympie, QLD 4570 61-7-5483-5155 jason@spiderweb.com.au Bruce Ward P.O. Box 103, Milsons Pt., NSW 1565 61-2-9929-5568 fax: 61-2-9929-5569 blward@the-farm-business-gym.com Brian Wehlburg c/o “Sunnyholt”, Injune, QLD 4454 61-7-4626-7187 brian@insideoutsidemgt.com.au

CANADA

INTERNATIONAL

AUSTRALIA Judi Earl 73 Harding E, Guyra, NSW 2365 61-2-6779-2286 judi@holisticmanagement.org.au Mark Gardner P.O. Box 1395, Dubbo, NSW 2830 61-2-6884-4401 mark.gardner@vbs.net.au Paul Griffiths P.O. Box 3045, North Turramura, NSW 2074, Sydney, NSW 61-2-9144-3975 pgpres@geko.net.au George Gundry Willeroo, Tarago, NSW 2580 61-2-4844-6223 ggundry@bigpond.net.au Graeme Hand 150 Caroona Lane, Branxholme, VIC 3302 61-3-5578-6272 (h); 61-4-0996-4466 (c) graemeh1@bordernet.com.au Helen Lewis P.O. Box 1263, Warwick, QLD 4370 61-7-46617393 61-7-46670835 helen@insideoutsidemgt.com.au Brian Marshall P.O. Box 300, Guyra NSW 2365 61-2-6779-1927 fax: 61-2-6779-1947 bkmrshl@bigpond.com

Don Campbell Box 817 Meadow Lake, SK S9X 1Y6 306/236-6088 doncampbell@sasktel.net Len Pigott Box 222, Dysart, SK, SOH 1HO 306/432-4583 JLPigott@sasktel.net Kelly Sidoryk P.O. Box 374, Lloydminster, AB S9V 0Y4 780/875-9806 (h) • 780/875-4418 (c) kjsidoryk@yahoo.ca

KENYA Christine C. Jost International Livestock Research Institute Box 30709, Nairobi 00100 254-20-422-3000 254-736-715-417 (c) christine.jost@tufts.edu

MEXICO Ivan A. Aguirre Ibarra P.O. Box 304 Hermosillo, Sonora 83000 52-1-662-289-0900 (from U.S.) 52-1-662-289-0901 rancho_inmaculada@yahoo.com.mx Arturo Mora Benitez San Juan Bosco 169 Fracc., La Misión Celaya, Guanajuato 38016 52-461-615-7632 jams@prodigy.net.mx Elco Blanco-Madrid Hacienda de la Luz 1803 Fracc. Haciendas del Valle II, Chihuahua Chih., 31238 52-614-423-4413 (h) 52-614-107-8960 (c) elco_blanco@hotmail.com

SOUTH AFRICA

MEXICO Miguel Aguirre Camacho SAGARPA Delegación Estatal en Tlaxcala Libramiento Poniente Número 2 Colonia Unitlax, San Diego Metepec Tlaxcala, Tlaxcala 90110 52-246-465-0700 cotecocatlx@yahoo.com.mx Adrian Vega Lopez Calle Norte 80 #5913 Col. Gertrudis Sanchez, 2a. Sección Delegación Gustavo A. Madero, México, D.F. 07890 avega.cgg@sagarpa.gob.mx Jorge Efrain Morales Martinez Calle Primero de Mayo #578-A Col. Centro Histórico, Morelia, Michoacán, 58000 52-443-317-4389 Jose Angel Montaño Morales Calle Samuel Arias #111 Fraccionamiento Forjadores de Pachuca Mineral de la Reforma, Hidalgo 42083 Alejandro Miranda Sanchez Calle Cerro Macuiltepec No 23 Col. Campestre Churubusco, Delegación Coyoacán México, D.F. 04200 Jose Ramon “Moncho” Villar Av. Las Americas #1178 Fracc. Cumbres Saltillo, Coahuila 25270 52-844-415-1557 jrvillarm@prodigy.net.mx

Jozua Lambrechts P.O. Box 5070, Helderberg, Somerset West, Western Cape 7135 27-21-851-5669; 27-21-851-2430 (w) jozua@websurf.co.za Ian Mitchell-Innes P.O. Box 52, Elandslaagte 2900 27-36-421-1747 blanerne@mweb.co.za Dick Richardson P.O. Box 1853, Vryburg 8600 tel/fax: 27-082-934-6139 Dickson@wam.co.za Colleen Todd P.O. Box 20, Bergbron 1712 27-82-335-3901 (cell) colleen@lantic.net

SPAIN Aspen Edge Apartado de Correos 19, 18420 Lanjaron, Granada (0034)-958-347-053 aspen@holisticdecisions.com

UNITED KINGDOM Philip Bubb 32 Dart Close, St. Ives, Cambridge, PE27 3JB 44-1480-496295 philipbubb@onetel.com

Silverio Rojas Villegas SAGARPA Avenida Irrigación s/n, Col. Monte de Camargo Celaya, Guanajuato, 38030 52-461-612-0305

ZIMBABWE

NAMIBIA Gero Diekmann Ecoso Dynamics CC P.O. Box 363, Okahandja 264-62-518-091 (h) • 264-612-51861 (w) 264-812-440-501 (c) dero@mweb.com.na

Amanda Atwood 27 Rowland Square, Milton Park, Harare 263-23-233-760 amandlazw@gmail.com

Colin Nott P.O. Box 11977, Windhoek 264-61-225085 canott@iafrica.com.na

Huggins Matanga Africa Centre for Holistic Management P. Bag 5950, Victoria Falls 263-13-42199 (w) 263-11-404-979 (c) hmatanga@mweb.co.zw

Wiebke Volkmann P.O. Box 182, Otavi 264-67-234-557 or 264-81-127-0081 wiebke@mweb.com.na

NEW ZEALAND John King P.O. Box 12011, Beckenham, Christchurch 8242 64-3-338-5506 • succession@clear.net.nz

Elias Ncube Africa Centre for Holistic Management P. Bag 5950, Victoria Falls 263-13-42199 (w) 263-11-214-584 (c) achmcom@africaonline.co.zw

Number 117

IN PRACTICE

19

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Holistic Management: A New Framework for Decision-Making,

_ Early Warning Biological Monitoring—Rangelands and Grasslands

_ Second Edition, by Allan Savory with Jody Butterfield . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $35 _ Hardcover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $55 _ 15-set CD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $99 _ One month rental of CD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $35 _ Spanish Version (soft). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $25 _ Holistic Management Handbook, by Butterfield, Bingham, Savory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $25 _ At Home With Holistic Management, by Ann Adams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $20 _ Holistic Management: A New Environmental Intelligence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $10 _ Improving Whole Farm Planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $10 _ Video: Creating a Sustainable Civilization—

August 2007, 59 pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$17

_ Land Planning—For The Rancher or Farmer Running Livestock August 2007, 31 pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$17

Planning Forms (All forms are padded - 25 sheets per pad) _ Annual Income & Expense Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$17 _ Worksheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$ 7 _ Livestock Production Worksheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$17 _ Control Sheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$ 5 _ Grazing Plan & Control Chart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$15

An Introduction to Holistic Decision-Making, based on a lecture given

by Allan Savory. (VHS/DVD/PAL) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $30 Stockmanship, by Steve Cote . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $35

_ _ The Grassfed Gourmet Cookbook, by Shannon Hayes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $25 _ The Oglin, by Dick Richardson & Rio de la Vista . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $25 _ Gardeners of Eden, by Dan Dagget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $25 _ Video: Healing the Land Through Multi-Species Grazing (VHS/DVD) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $30 TO ORDER

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healthy land. sustainable future. a publication of Holistic Management International 1010 Tijeras NW Albuquerque, NM 87102 USA

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