#091, In Practice, Sept/Oct 2003

HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT

IN PRACTICE

Providing the link between a healthy environment and a sound economy SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2003 NUMBER 91

in this Issue

The Gift of Youth

by Ann Adams “Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them.”—James Baldwin

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he other day a couple came to visit with their one-year-old daughter. As the husband looked around at the house we had built, he said, “I don’t know how you got all this work done. I can’t even complete a simple household repair.” I looked at him, holding his daughter in his arms, and noticed the budding relationship they were developing with each other. The reason for my ability to complete household projects with what he perceived as alacrity was pretty obvious to me, and I replied, “We don’t have a young child in the house.”

Raising children takes a huge investment in time. Perhaps I should repeat that again, just in case you had a small appendage stuck in your ear while you read that sentence, or your sleepdeprived brain couldn’t quite capture the enormity of that sentence, or you were distracted as you watched one of your adolescent children stand in front of an open refrigerator for half an hour trying to decide what to eat.

I don’t mean to imply that you have to keep your eyes on them all the time or be at their beck and call, although they seem to like that idea, particularly during the “royal two’s.” I’m talking about the amount of “head” space they can take up as you explore what kind of parent (adult) you thought you were, what kind you want to be, and what kind of relationship you want to have with your children.

A Mirror This realization was brought home this year when I was supporting my son, Ben, through his first year of high school. One thing that disturbed me in his approach to high school was what I saw as a lack of internal motivation to do well in school. While he was taking honors and gifted classes, he wasn’t pushing himself to do as well as he could. I knew he could get A’s if he applied himself, but he kept

saying, “B’s are good enough.”

At first I spent some time seeing if there was some way to spark his internal motivation to do a better job. That didn’t lead to any progress. I got different points of view from various people I interrogated on the subject. One of the suggestions was to offer some monetary reward for good grades (a concept I had immediately refused when someone brought it up earlier in the year).

My initial gut decision was that I didn’t get paid for good grades, and that wasn’t a form of internal motivation. But somehow, when I heard it a second time, I realized how much privilege I was putting on internal motivation and how much judgment I had about external motivation.

If I pulled back from the situation, the larger picture was that I wanted him to experience success, to see he could get good grades if he applied himself. Suddenly I realized I was the hold up, not him.

That decision demonstrated to me why it’s so important to have a holistic goal that pushes you to test decisions toward it, moving you beyond gut responses to situations or events. Through the testing process, you may find that you make not only better decisions, but also better understand the situation that led to you making the decision.

I was pretty sure this child-rearing thing was about sacrifice. I found out it was more about creativity, humor, patience, and endless opportunity for discovery. Holistic Management has enriched that journey for me by encouraging me to explore the possibilities, see the challenges as opportunities, rediscover my own youth and playfulness as part of the “parenting” process, and to continue to look for the big picture rather than getting mired in the repetition of, “If I’ve told you once…”

Ben’s personality is different from mine. He might always require more external motivation. I just hope that if I keep looking at the big picture, responding to life’s challenges creatively, and making decisions thoughtfully, that he’ll integrate those habits in his own inimitable style.

With Holistic Management, we have the opportunity through goal setting, testing decisions, planning, and monitoring, to engage with our children more fully. The writers in this issue share with us what they have learned about life, education, families, and more through incorporating Holistic Management in their parenting and teaching.

A New Path—Teaching Children about Holistic Management Peggy Maddox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Discovering Our Youth Sandra Matheson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Who’s in Control?

Judi Earl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

LAND & LIVESTOCK—A special section of IN PRACTICE New Insights into the Grazing Debate Jim Howell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7 On Becoming Native Jim Howell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10

Savory Center Annual Report . . . . . .14 Savory Center Bulletin Board

. . . . . . .15

Certified Educators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 Marketplace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20

The Allan Savory Center for Holistic Management Ad definitum finem

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

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

STAFF Tim LaSalle, Executive Director; Shannon Horst, Senior Director, Strategic Projects Kate Bradshaw, Director of Finance and Administration; Kelly Pasztor, Director of Educational Services; Constance Neely, International Training Programs Director; Lee Dueringer, Director of Development; Ann Adams, Managing Editor, IN PRACTICE and Director of Publications and Outreach; Craig Leggett, Special Projects Manager; Jessica Stolz, Finance Coordinator.

Africa Centre for Holistic Management Private Bag 5950, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe tel: (263) (11) 213529; email: rogpachm@africaonline.co.zw Huggins Matanga, Director; Roger Parry, Manager, Regional Training Centre; Elias Ncube, Hwange Project Manager/Training Coordinator HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE (ISSN: 1098-8157) is published six times a year by The Allan Savory Center for Holistic Management, 1010 Tijeras NW, Albuquerque, NM 87102, 505/8425252, fax: 505/843-7900; email: savorycenter@holisticmanagement.org.; website: www. holisticmanagement.org Copyright © 2003.

2 HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE #91

A New Path—Teaching Children about Holistic Management

by Peggy Maddox

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from their involvement.

As a Certified Educator trainee, I am working with four families who serve as my learning community. My earlier observations of our family seem to be borne out in these families and their children’s involvement in family meetings and training. At one session with these four families, I had developed a scenario for them to use in a first attempt at testing a question. I created the Johnson family whose holistic goal included a stable income, time Having A Say together, a comfortable place to live, and good family communication.

In my 17 years in the public schools, I The question to test was whether the father found that my greatest successes came should take a higher when the students had a paying job, which would say in what they wanted require him to travel to learn. As a family “Holistic Management five days a week. Each practicing Holistic family group tested the Management, I know that is revolutionary in a lot question and all decided when Joe, my husband, of ways, but first and Mr. Johnson would not made a decision to take take the job. I’m not me and our son, Dalton, to foremost because it asks sure that would have our first Holistic us, invites us, to examine happened in real life, Management course, he but when you look at a set the foundation that our role, past, present, decision as a family and enabled us to make all the and future, as a ‘citizen’ test it, the whole picture changes we needed in is clear for all to see. order to continue ranching of the communiy of life.”

Think about a family as a family . sitting down and talking Later when Dalton about this question and his wife, Gretchen, together. If the dad did had children we had another opportunity to take the job and was not able to attend a school involve our grandchildren at a young age to function, the child knows it isn’t because Dad learn the Holistic Management ® decisiondoesn’t care because everyone in the family had making process. The children realized that when helped make the decision about a job that we had a team meeting, something important would have taken Dad away from home. Or, was going on and there was opportunity for Dad doesn’t take the job, and together the family them to have a say. So Morgan, the oldest looks creatively at other ways to get the life daughter, began to come with ideas to discuss they have described in their holistic goal. The at the meetings. holistic goal, having been created as a family, In general, we have found that if the helps all understand the give and take involved children are asked, they want to be involved. In in achieving it. being part of the discussion, they saw that the family was creating something together, that Participation is Key things were not just happening. Likewise, their When I was teaching public school students, level of understanding Holistic Management I encouraged my students to look beyond the and how families function increased, and present and pressed them to become life-long everyone seemed to make a bigger effort to learners and develop their capacity to wonder. meet everyone’s needs. Everyone benefited here are countless reasons why it is important for children to learn about Holistic Management, but I’m only going to mention three. First, children will take control of their lives and their learning. Second, they will learn to think beyond the present and instant gratification. Third, realizing they are connected to the ecosystem processes, they better understand how their decisions impact those processes.

The best way to accomplish this objective is to rest of the students were the wind, and as they that Holistic Management is the basis for an give the students opportunities for hands-on blew, the tail opened, the wheel turned, the environmental education curriculum that experiences. As they have experiences where sucker rod pumped and water appeared. It was demonstrates the connection between humans learning is fun and provides meaning to their a human Rube Goldberg contraption in action. and Nature. lives, then they will want to continue to It was fun, and they understood the theory “Holistic Management is revolutionary in a replicate those experiences later in life. and mechanics of windmills well enough that lot of ways, but first and foremost because it New brain research has also shown that realwhen I quizzed them later in the day, in a asks us, invites us, to examine our role, past, world lessons such as discovery through nature “Jeopardy”-like format, most were eager to present, and future, as a ‘citizen’ of the trails and tending a native garden can enhance a answer the questions. community of life. A Holistic Management student’s overall achievement because the highenvironmental curriculum puts ‘people’ on Children & Nature involvement lessons tie actions and emotions to the diagrammatic food chain, and it gives us facts and formulas. In my teaching experience, I the tools we need to examine how we fit Nature is a great resource for experiential have also found this to be true. into the ‘web of life.’” learning, and children love outdoor activities.

One group of my students began a project We need to help them understand how Nature Responsibility & Participation to turn a vacant lot into a native plant garden. functions and how their decisions impact the It grew into a school-wide outdoor Finally, when we began training in classroom. They learned all about the Holistic Management, Joe and I had to place where they lived, how it had learn to think for ourselves again, learn been a prairie. They came to value to be creative, and learn that we, their place. I found that all my ourselves, were responsible for where students loved being in this outdoor our lives were going. As we consider classroom. Discipline problems the role the West Station could play disappeared and creativity abounded. in developing an environmental Interdisciplinary curriculum and curriculum, we have the specific hands-on activities, which come place to study. We can provide the easily outdoors, enhanced their discovery/inquiry learning that engages learning. children by asking how is The students whose idea it was this place different from others? And to create this garden, knew they had Holistic Management can give the made a difference although they framework for their active participation Peggy Maddox with the Ozona third-grade class (a.k.a. the human graduated from high school before in building a more sustainable world. pump) learning about windmills. it was completed. Now, when they We are just beginning the process return from college, they always go of developing that environmental by and check out what is happening in Philip ecosystem processes to lay a foundation for a curriculum, but just imagine children hearing Nolan Park because they have a sense of place more sustainable future. Peter Sauer, associate the story of how this Holistic Management there, a bond. Through that connection, they editor of Orion Magazine , made a visit to the movement started with one man’s quest to stop better understood the importance of being West Station recently in his exploration of how desertification, and how Allan Savory began involved in things that feel right or places Holistic Management could be incorporated the work of developing this new decisionyou care about, even if you don’t receive into a new environmental education for making framework. Just imagine children immediate gratification. children that empowers them. taking responsibility for their lives and learning He said, “There are two important reasons and understanding their role in Nature.

The Human Pump why Holistic Management provides a valuable There are many unknowns about how to Recently The David West Station for Holistic context for environmental education. It do this, but we have many people who see the Management hosted the Ozona, Texas third provides an opportunity for interactive necessity, who have the expertise, and who grade. I had developed a day of activities about learning about human interactions with have the passion for this endeavor. I do know the wind and how it helps us. Some of the Nature, and Holistic Management involves, by and believe that it will be more than a activities were about windmills, and how they necessity, the examination of a specific place. curriculum. It will be teaching a path that we pump water from underground. To reinforce If there is one thing that U.S. children most must walk in order to achieve a better world. the concepts and the terminology I had them need to learn about this land, it is that their David West’s gift of the West Ranch to The role-play being the various parts of a windmill. participation is essential to maintaining and Savory Center is our first opportunity to begin I used a ladder for the tower. One child restoring its health and that of the nation, the process. stood at the top to be the tail and wheel. Two and by extension, the planet.” students stood inside the ladder and simulated He went on to say that he had been Peggy Maddox is the Director of the pumping sucker rod. Another student searching for a model to teach about the Public Relations and Education for The poured water into a cup that was then poured environment. Everywhere he looked, the Savory Center’s David West Station for into a series of cups held by five children. places were teaching a human-less, hands-off Holistic Management in Ozona, Texas.

They became the pipe taking the water to a “Nature.” They were denying the human She can reached at 915/392-2292 trough, which was a girl holding a bucket. The history that had shaped their land. He believes or westgift@earthlink.net.

HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE • SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2003 3

Discovering Our Youth

by Sandra Matheson

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ur youth are our most precious resource. They are an integral part of our future resource base. Ironically, as a society we often spend much of our time and energy protecting them, and then we ignore and exclude them. But, youth have a great deal to contribute and teach us, if we would only listen and include them.

Youth is described in the dictionary as the “state of being young” and “the early stage of anything.” It is also a time of adventure and daring, growing and changing, and learning and yearning. It is a significant and shaping phase of all human lives. I use the word youth in this article because it more fully encompasses the developmental stages of childhood and adolescence.

I, like many adults, had forgotten much about what it was like to be young. Being a parent of two daughters, now teenagers, has provided me some excellent reminders and a great deal of insight. These are a few of my observations.

homework and was afraid to turn it in that way. I’ve seen a mother give her little daughter a long lecture, heavily embedded with guilt and shame, about the evils of getting dirt in the car from her shoes.

One of the most heartbreaking things I saw was when I attended a graduation recently. I will never forget the look on the graduate’s face when he realized that none of his family was there to share in this special event. Instead of flourishing, children may become insecure, angry, withdrawn, or fearful of either achieving or failing.

“What if we changed ‘Mom and Dad know best.’ to ‘Mom and Dad would know more if they asked their children for input? ’ ”

The Characteristics of Youth Young people have some wonderful characteristics, which seem to get repressed as we become adults. Children have almost limitless energy. They see it and say it like it is. They recognize and appreciate the smallest details and simple wonders of nature, and their imagination is active and limitless.

They have no formal time constraints, and they question almost everything and insist upon answers. They keep it simple and are open to change, exploring new paradigms instead of being crippled by them. They also have the ability to make mistakes, learn from them, and move on and have a great capacity for love. These are huge resources tucked inside of small bodies. If nurtured, mentored, and encouraged early on, these traits may continue throughout the school years and beyond.

Sadly, the opposite situation occurs when the home environment, school, or society represses these youthful characteristics. I’ve witnessed a father scream at his son and tell him how stupid he is. I’ve heard a middle-school boy cry because he couldn’t figure out a problem on his

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The Contributions of Youth Young people offer many contributions to the world. They ask the hard questions that we often don’t think of or want to ask ourselves. I, like many other adults, sometimes get caught in the rut of doing things the way I, or my parents, always did them. My daughters are not afraid to ask questions like “why” or “why not,” whether it is a simple task or a deep, sensitive issue. My oldest daughter, Megan, is especially good at asking questions. If there is a root cause, she will find it!

For example, one day Megan asked me “Why do you want me to do this? Is it for me or for you?” after I arranged for her to do something. That question stung, but I believe it is better to hurt now than slowly bleed to death down the road! Her questions help me assess whether I’m basing my decision/thinking truly on our holistic goal, or simply on tradition, personal needs, and/or control.

Youth are imaginative and a source of fresh ideas. As I get older, my mind gets

filled with more and more information. I‘m certain that some of that overflow must pollute the creative pools in my brain! If I ever want some new ideas, I ask a child. There are no bounds to the imagination, nor limits to the possibilities.

Likewise, young people have boundless energy, and it is up to us to find and develop avenues through which they can contribute to their communities. Many young people have the desire and the time to volunteer and work for something they believe is important.

My youngest daughter and I are the cosuperintendents for the Whatcom County Youth Fair’s performing arts division. Molly designs, organizes, and teaches workshops during the fair as well as makes the arrangements to bring in other instructors. She is excellent with kids of all ages and is very creative. She’s good at monitoring the students and their needs. The Youth Fair experience is better for all because of her contributions.

Young people have so much to contribute and teach us, but often adult power and pride get in the way. Hierarchy is the way of life for many species. Humans are no exception.

Those at the top have all the power; those at the bottom have none. Being older and more worldly, it would only make sense that adults should have power over the young.

This is especially true when we are trying to guide and protect them.

However, in a more holistic approach, better results and relationships may be achieved if some of that power is shared.

In addition, we have worked hard and learned a great deal during the course of our lives. It’s understandable that we should be proud of that. The danger lies in thinking we have already learned it all. By acknowledging our pride and desire for power, we can move on to using a more holistic approach in our relationship with youth.

Listen and Include How can we begin to tap and, more importantly, nurture this precious resource, the young people in our lives? It requires both listening and including. How often do we really take the time and effort to listen to our children? As a parent of two teenagers, I have been known to assume that certain phrases in a sweet tone of voice will be followed by a request for money. I have also been known to say “no” or ask “how much?” before I have heard the request. Often I am correct, but many times I am not.

Sometimes, they try to talk to me while I

am focused on something I’m reading, doing, or listening to, and I don’t hear what they are trying to tell me. How hard would it be to just stop and listen? As much as I try to avoid this pitfall, sometimes I get hung up in the urgency and triviality of everyday life.

The Holistic Management ® decisionmaking process has taught me to plan.

Planning minimizes the crisis management and unnecessary busy work that I used to wallow in so I have more time for listening. I have also learned how important it is to listen with respect instead of focusing on my needs and responses. Fortunately, my children are not afraid to remind me about the importance of listening when I do falter.

True listening is not just hearing. It means listening to understand what the other person is really trying to say. This requires repeating back and confirming what that person said.

Often, what people say is not necessarily what

they mean. Listening also means discovering what the underlying subtext or message is.

Children sometimes say what they think we want to hear just to please us. It only takes a moment to stop and truly listen to what the young person is saying.

Some adults have the attitude that children/youth don’t have anything important to say, but our youth offer us a fresh, “unadulterated” perspective that deserves to be listened to. Many schools and businesses already have students serving as advisors with positive results. And if young people are not listened to, they will find other ways to get the attention they demand. Some of these methods may have serious consequences.

Many young people are either shy or so used to being put down by adults, that they are reluctant to express their opinion. This is where Bob Chadwick’s consensus building process is helpful. The process involves

Who’s in Control?

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few weeks ago I had the pleasure and challenge of speaking with a group of local high school students nearing the completion of their studies. The program for the day was intended as a preparatory session for life after school. The task was pleasurable because this community of mine is so small (total population is about 2,000), and I knew many of the students or, at least, I was familiar with the faces. The challenge came in the lack of experience I have dealing with teenagers on a regular basis. I found out that teenagers have many of the same concerns adults do.

Beyond Outside Influences I started the session with the question “What are you planning to do next year?” which was simply a rephrasing of the perennial question for young people—“What are you going to do when you grow up?” Responses ranged from a few very confident individuals who knew exactly where they’d be to those who were very unsure.

Most had some thoughts but felt the outcome would be determined by exam results or some other external event. I think this lack of feeling in control that the majority of students felt is endemic in our society.

After two sessions as a participant in the Savory Center’s North Central Certified Educator Training Program, one outcome I have noticed is that I am seeing the world with a new set of senses. I have been struck by the difference in attitude and approach of Holistic Management practitioners, which is so positive in comparison to the level of apathy, discontent, and lack of control so many in the community feel.

This is not to say that happiness is the sole domain of Holistic Management practitioners, but rather their approach to life is in contrast to the people with whom I tend to have a relatively

meeting in a circle of chairs so everyone is equal and no one has anything to hide behind.

Chadwick’s consensus building begins with “grounding,” where everyone has a chance to speak in turn and in a safe environment without interruption. Verbal territory is established early, making it much easier to speak later on in the meeting. This is a valuable and effective process for working with both small and large groups of people and is especially helpful when creating a holistic goal. I use consensus building in our home, whether conducting family meetings or simply evaluating how the day has gone.

Listening is good, but is not of much value if the information is ignored or not used. Inclusion is the next step. The parents in a family traditionally make most of the decisions. This stems from the paradigm continued on page 6

greater degree of day-to-day contact. The current drought we are experiencing across Australia is one of the primary factors for the feelings of despair evident throughout rural communities and is an example of how outcomes are primarily determined by outside influences.

Even as adults our attitudes, beliefs and behavior are so strongly influenced by peer pressure or other externalities. While our priorities may change with age, the fact is that most of us remain in the same situation facing that group of teenagers—we don’t know what the future holds and are constantly in crisis management reacting to situations as they arise.

The practice of Holistic Management, establishing a holistic goal, and making decisions towards achieving what you desire is so empowering! It provides the mechanism for individuals or businesses to step outside of the conventional, take control, and move forward regardless of popular opinion. Working through the decision-making process compels us to look at the longer-term effects of our proposed actions on our finances, the environment, and our relationships. By effectively planning, we are prepared for most circumstances that are likely to arise and can take action to correct the course and remedy any situation, usually with a minimum of fuss.

At 41, I was still pondering the question of what I was going to be when I grow up. At 42, I’m still not sure about when I will actually reach this “grown up” milestone. But after a few short months with a much improved understanding of Holistic Management and having a more consolidated, albeit still very temporary, holistic goal, I am far more clear about where I want to be, how I want to be, and the methods I am going to use to get there. For that reason, the “what” doesn’t really enter the equation any more.

—Judi Earl, Guyra, New South Wales, Australia

HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE • SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2003 5

Discovering Our Youth continued from page 5

“Mom and Dad know best.” What if we changed that to “Mom and Dad would know more if they asked their children for input?”

Introducing Holistic Management

defined by others as their role or position, rather than who they are as an individual.

Although planning for the future is critical, life is more than a job or title.

Direction and planning are needed to reach a destination or we may get lost. This is my equivalent to “forms of production.” The question I ask here is: “What must I do (produce) to make this happen?”

Finally, if we don’t maintain the car, it will eventually run out of gas or stop working.

This is our “future resource base.” If we don’t maintain our world, we will gradually destroy

The family holistic goal is one place to start engaging more fully with your children.

Is it really a “family” holistic goal if the children have not participated in its creation? Young people have dreams, and they know what’s important to them.

I have had the pleasure of working with elementary school students in teaching them how to develop a holistic goal. I experimented with my daughter who was six at the time. I gave her an abbreviated lesson and asked her the questions from the worksheet I had developed. I helped her with the spelling, but the responses were hers. She even drew a picture of what she wanted the world to look like. It was simple, but beautiful, and from the heart. It was her holistic goal. I knew that if a sixyear-old could do it, anyone could.

I approach the concept of the whole and the holistic goal from the idea that “Life is a journey.” I show students a large map of a Sandy Matheson has learned a lot about youth hypothetical journey of life, complete with from her daughters, Molly (left) and Megan (right). detours, barricades, road signs, steep grades, construction, and so on. Next, I hold up large it. If we don’t maintain our relationships, they poster board road signs and talk about how will deteriorate as well. The questions I ask each of them applies to us in our journey of here to help the students reflect on this are: life. These include Stop, Slow, Yield, Wrong What do I want my world to look like?

Way, Rough Road Ahead, and many more.

What kind of person do I want others to Before beginning a journey, we need a see me as? starting point. That is how we “define the Some of the questions are simplified for whole.” The questions I ask are: the age of the children. It is critical that if Who am I? someone else records the child’s responses, Who is there to help me on my journey? they need to write the child’s original exact What (resources) do I have to help me out? words—not a paraphrase of those words—so How much money do I have saved? that the child has ownership in his/her (Older students: What other sources of holistic goal. money will be available?)

I follow these holistic goal development Every trip must have a destination. This is exercises with an exercise showing how their “quality of life.” What point would there multiple goals pull us in conflicting directions, be to get in the car and go if you don’t know while a holistic goal takes us in one direction— where you are headed? A great deal of time, the one we truly want! gas, and resources are wasted along the way Then each student writes his/her response using that approach. The question I ask during on the worksheet.

They finish by drawing a this section is: “How do I want my life to be?” picture of what they want the world to look I do not ask the popular question: “What like.

The result is a beautiful holistic goal from do you want to be?” People are too often

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each child. What a wonderful thing it is to see the hopes and dreams of children articulated through written words and drawings.

Our young people have a great deal to offer us. I encourage parents to include their children in forming a holistic goal, planning, monitoring, control, and working at home and in the family business. Brainstorming sessions are bound to be more productive with young imaginations present. Give them meaningful responsibility and they will live up to it. By giving them responsibility, we empower them; we give them the skills to be tomorrow’s leaders. For that reason, I challenge adults to include youth on their boards and in their businesses. They have so much to contribute! But whoever you are, no matter your station, please take the opportunity to serve as a positive role model and mentor to young people. We have so much to learn from each other.

Discovering our Own Youth I quoted a definition earlier that “youth is the early stage of anything.” As Holistic Management practitioners, we’ve been fortunate to have a second chance at discovering our own youth. We can see things with a different perspective and recognize and appreciate the smallest details and simple wonders of nature. Our imagination is once again active and limitless. We are not so ruled by the clock, but have learned to enjoy the present and the endless possibilities of exploration.

We begin to question almost everything and insist upon finding the root cause. We are open to change and new ideas instead of being crippled by old paradigms. We are learning to keep it simple and realize we could be wrong. We have the ability to make mistakes, learn from them, and move on. We also have a greater capacity for love in our relationships. We appreciate, listen to, and include our children. We possess the belief that “it is possible” and, there are no limits to those possibilities!

I’ve learned that it’s not reaching the destination in life that is important. It is the journey we choose to take and how we go about getting there that makes all the difference! Ah, to be young again!

Sandy Matheson is a Certified Educator who lives in Bellingham, Washington.

She can be reached at: 360/398-7866 or smm1@gte.net. For more information about consensus building, go to: http://managingwholes.com/__consensus.htm.

LAND&LIVESTOCK A Special Section of

IN PRACTICE SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2003

#91

New Insights into the Grazing Debate

Bighorn sheep may once have played a major role in cycling carbon and keeping grass plants alive and healthy in the highly brittle American West.

by Jim Howell

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hose of us managing livestock within or west of the Rocky Mountains of North America have spent an awful lot of time over the past 15 years or so trying to justify our chosen method of making a living. That’s especially so for those of us with public lands grazing permits. Well-meaning people in the environmental movement have used a variety of methods, most of them confrontational and costly, to thwart our efforts to responsibly steward our resources. To the credit of these environmentalists, many public lands ranchers do need some motivation to break out of damaging management habits, but I just can’t believe energysapping lawsuits are an effective means of bringing about holistically sound change.

The root of the environmentalist argument is that there aren’t supposed to be any large herbivores out here in this dry country.

They acknowledge that there were a few scattered bands of mule deer, pronghorn, and bighorn sheep, but they were few and far between and exerted little pressure on the plant community. The grasses in the West, they claim, didn’t co-evolve with grazing.

They look over the mountains to the prairie provinces, and note that the predominant grass species in that country spread asexually by rhizomes or stolons (which also serve as major energy storehouses) and have prostrate growth habits which permit enough leaf material to escape the animal’s muzzle to enable the plant to survive. Over there, where we know there were lots of bison and pronghorn, the grasses are designed to be grazed. West of the Rockies, the grasses are primarily bunch grasses that don’t possess these adaptations to grazing. That’s the basic argument, anyway.

Cattle-Free Consequences For me, when I wander into a place like Canyonlands National Park, in southeastern Utah, which has been grazing-free (with the

exception of the odd mule deer) for about 30 years, it’s tough to understand how bunch grasses are benefited by a lack of grazing.

The park’s high plateau, called “The Island in the Sky,” rises up between the Green and Colorado Rivers. Incredibly rough, rocky, steep, gnarled terrain lies between the plateau’s edge and the river bottoms. It’s a fantastic place. On top, there is a lot of grass. Driving into the park, the casual visitor is greeted by broad swaths of grass waving in the breeze. It’s easy to understand how someone driving by would see it as the picture of health. But upon more detailed inspection (slow walking, lots of kneeling, no fast driving), a totally different story is revealed. The grass stems waving in the breeze are the final living remnants of a dying landscape.

And that, to me, is no exaggeration. As one drives further into the park, stopping and walking isn’t even necessary, because over huge areas, the living grass stems are no more. Instead, there is nothing but dead grass plants—gray, oxidizing, totally dead plants. It is nasty stuff. I should clarify that there is more there than just dead grass plants. There is a lot of Mormon tea, a distinctive-looking shrub with jointed branches, intermediate between the pine family and the higher flowering plants, and lots of cryptogamic crust.

These crusts garner a lot of positive publicity. They fix atmospheric nitrogen, protect the soil from erosion, provide germination sites, etc.

But, there in Canyonlands at least, most of the grass is dead.

What good does plant-available nitrogen do for dead plants? What good does a seed germination site do if there is no viable seed being produced to fall into it? If I’m a deer, bighorn sheep, pronghorn, or elk—or even if I’m a grasshopper, chipmunk, or kangaroo rat—I can’t make much of a living on cryptogamic crust. However, I understand there are intrinsic values to all living forms and that crytogamic crust plays a role. But looking at the limited biological diversity

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that can be sustained when a landscape is dominated by cryptogamic crust, I have a hard time believing nature intended it to be as widespread as it is in Canyonlands.

If the landscape has been “removed from the disturbances of man or livestock,” and if the grass is all dying, many would argue that that’s what nature intended. It’s the drought, one could surmise, or a lack of fire for too many years. But hold on a minute. What’s on the other side of the park fence? The really interesting thing about this area is its compare-and-contrast potential. Luckily, there is a huge expanse of topographically identical country just to the north of the park boundary. It’s still part of the island in the sky, only it’s somebody’s grazing permit outside the park. This patch of country isn’t the Garden of Eden by any means. Lots of bare ground and a lack of prostrate litter (lying on the ground) are the norm (as it was inside the park), and the Mormon tea is doing pretty well in most places too. The big, overwhelming, spectacular difference is that the grass plants aren’t dead. On the contrary, they are vigorous, living plants that had responded well to this spring’s rains. I couldn’t even find one that was starting to look a little overrested. I couldn’t find any cryptogamic crust either. Something was getting in there and grazing those plants, probably in the winter, and providing enough disturbance to keep the crust from forming. Even if there were unnatural infusions of cattle, I have to insist that living and vigorous is better than dead and dying.

grasp of botany—and not just a theoretical grasp. This guy (his name’s John) didn’t buy groceries for years, living as a modern day hunter/gatherer. What better way to bring a practical twist to the discipline of botany than to eat the plants you collect. His real specialty, though, is sheep and goats, and his primary research focus

Perennial grasses in Canyonlands National Park (Utah) that hav been left ungrazed and undisturbed for so long they have died from overrest.

e

A New Look at an Old Herbivore It seems like that example up there on the top of Canyonlands should bring a little clarity to the effects of nearly total rest in low rainfall, brittle environments. I gave a talk in Moab, Utah, the gateway to Canyonlands and a couple of other nearby parks last December.

I presented all this stuff about brittle environments, the role of herbivores in keeping the carbon cycling, etc., and I tried my best to be convincing. A committed environmentalist approached me afterward, and he said: “That’s great, Jim, but there were never any big herbivores here.” Even if the evidence seems incredibly clear that periodic grazing on brittle environment bunch grasses is a good thing, it seems like we have to address this issue of “native herbivores in the West” in a scientifically credible manner. I’m not sure how we’re going to do that.

For a variety of reasons too complex to delve into here, the fact that the megafauna (mammoths, horses, camels, etc.) was here 9,000-10,000 years ago, and had coevolved with the same soils and plants we still have today, doesn’t hold much weight with most environmentalists. It’s even hard to go back in time and surmise how things used to be 200 or more years ago. We know there were animals in the arid, brittle West—bighorn sheep, pronghorn, and mule deer mainly—we’re just unclear on how many there were. Conventional wisdom, again, is that there weren’t many.

But I recently had the good fortune to meet a guy who has one heck of an interesting theory. He’s about the most well-rounded scientist I’ve ever met. He knows geology, soils, and has an amazing

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is Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep. He’s piecing together the puzzle of why bighorn populations are so susceptible to disease and die-off.

They’re like the canaries of the large herbivore world. He’s made some amazing discoveries, but explaining them would take another article, so I’ll get back to this interesting, and potentially groundbreaking, theory of his mentioned above.

Its explanation begins with humans. It’s now accepted across the board that Native American populations suffered huge epidemic dieoffs soon after their first contact with Europeans. In 1539, Hernando de Soto, along with 600 soldiers, 200 horses, and 300 pigs, began a four-year adventure traveling through what’s now the southeastern United States. He described incredible numbers of people, towns, and agricultural communities. It wasn’t until 1682, over a hundred years later, when the next Europeans, this time Frenchmen in canoes, came through, and only remnants of these former populations remained.

The same happened all over North America. European germs, to which the natives had no previous exposure and, thus, no natural immunity, were the culprits.

John hypothesizes that the same happened to the bighorn sheep.

The Spaniards brought domestic sheep accompanied by all the normal Old World sheep diseases. Domestic sheep are very closely related to bighorn sheep, and many domestic sheep diseases are highly contagious to bighorns. None of the other domestic livestock brought by the Europeans (cattle, goats, pigs, horses) has near the same degree of genetic overlap with native American wildlife as does the domestic

sheep with the bighorn sheep. Today we realize this, and it’s about nigh impossible to get the green light to take domestic sheep up where the bighorns live, or even where they might live, because the wildlife guys don’t want any disease spreading going on.

So, if the first European human diseases began their spread upon Columbus’ arrival in the New World, it stands to reason that the sheep diseases did the same. It’s estimated that 95 percent of the North and South American native human populations were tragically decimated by the time Europeans reached most interior regions of the two continents. Europeans didn’t get into most of the western United States until 200-250 years after the first sheep ran loose—much more than enough time for the domestic sheep diseases to have wiped out expansive populations of bighorns. John hypothesizes that the wild sheep at one time were creatures of the lowland, rolling, and flat country, and not just inhabitants of high rocky peaks, as they generally are today. The lowland populations were the most contiguous, and, thus, the most susceptible to the spread of disease.

The sheep that survived were remnant populations that were geographically isolated at the tops of mountain ranges. They were the only ones left by the time Europeans came on the scene. And John isn’t making this argument because he’s a rancher trying to justify turning his cows out. He’s just an original-thinking scientist that really likes wild sheep.

With periodic remo val of their abo ve-ground parts and some soil disturbance, these plants are alive and vigorous, in stark contrast to the plants inside the Park.

Where’s the Evidence?

After thinking a lot about this potential chain of events, it’s now hard for me to conceptualize that it didn’t happen. But how can it be proved? Again, I don’t know that it can, but there might be some clues still lurking providing support of formerly large bighorn populations.

One line of evidence lies with Native American hunting traditions and archeological sites. Evidence of bighorns being used as a staple food source are abundant across the West. In some places—places that today barely support a desert bighorn—the evidence of former wild sheep presence is overwhelming. Gary Nabhan, in Cultures of Habitat , devotes a chapter to the hunting rituals and relationships between the O’odham and Hohokam Indians of southern Arizona and northern Sonora, Mexico. It seems both tribes revered the bighorns, and had

rituals tied to their hunting activities that still survive, but only just. To me, the most intriguing of these is how the O’odham handled the horns. It seems the O’odham had strict prohibitions against bringing the sheep horns into their villages. Tradition dictated that the horns had to be deposited in special places out away from areas of human habitation “in order that they might exert no evil influence upon the winds or rains,” according to O’odham chief Antonio Azul, in an interview at the turn of the 20th century. These special places eventually transformed into massive mounds of horns.

Three hundred years ago, Captain Juan Mateo Manje made a visit to the Akimel O’odham living along the Gila River, in southern Arizona. In his journal, he states there were sufficient bighorns within walking distance of the village that the entire human population was out hunting them. The village itself was called Cesoin Mo’o, which means “bighorn sheep heads,” and Manje had heard reports that a hill of bighorn heads existed nearby that towered high above the roofs of the O’odham houses. Manje describes this hill as consisting of more than 100,000 bighorn sheep horns!

Nabhan states: “that number is astonishing, for it exceeds by an order of magnitude [i.e., 10 times as many] the highest estimate of sheep living in Arizona in any given year. Although some scholars doubt Manje’s estimate, his journals show him to be a consistently accurate measurer of mileage and village population sizes. Even if one assumes that the pile had accumulated over decades or even centuries, the sight of so many horns of an elusive animal, all concentrated in one place, would still be awesome.”

And this pile was not an isolated event. In 1774, Juan Batista de Anza made similar discoveries of massive horn piles, one of which persisted until 1960, when it was vandalized and burned by a white man. Cowboys throughout southern Arizona occasionally stumbled upon piles throughout the first half of the 20th century. Up until 1960, new discoveries of bighorn sheep mounds were still being made by scientists studying bighorn and bighorn hunting on the Tohono O’odham reservation.

It seems there were wild sheep in the West, and lots of them, right up to the edge of modern times. If not for the havoc wrought

by Europeans and their diseases, they should still be here.

Despite ample evidence, it took scientists a long time to accept that native American human populations were once far more numerous, and far more ecologically important, than originally thought. The old paradigm of an American wilderness sparsely populated by a few roaming bands of ecologically insignificant Indians persisted in history books clear through the 1980s. The same paradigm will probably continue prevailing regarding bighorn sheep populations (and all other western ungulate populations) for a long time to come.

But eventually, when even the dead bunch grass tufts in Canyonlands have weathered away and nothing is left but bare ground and cryptogamic crust, people will have to look across the fence at where the cows are and admit, “Maybe this country does need the periodic herd passing through.” Hopefully we won’t have to wait that long to come to our senses. But under present circumstances, with so much negative pressure, those of us managing livestock in the West must persist in our efforts to heal our rangelands and create examples of ecological abundance and economic prosperity. These practical case studies will contain critical lessons needed by the next generations of humans entrusted to steward our western rangeland resource.

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On Becoming Native

by Jim Howell

D

uring the past three years as editor/writer for Land and (610 -915 m) lower. A migratory pattern of life developed, with Livestock, I’ve written several articles focusing on my ranchers herding their sheep and cattle from the winter country family’s place here in southwestern Colorado. They’ve of the valley bottoms, up into the foothills and eventually to the mostly been technical stories, delving into the practical details of tops of the mountains by mid-summer, some of which climb above grazing planning in our cold, high altitude environment. One story, 14,000 feet (4,270 m). that came out about a year ago, skimmed a little of my family’s Most of this spring, summer, and fall country was (and is) only history and our periodically visited by emotional connection its owners during the to this part of the snow-free months. This world. It was titled “A includes my family’s Sense of Place,” and I country. My dad and briefly stated my belief granddad would come that to truly steward and check their cows our resource, we have once a week or so, to grow to know it in spending a night or intimate detail. Simply two in a small put, I believe that we homestead cabin, then have to become native would return to their to our landscapes. irrigated fields of Over the past year barley, wheat, potatoes, and a half, my family and alfalfa. They (my wife, Daniela, and worked incredibly daughter, Savanna) has hard. They had a been immersed in the huge list of tasks to construction of a small accomplish daily, and log home on our lower never took much time place, which ranges to stop and smell the from 7,200 feet to 8,400 roses. They were feet (2,200 to 2,560 m) pioneers in this in elevation. At that country—the first elevation in this part non-native inhabitants of Colorado, we’re in to enter this land the oak brush, big since the first sagebrush vegetation American pioneers belt. The aspen and arrived via Siberia, spruce begin to appear 10,000 to 15,000 years Jim and Tosha returning home after an evening cattle mo ve. just above our highest ago. I’ll get back to boundary, and the pinyon pines and junipers take over below. This band of country in western Colorado is typically blessed with about 14 inches (350 mm) of annual precipitation, about half of which comes in the form of snow in the winter.

Because of the cold temperatures, the snow doesn’t melt off until April, so for roughly five months, our landscape is a winter wonderland.

Very few early European settlers were tough enough to live in this country year round. Many of those who tried it eventually gave up. Most ranchers made their permanent bases in the nearby Uncompahgre Valley, about 20 miles (32 km) and 2,000-3,000 feet

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my family’s story, our new house, this land that we live on, and how this is all related to the theme of becoming native, but first a little broader history to lay the context.

Pioneers Throughout history, and extending to all habitable corners of the globe, pioneer experiences share some remarkable features. First, in every instance that I’m aware of, the first people to enter a new environment saw their new resource base as inexhaustible. This was true for the first Americans, who walked into a continent filled with mammoths, native horses and camels, giant long-horned bison, amid

many others. It was true for the first Australians, who found a virgin been aware of this for a long time, but old habits—established land occupied by giant, rhino-sized marsupials. It was true for the first cultures—die hard. With our technological prowess, we continue with New Zealanders, who were greeted by over a dozen species of giant the pioneer mentality, pushing the limits of our resources with ever flightless relatives of the ostrich, the moas. To these first pioneers, it more sophisticated levels of extraction. Now, for example, we’re to was likely inconceivable that their efforts to make a living within the point of directly manipulating strands of DNA to create plant their newly adopted habitats could possibly extinguish these hybrids capable of surviving broad scale biocides that destroy every incredibly rich resources. potential competitor. This isn’t bad; it’s simply human nature. We But, due in large part to human beings, exactly like us, simply have to continue to make decisions that are in line with our own self striving to make a living and survive, this fantastic resource did interest. Holistic Management ® decision-making stresses this reality. largely disappear. That’s the second commonality to all pioneering But (and I think this is one of the most important points of peoples. Whenever we discover a new resource, we use it to its emphasis of Holistic Management), holistic decisions are made not breaking point. As a consequence, conditions of scarcity develop, and just in our own self interest, but in our own “enlightened” self people are eventually forced to adapt to the less abundant resource interest. What’s good for me financially is not truly good in the base with which they are left. Gradually, cultures of environmental long run if it makes my life miserable and/or contributes to the responsibility, of ecological intimacy, develop and depletion of our natural resource base. advance. Rituals and traditions evolve that Pioneers don’t think like that. The pioneer ensure a population’s sources of sustenance mentality typically doesn’t actively consider My dad couldn’t wait won’t be depleted, and that their clans will the effect of a decision on quality of life or survive. Human populations cease to be family relationships, nor does it consciously to get away from pioneers. They become true natives (for detailed examine the potential ecological consequences the farm and ranch as accounts of this topic, read Tim Flannery’s The of decisions. I grew up with romantic notions Future Eaters and The Eternal Frontier , Jared of my granddad’s and dad’s lives during the soon as he was old Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel , and Brian first half of the 20th century—farming with enough to make his Fagan’s The Great Journey). horses and mules, running sheep and cattle in Things really haven’t changed much. Modern the high country during the summer, feeding own decisions. day pioneers haven’t been the first humans on hay in the snow. I spent all my school years the scene, but they arrived at most corners of in the metropolis of southern California, only the globe equipped with technologies and getting to the Colorado high country for a cultures developed in Europe, Asia, and in parts of Africa— couple months during summer vacation. I longed all year to be in technologies that allowed for a much deeper degree of Colorado. I remember speaking to my granddad about his life one exploitation of natural resources than was being achieved by the day, talking about all the old ways of ranching and farming. I was a natives. The domesticated horse, the plow, the wheel, gunpowder, teenager, and he was in his early 80s. I remember making the domestic livestock, steam power—these things, among many others, statement to my granddad, “You must have had a really satisfying gave the newcomers tremendous advantages. Imagine how these life.” He glanced down, thought for a moment, then simply said, “I pioneers, among them my great-granddad, granddad, and dad, worked awful hard, Jimmy.” looked at their newfound resources. The millions of acres of deep, My dad couldn’t wait to get away from the farm and ranch as fertile prairie soils, the never-ending forests and grasslands, the soon as he was old enough to make his own decisions. The way they incredible fisheries, the abundant water, the massive herds of lived was surely meaningful and productive, but they didn’t fully love bison, pronghorn, elk, and deer—it all must have seemed endless, their lives on the land, and the natural abundance of their resource inexhaustible, eternal. My recent ancestors, with their livestock and base gradually eroded through the decades. In the early ‘60s, when it farm implements, must have looked upon these resources the same was apparent my dad wasn’t planning to build his life on the land, as the first immigrants from Siberia, with their spears and atlatls, my granddad sold his livestock and the lower elevation cropping looked at the wooly mammoths, long-horned bison, horses, and ground, but held onto his high summer country to generate some camels of their new world. income from livestock grazing and hunting leases and occasional timber harvest. If I wouldn’t have come along and expressed a Enlightened Pioneers deep love for this place, it all would have been sold and passed from our family a long time ago. Now, my family, making decisions in our Like every creature on the earth, humans are programmed to own enlightened self interest, is poised to begin the transition from survive and propagate their lineage. If we see an opportunity to pioneer to native. advance our family’s state in the world, it is only natural to take it.

When my ancestors first gazed upon the abundant river water that Transitioning could be diverted for irrigation, the lush mountain grasses, and the towering spruce and fir trees, that’s what they saw—a seemingly And this brings us back to this house Daniela and I just finished endless, untapped resource offering the opportunity to grow, building. As I write this, we’ve been living here about two months expand, and propagate. now. Thanks to Holistic Management, Daniela and I, at early ages, Now, just as the first Americans eventually discovered, we’re were motivated to become very clear on how we wanted our lives to coming to grips with the reality that all these natural resources—the resources that sustain all human endeavor—are not endless. We’ve continued on page 12

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be. That’s what brought us back to Colorado in 1997, and we’re into our seventh year now of stewarding this land. But my family never had a home here. It was always “the summer country.” Daniela and I have had our home base in town for the past six years, so this place wasn’t home to us either; it was where we made our living. The decision to locate our permanent home here—a home that we would design and help build from materials harvested from our land—passed toward our holistic goal in many respects. I won’t go into those details, but it has greatly enhanced our quality of life and the effectiveness of our lives.

when he was growing up. Did my granddad? I don’t know. He never said he did. My family, like most pioneering families I know, has no deep cultural traditions or rituals tied to changes in seasons, as the native Utes did. We barely recognize the majority of the plants growing on our land, let alone know their names. We are light years from deeply knowing the ancient natural patterns of interaction between our plants, mammals, insects, birds, and reptiles, not to mention the billions of critters that escape our immediate sensory perception. We do know all the things we brought from Europe—our fences, our roads, our mechanical equipment. Until recently, I also thought I knew the land, but this spring, living here every day, I’ve realized that we don’t know this place.

We are not native.

But there is no way we could be. We just haven’t been here long enough. The Ute Indians, and their more archaic predecessors, lived here for thousands of years, passing down intimate knowledge of natural patterns through tradition, song, ritual, and story through scores of generations. We are the first family since that long line of humans to begin anew on this place, and if we are to survive here, if we are to reverse the degradation wrought by the first few generations of pioneers, we have to start to develop a new culture that honors the same natural rhythms and patterns that shaped the lives of the Utes.

Native Relationships In heightening our awareness of how the natural world functions, Holistic Management has played a major role in initiating this shift in culture. Now we look at the land, and describe its health, in terms of Jim and Savanna examining the anatomy of a grasshopper. “I believe the only way ecosystem function. Is the ground covered with litter we will keep succeeding generations on the land is to nurture a lo ve of nature’s and vigorous living plants? How is the litter distributed intricacies within our children.” and how is it decomposing? Can a raindrop soak into the soil, or is it likely to run off? Does the diversity of plants permit optimum sunlight harvest, the cycling of Since waking up here every morning, I have also been nutrients from a deep profile of soil strata, and habitat niches for an experiencing some personal epiphanies. Recently, it dawned on me abundant community of wild animals? How are my actions on the that we’re the first human beings to be living here, on this specific land, the movements of my livestock, the harvesting of grass and place, since the Ute Indians were removed in 1881. As I said above, the shrubs and trees and forbs, my mere presence amidst the elk and European immigrants into this country passed through with their deer and bears, affecting these ecosystem processes? Is my perception livestock, utilizing the abundant forage with a pioneering mentality, keen enough to recognize what’s happening? Holistic Management never stopping to genuinely, deeply, know their new surroundings. insists that we assume we’re wrong when making decisions affecting They never truly lived in this place. I’m sure many of these pioneers the land. That is so critical, because as Allan Savory emphasizes, the appreciated the beauty of their new surroundings, but stories of ecosystem is not only more complex than we understand, it is more beauty, of interacting and living with nature, didn’t become part of complex than we can ever understand. their culture. That wasn’t—that isn’t—the pioneer way. As my good But I think there’s a difference between understanding and buddy and holistic manager, Tony Malmberg, says, “As ranchers, we knowing. I may not understand my wife, but I know her intimately. were taught to work hard, to be tough, and to endure.”

The same applies to nature. We can’t understand her. Scientists My dad has told me numerous times, the most recent being just perform incredibly elaborate controlled research in an attempt to do a few days ago, that he never appreciated the beauty of this place so, and they might figure out a few pieces of the puzzle, but do these

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pieces fit when added back into the whole? Another of Allan’s favorite lines concerns oxygen and hydrogen. We can study each in isolation, and learn absolutely everything there is to know about them, but such study would teach us nothing about water. I’m not discrediting scientists by any means, but I am saying that it is only the people who live on the land, deriving their sustenance directly from it, who are going to ever know it. Science can help clarify or solve some of the riddles, but it will be the native folks that will meld the scientific insights into the natural whole.

Native cultures don’t necessarily understand their habitats from a scientific paradigm, but they know them in detail. Gary Nabhan, in Cultures of Habitat , eloquently describes many of the fantastically intricate relationships that indigenous peoples had (in some cases still have) with the plants and animals of their native habitats. In many cases, these relationships were essential to the maintenance and propagation of the diversity and ecological integrity of the environment, just as pollinators are critical to the reproductive success of many flowering plants. Many of these relationships have been lost to native cultures. Nabhan stresses that, to preserve biodiversity, these relationships are just as critical as the plant and animal species themselves, and their extinctions just as tragic.

As the most recent family in the new line of humans relating to this landscape, I feel it is our solemn duty to rediscover, to re-evolve, these relationships. If the world’s land base continues to turn over to new “owners” every 10 or 15 years, or if the people on the land are ephemeral employees merely carrying out the orders of their corporate bosses living in far off, detached cities, these relationships will never develop. Nabhan cites an incredible pattern highlighting the importance of a long connection to place. He describes two maps of the United States, one displaying the relative duration of residency within each county, the other documenting the counties having the most threatened and endangered species on the federal government’s lists. The correlation, says Nabhan, “is undeniable.”

Where human populations are the least mobile and have the longest history of residence, fewer plants and animals have become endangered species.

One beautiful evening about three weeks ago, I rode my mare (actually my daughter’s mare), Tosha, up to the top of our place to clean out a pasture. Along the way, I was struck by the number of plants I didn’t recognize. Have these plants always been here and I never noticed them? Do I just not remember them? Has our management caused them to appear? Did last year’s drought have something to do with it? Or is their appearance a result of the climatic conditions that prevailed this spring? If so, I have no idea what those specific climatic conditions could possibly have been.

See what I mean? I’m not native. But I hope I’m at least an “enlightened” pioneer.

That was the evening that I realized I’m a long ways from being a Ute Indian. But I made a holistic decision that night. Most of the time when I go up to irrigate or move cows, I ride up a Honda Foreman 400 all terrain vehicle—4-wheeler for short. Once or twice a week I go horseback, like I did that evening, if my job is more easily achieved the equine way. But, being of the pioneer mindset, I’ve always assumed that I had to be as efficient as possible. By the time I get my horse caught and saddled, I can be a long ways off on the 4-wheeler. If the horse isn’t essential to the task at hand,

I reasoned, it can stay home. But I’ve never wanted to be an expert 4-wheeler driver, and have always striven to be a skilled horseman. That was one strike against the 4-wheeler. If I’m horseback, I’m developing a relationship with another of nature’s beings, much more in tune with natural processes than I am. My horse might actually teach me something if I can learn to listen. I can’t say that for the 4-wheeler. On the 4-wheeler, I am locked into taking the same road every day. On my horse, I can elect to take a different path every time if I want, and I can see many spots on the ranch that I seldom see otherwise. If I’m horseback, I’m seeing the land, and interacting with my habitat, like a Ute Indian.

So, based on all those factors, I basically parked the 4-wheeler three weeks ago. I still use it if I need to haul a load of salt or mineral, or if I really In heightening our am in a desperate awareness of how the hurry, but I’ve pretty much switched my natural world functions, mode of transport to Holistic Management has man’s best working friend, the horse. I’m played a major role in not sure why, but my initiating this shift in morning routine is only taking about a culture. Now we look at half hour longer, if the land, and describe its that, and the positives have been health, in terms of tremendous. I’ve been ecosystem function. observing things this spring that I can’t explain, some really good, some a little concerning, but I never would have noticed those patterns if I’d been going like a bat out of hell up the same road every morning. I’ve found the hangouts of about five outstanding bucks. Never would have figured that out on the 4-wheeler. If I ever need some really straight, large diameter oak brush posts (an exceedingly rare phenotype), I found a thicket of oak brush with dozens of them— again, way off the 4-wheeler track. I could go on and on with examples of little things I’ve noticed and am learning. There are probably lots of things that are being recorded in my subconscious that I’m not really aware of that are contributing to my transition from pioneer to native. Horseback, I think native relationships have a better chance of re-evolving.

But I’ll probably never be truly native to this place. My daughter Savanna might. Her descendents have a better chance. Hopefully, I can find a mentor who can help raise my awareness and accelerate my family’s native transition. In the meantime, we’ll do the best we can to see our land, to rediscover the unique natural relationships of our habitat, and to glean all the insights we can from science. Most importantly, we’ll continue to carefully plan our actions, monitor them closely, adapt accordingly, and gradually evolve a new culture of living within our landscape. Eventually, maybe several generations down the road, humans will once again become naturally adapted, native elements of this place.

IN PRACTICE • SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2003

LAND & LIVESTOCK

13

Savory Center Annual Report 2002 Accomplishments The year 2002 was a dynamic one for the Savory Center. To make the most of the opportunities at hand, we focused intensively on developing our Training Programs and Implementation Projects both in the U.S. and in Africa and enhancing our organization’s development capacity.

Education & Training Programs Thanks to a grant from the USDA’s Sustainable Agriculture, Research, and Education (SARE) program, we had a very full North Central Certified Educator Training Program in 2002. Our Ranch and Rangeland Manager Training Program also ran for its second year offering land managers in-depth training and hands-on experience at exceptional ranching locations. To strengthen our international training programs, we were pleased to add Dr. Constance Neely to our staff as International Training Programs Director. She will assist with our Certified Educator Training Programs in Africa, Mexico and elsewhere and with planning and growth for the Dimbangombe College of Wildlife, Agriculture, and Conservation Management at the Africa Training Centre.

U.S. Implementation Projects Our U.S. Implementation Projects focused on our two new learning sites: The La Semilla Cooperative Field Station in Albuquerque, New Mexico and The David West Station for Holistic Management near Ozona, Texas. In December, 2002, we signed a 75-year lease with the New Mexico State Land Office for 1,667 acres on the edge of the city.

The Savory Center will manage and restore the land while developing a Cooperative Field Station for agricultural education, research and handson experience in range rehabilitation, ranching, dry land farming, native tree/grass/vegetation cultivation, wildlife habitat enhancement, and sustainable building/living practices. We look forward to building a state of the art “green building” to serve as both an educational center and as our new international headquarters on this property.

We have also increased our activities at the David West Station for Holistic Management in Texas. While awaiting final distribution of the estate, the Savory Center has been retained to manage the ranch, to initiate educational programs for the local community, and to collaborate with researchers who wish to conduct studies on the property. We have begun substantial improvements to the ranch’s infrastructure and building with the services of Peggy Maddox as Director of Public Relations and Education and Joe Maddox as the Ranch Manager.

Africa Implementation Projects In 2002, we launched the Dimbangombe College of Wildlife, Agriculture and Conservation Management at our Africa Centre near Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. One of our first courses offered hands-on training for game scouts, and we are offering internships for area villagers seeking jobs in the ecotourism industry. These programs will grow under the guidance of our new director for the college, Zimababwean Alan Sparrow, who has broad experience throughout the region and extensive connections with international and African wildlife agencies and organizations.

Through our years of steadfast work in the area, we were able to

14 HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE #91

bring an additional 13,000 acres under the management of the Africa Centre and available for the Dimbangombe College. Settlers on these new lands have agreed to combine their herds with the Africa Centre’s herd (comprised of owned cattle and cattle provided by droughtstricken villagers) to create one large herd of 1,000 animals. We have enhanced the infrastructure (water points and lion-proof kraals) sufficiently to launch two grazing management pilot projects to achieve better results on the land and for the health of the stock.

Through the enthusiastic volunteer help of Jeff Fadiman, a faculty member from San Jose State University (California), we began an internship program for marketing students who provide their skills to the Africa Centre. Lastly, our Village Banking Project expanded to include 10 new banks, bringing the total to 20 banks with a sustained loan repayment rate of 100 percent. This program offers significant opportunities for women in the region along with Holistic Management training that benefits both their business enterprises and communities.

Development In our Development Department, we expanded our Advisory Council with a number of dedicated and supportive individuals who are actively assisting the work of the Savory Center in a wide range of projects and outreach efforts. We implemented many of the excellent recommendations of development consultant, Durkin and Associates, whose services were made available to us through a generous donation from Leo and Cynthia Haris. This led to the hiring of development director, Lee Dueringer, who is taking our program to the best performance levels in the organization’s nearly 20-year history.

Research In a new initiative to further document the success and learnings of Holistic Management in practice, we launched a case study program through participants in the Savory Center’s North Central Certified Educator Training program. This will complement the similar work started in 2001 by participants in the Northeast program. And at our training center in Zimbabwe, we are collaborating with researchers from Tufts University on a “community-based ecosystem” monitoring program at Dimbangombe and in the neighboring villages where the Africa Centre is active.

New Opportunities in 2003 This is a time of tremendous opportunity for the Savory Center, which coincides with tremendous challenges for the world we share.

We feel privileged to be part of such a dedicated and creative network of Holistic Management practitioners and educators from around the world, who are working to be “part of the solution” in so many diverse and inspired ways.

As Tim LaSalle moves into his role as Executive Director, and works with Rio de la Vista and the entire Board of Directors, Advisory Council, and Staff, we are seeking ways to focus the work of the Savory Center towards its unique and exceptional contributions. We are also seeking ways to support all of you in your own practice, to learn from that, and to share it widely in the most effective means possible. We hope you will help us and hold us to that standard in the time ahead!

We’re entering the Savory Center’s 20th year in 2004 and will be

celebrating that accomplishment throughout the year and in the planning to build our new headquarters and an exciting agro-ecology learning center at the La Semilla site in Albuquerque. We are extremely grateful to have the leadership and talent of Shannon Horst in moving that effort forward! As she has passed over the reins of Executive Director to Tim and taken on the role of Senior Director of Strategic Projects, we know that her exceptional strengths and dedication will serve the organization well. Words seem inadequate to thank her for the 12 years of leadership and service that she gave the Center as our Executive Director, and we are indeed blessed to have her continuing with us into the exciting future ahead.

With Allan Savory receiving the Banksia International Environmental Award in Australia in June, with the generous gift

of David West and all the new opportunities for work in Texas that affords us, with the chance to “walk our talk” on the La Semilla land here in Albuquerque and to house the organization in an exceptional new home, with the opportunity to build programs of profound significance for the land and people in Africa, with the growth of our educational programs worldwide, and most especially, with the generous support of many of you, we look towards the future with hope and encouragement and with hearts full of appreciation.

Rio de la Vista, Chair, Board of Directors

Tim LaSalle, Executive Director

Audited Figures for Fiscal Year 2002 Revenue $1,209,949 Marketing & Communications

Expenditures $1,298,926

Education & Training Programs

US Implementation Projects

Administration

International Implementation Projects

Research Publications & Materials Development

Education & Training Programs

Miscellaneous Restricted Philanthropy— Training Programs

Restricted Philanthropy— Africa

Marketing & Communications

Unrestricted Philanthropy

Savory Center Bulletin Board Africa Centre News

W

e’re pleased to announce that the Africa Centre for Holistic Management Alan Sparro w now has a Director of Education, Alan Sparrow, who will also serve as Director of the Dimbangombe College of Wildlife, Agriculture and Conservation Management.

Born into a farming family in Zimbabwe, Alan spent his early career as a professional forester, managing the 80,000-acre forest adjacent to the Africa Centre’s headquarters at Dimbangombe, and later serving as an international forestry consultant. In 1987 he came to the United States as one of several

Zimbabweans sponsored by the Ford Foundation to receive in-depth training in Holistic Management.

On his return to Zimbabwe, he kept in touch with us as he undertook a number of projects in community-based forestry and conservation working for the United Nations, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, and a number of international development agencies. In 1992, Alan and two colleagues launched the Biodiversity Foundation for Africa, for which he has worked up until the present, most recently in helping to establish wildlife conservancies in southern Africa and some of the trans-border national parks being formed in the region.

Since joining us in June, Alan has worked tirelessly to establish the networks, create the partnerships, and raise the funds needed to support the training programs currently offered by the Africa Centre through Dimbangombe College, launched late in 2002, and for new programs set to begin in 2004.

We are indeed fortunate to have such a

Publications Fund & Materials Development Development

US Implementation Projects

talented and committed individual as part of our Africa Centre team.

Alan is excited by the opportunities his new position affords. “I see this as a great opportunity to get Holistic Management into conservation and land management throughout southern Africa. If I can build Holistic Management into the conservation initiatives that I have been involved with in past years, then I will feel that projects such as trans-border parks and large wildlife conservancies have a long-term future.”

Workshop in Kenya

I

n late April, the Savory Center provided a workshop, sponsored by World Vision/Australia, for World Vision staff in Kenya and the Maasai pastoralists they work with. Allan Savory, Savory Center International Training Programs Director Constance Neely, Africa Centre Community Programs Director Elias Ncube, and Certified Educator Chris Jost (Tufts University) led the 5-day introductory workshop, which has since spurred a number of follow-up conversations. Allan was asked to make a presentation at World Vision/Australia continued on page 16

HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE • SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2003 15

Bulletin Board

to all those who attended for making it such a success.

continued from page 15

headquarters in Melbourne, which he did in June. Some World Vision staff hope to enroll in our Africa Certified Educator Training Program, and to raise funds to sponsor several members from the Maasai community. That would enable them to move forward in a

Allan Savory discussing ecosystem processes with participants at the Kenya workshop.

meaningful way to provide training for the larger Maasai community.

The Maasai are a pastoralist people who have kept their culture alive through many changes in Kenya, but their culture is greatly threatened by policies that are forcing them to remove their families and cattle herds from wildlife parks and lands that are being encroached upon by urban development, and settling them on small “ranches” where they can enter the “cash economy.”

Our thanks to Tony Rinaudo of World Vision/Australia for working to make the workshop happen.

La Semilla Activities

T

he Savory Center has begun land reclamation work at the La Semilla Cooperative Field Station in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in connection with Land Renewal, Inc.’s revegetation contract on 200 acres of the 1,667-acre field station.

Additionally, the Savory Center obtained a grazing lease for an adjacent 9,000 acres, which opened the way for a collaborative arrangement with long-time Holistic Management practitioner George Whitten and his wife, Julie Sullivan. In June they brought down 125 cow/calf pairs from their herd in the San Luis Valley, Colorado, and we’ve been busy working with them on both sites.

A group of mid-school students from the New Mexico Museum of Natural History’s summer program set up long-term biological monitoring transects and trapped arthropods on an old prairie dog colony at La Semilla in early July. The program introduced students to monitoring and scientific study of various ecosystems. Special Projects Manager Craig Leggett gave a brief overview of La Semilla Field Station and Holistic Management to the students before going to the site and setting up the permanent transects and insect traps.

The Museum plans to bring their summer program students up each year and monitor the same site.

Lastly, the Waste Management Educational Research Consortium (WERC), a consortium for environmental education and technology development, invited CraigLeggett to talk

about monitoring and Holistic DecisionMaking to their Summer Academy in July.

The presentation generated a lot of interest among area high school teachers who have been looking for a place where their students can have hands-on field experience, and where their work can be put into a longterm context.

West Station Field Day

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he second David West Station for Holistic Management Field Day cosponsored with HRM of Texas on June 14 was a big hit. Burr Williams (of the Sibley Nature Center in Midland, Texas) focused on human uses of the plants found on site, while Steve Nelle (of the NRCS in San Angelo) concentrated more on the ranching and wildlife uses and identification cues. After lunch, Bud Williams explained how to design animal facilities that take advantage of the natural movement patterns of livestock.

Thanks to HRM of Texas and Joe and Peggy Maddox for making this a great learning opportunity.

Photo Contest Reminder

D

on’t forget to submit your photos for the Savory Center photo contest.

You can submit photos until September 30, 2003. Photos will be published in the January 2004 IN PRACTICE as part of our 20th anniversary celebration. For more information about this contest, contact Ann Adams at 505/842-5252 or anna@holisticmanagement.org.

Volunteer Thanks

Santa Fe Reception

O

n June 15, Savory Center staff, board members and supporters gathered at the Gerald Peters Gallery in Santa Fe (New Mexico) to introduce a group of over 50 invited guests to new Executive Director Tim LaSalle and to tell them about the La Semilla Cooperative Field Station in Albuquerque, which will house our new international headquarters.

Our thanks to Gerald and Katie Peters for hosting the event, and

Shannon Horst with Savory Center Executive Director, Tim LaSalle, and his wife, Judelon, at the Santa Fe reception. Shannon has been the driving force behind the La Semilla project, first winning our bid for the land and now leading development of the programs and infrastructure that will make it a world-class learning site.

16 HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE #91

T

his issue we would like to thank Certified Educator Christina Allday-Bondy for all her volunteer work at the David West Station for Holistic Management in Ozona, Texas and for her support work with our Educational Services department. Christina has helped us with creating database information, gathering data, analyzing survey responses, and other tasks too numerous to mention.

Thanks also to Terence Dodge who came down from Portland, Oregon and took soil samples at La Semilla to begin the study and research of the soil foodweb in the drastically disturbed areas of the revegetation project.

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

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

UNITED STATES ARIZONA Kitty Boice P.O. Box 745, Sonoita, AZ 85637 520/907-5574; KatieMackK@aol.com ARKANSAS Preston Sullivan P.O. Box 4483, Fayetteville, AR 72702 479/443-0609; 479/442-9824 (w) prestons@nwaisp.com CALIFORNIA Monte Bell 325 Meadowood Dr., Orland, CA 95963 530/865-3246; mbell@glenncounty.net Julie Bohannon 652 Milo Terrace, Los Angeles, CA 90042 323/257-1915 JoeBoCom@pacbell.net Bill Burrows 12250 Colyear Springs Rd. Red Bluff, CA 96080 530/529-1535; burrows@cwnet.com Jeff Goebel P.O. Box 1252, Willows, CA 95988 530/321-9855; 530/934-4601 x101 (w) goebel@palouse.net Richard King 1675 Adobe Rd., Petaluma, CA 94954 707/769-1490; 707/794-8692 (w) richard.king@ca.usda.gov Christopher Peck P.O. Box 2286, Sebastopol, CA 95472 707/758-0171 ctopherp@holistic-solutions.net COLORADO Cindy Dvergsten 17702 County Rd. 23, Dolores, CO 81323 970/882-4222 info@wholenewconcepts.com Rio de la Vista P.O. Box 777, Monte Vista, CO 81144 719/852-2211; riovista@rmi.net Daniela Howell P.O. Box 67, Cimarron, CO 81220-0067 970/249-0353 howelljd@montrose.net Tim McGaffic P.O. Box 476, Ignacio, CO 81137 970/946-9957; tim@timmcgaffic.com

Chadwick McKellar 16775 Southwood Dr. Colorado Springs, CO 80908 719/495-4641; cmckellar@juno.com Chandler McLay P.O. Box 262, Dolores, CO 81323 970/882-8802 mcchand@msn.com Byron Shelton 33900 Surrey Lane, Buena Vista, CO 81211 719/395-8157 landmark@my.amigo.net GEORGIA Constance Neely

1160 Twelve Oaks Circle; Watkinsville, GA 30677 706/310-0678 cneely@holisticmanagement.org IOWA Bill Casey

1800 Grand Ave.; Keokuk, IA 52632-2944 319/524-5098; wpccasey@interl.net KENTUCKY Joel Benson 1180 Fords Mill Rd.; Versailles, KY 40383 859/879-6365; joel@growgdp.com LOUISIANA Tina Pilione P.O. 923, Eunice, LA 70535 phone/fax: 337/580-0068 tinamp@charter.net MASSACHUSETTS ❖ Christine Jost Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine 200 Westboro Road; North Grafton, MA 01536 508/887-4763; christine.jost@tufts.edu MINNESOTA Terri Goodfellow-Heyer 4660 Cottonwood Lane N; Plymouth, MN 55442 612/559-0099; tgheyer@attbi.com Larry Johnson RR 1, Box 93A, Winona, MN 55987-9738 507/457-9511; 507/523-2171 (w) lpjohn@rconnect.com MONTANA Wayne Burleson RT 1, Box 2780 Absarokee, MT 59001 406/328-6808; rutbuster@montana.net

Roland Kroos 4926 Itana Circle Bozeman, MT 59715 406/522-3862; KROOSING@earthlink.net ❖ Cliff Montagne Montana State University Department of Land Resources & Environmental Science Bozeman, MT 59717 406/994-5079; montagne@montana.edu NEW MEXICO ❖ Ann Adams The Savory Center 1010 Tijeras NW Albuquerque, NM 87102 505/842-5252 anna@holisticmanagement.org Amy Driggs 1131 Los Tomases NW Albuquerque, NM 87102 505/242-2787 adriggs@orbusinternational.com Kirk Gadzia P.O. Box 1100 Bernalillo, NM 87004 505/867-4685; fax: 505/867-0262 kgadzia@earthlink.net Ken Jacobson 12101 Menaul Blvd. NE, Ste A Albuquerque, NM 87112 505/293-7570 kbjacobson@orbusinternational.com ❖ Kelly Pasztor The Savory Center 1010 Tijeras NW, Albuquerque, NM 87102 505/842-5252 kellyp@holisticmanagement.org Sue Probart P.O. Box 81827 Albuquerque, NM 87198 505/265-4554 tnm@treenm.com Vicki Turpen 03 El Nido Amado SW Albuquerque, NM 87121 505/873-0473; mvt9357@aol.com Arne Vanderburg P.O. Box 904 Cedar Crest, NM 87008 505/286-6133 asvanderb@hotmail.com NORTH CAROLINA Sam Bingham 394 Vanderbilt Rd. Asheville, NC 28803 828/274-1309 sbingham@igc.org NORTH DAKOTA ❖ Wayne Berry University of North Dakota—Williston P.O. Box 1326 Williston, ND 58802 701/774-4269 or 701/774-4200 wayne.berry@wsc.nodak.edu

HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE • SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2003 17

OHIO ❖ Deborah Stinner Department of Entomology OARDC 1680 Madison Hill Wooster, OH 44691 330/202-3534 (w); stinner.2@osu.edu OKLAHOMA Kim Barker RT 2, Box 67 Waynoka, OK 73860 580/824-9011; barker_k@hotmail.com OREGON Cindy Douglas 2795 McMillian St., Eugene, OR 97405 541/465-4882; cdouglas@omri.org TEXAS Christina Allday-Bondy 2703 Grennock Dr. Austin, TX 78745 512/441-2019; tododia@peoplepc.com Guy Glosson 6717 Hwy 380, Snyder, TX 79549 806/237-2554; glosson@caprock-spur.com

❖ R.H. (Dick) Richardson University of Texas at Austin Department of Integrative Biology Austin, TX 78712 512/471-4128; d.richardson@mail.utexas.edu Peggy Sechrist 25 Thunderbird Rd., Fredericksburg, TX 78624 830/990-2529; peggy@ fbg.net

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

WASHINGTON Craig Madsen P.O. Box 107, Edwall, WA 99008 509/236-2451; madsen2fir@centurytel.net

WISCONSIN Elizabeth Bird Room 203 Hiram Smith Hall 1545 Observatory Dr., Madison WI 53706 608/265-3727 eabird@facstaff.wisc.edu

Sandra Matheson 228 E. Smith Rd., Bellingham, WA 98226 360/398-7866; smm1@gte.net

Doug Warnock 151 Cedar Cove Rd., Ellensburg, WA 98926 509/925-9127 warnockd@ elltel.net

❖ Don Nelson Washington State University P.O. Box 646310, Pullman, WA 99164 509/335-2922; nelsond@wsu.edu

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

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

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

INTERNATIONAL AUSTRALIA Helen Carrell “Hillside” 25 Weewondilla Rd. Glennie Heights, Warwick, QLD 4370 61-4-1878-5285; 61-7-4661-7383 helenc@upfrontoutback.com

CHINA/GERMANY Dieter Albrecht 2, Yuan Ming Yuan Xi Lu Beijing 10094 86-10-6289 1061; alialb@gmx.net (international)

Steve Hailstone 5 Lampert Rd., Crafers, SA 5152 61-4-1882-2212; shailstone@internode.on.net

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

Graeme Hand “Inverary” Caroona Lane; Branxholme, VIC 3302 61-3-5578-6272; 61-4-1853-2130 gshand@hotkey.net.au Mark Gardner P.O. Box 1395, Dubbo, NSW 2830 61-2-6882-0605; gardnerm@ozemail.com.au Brian Marshall “Lucella”; Nundle, NSW 2340 61-2-6769 8226; fax: 61-2-6769 8223 bkmrshl@northnet.com.au Bruce Ward P.O. Box 103, Milsons Pt., NSW 1565 61-2-9929-5568; fax: 61-2-9929-5569 blward@holisticresults.com.au Brian Wehlburg c/o “Sunnyholt”, Injue, QLD 4454 61-7-4626-7187; ijapo2000@yahoo.com CANADA Don and Randee Halladay Box 2, Site 2, RR 1; Rocky Mountain House, AB T0M 1T0; 403/729-2472 donran@telusplanet.net Noel McNaughton 5704-144 St., Edmondton, AB, T6H 4H4 780/432-5492; noel@mcnaughton.ca Len Pigott Box 222, Dysart, SK SOH 1HO 306/432-4583; JLPigott@sk.sympatico.ca Kelly Sidoryk Box 374, Lloydminster, AB, S9V 0Y4 403/875-4418 hi-gain@telusplanet.net

18 HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE #91

Elco Blanco-Madrid Cristobal de Olid #307 Chihuahua Chih., 31240 52-614-415-3497; fax: 52-614-415-3175 elco_blanco@hotmail.com Manuel Casas-Perez Calle Amarguva No. 61, Lomas Herradura Huixquilucan, Mexico City CP 52785 52-558-291-3934; 52-588-992-0220 (w) tolintepec@aol.com Jose Ramon “Moncho” Villar Av. Las Americas #1178 Fracc. Cumbres Saltillo, Coahuila 25270 52-844-415-1542; ffmh@prodigy.net.mx NAMIBIA Gero Diekmann P.O. Box 363, Okahandja 9000 264-62-518091; nam00132@mweb.com.na Colin Nott P.O. Box 11977; Windhoek 264-61-228506; canott@iafrica.com.na Wiebke Volkmann P.O. Box 182, Otavi, 067-23-44-48 wiebke@mweb.com.na NEW ZEALAND John King P.O. Box 3440, Richmond, Nelson 64-3-547-6347 succession@clear.net.nz

SOUTH AFRICA Sheldon Barnes P.O. Box 300; Kimberly 8300 Johan Blom P.O. Box 568, Graaf-Reinet 6280 27-49-891-0163 johanblom@cybertrade.co.za Ian Mitchell-Innes P.O. Box 52, Elandslaagte 2900 27-36-421-1747 blanerne@mweb.co.za Norman Neave Box 141, Mtubatuba 3935 27-35-5504150 norboom@saol.com Dick Richardson P.O. Box 1806, Vryburg 8600 tel/fax: 27-53-927-4367 judyrich@cybertrade.co.za Colleen Todd P.O. Box 21, Hoedspruit 1380 27-82-335-3901 (cell) colleen_todd@yahoo.com ZIMBABWE Mutizwa Mukute PELUM Association Regional Desk P.O. Box MP 1059, Mount Pleasant, Harare 263-4-74470/744117 fax: 263-4-744470 pelum@mail.pci.co.zw Liberty Mabhena Spring Cabinet P.O. Box 853, Harare 263-4-210021/2; 263-4-210577/8 fax: 263-4-210273 Sister Maria Chiedza Mutasa Bandolfi Convent P.O. Box 900, Masvingo 263-39-7699, 263-39-7530 Elias Ncube P. Bag 5950, Victoria Falls 263-3-454519 rogpachm@africaonline.co.zw

Local Networks There are several branch organizations or groups affiliated with the Center in the U.S. and abroad (some publish their own newsletters.) We encourage you to contact the group closest to you:

To order products inAustralia/New Zealand or southern Africa contact: Australia: Holistic Decision Making Association, Irene Dasey, P.O. Box 543, Inverell NSW 2360, tel: 61-2-6721-0123; idasey@hdma-anz.com South Africa: Whole Concepts cc, PO Box 1806, Vryburg 8600; tel/fax: 27-53-9274367; judyrich@cybertrade.co.za

United States CALIFORNIA Holistic Management of California Tom Walther, newsletter editor 5550 Griffin St. Oakland, CA 94605 510/530-6410 tagjag@ aol.com COLORADO Colorado Branch of the Center For Holistic Management Jim and Daniela Howell newletter editors 1661 Sonoma Court, Montrose, CO 81401 970/249-0353 howelljd@montrose.net GEORGIA Constance Neely 1160 Twelve Oaks Circle Watkinsville, GA 30677 706/310-0678 cneely@holisticmanagement.org MONTANA Beartooth Management Club Wayne Burleson RT 1, Box 2780, Absarokee, MT 59001 406/328-6808; rutbuster@montana.net

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

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

Staff

Allan Savory, Chair

Huggins Matanga, Director Alan Sparrow, Director of Education Elias Ncube, Community Programmes Manager Emeldah Nkomo, Community Training Coordinator Andrew Moyo, Village Banking Coordinator Otilia Mpofu, Office Manager Sylvia Nyakujawa and Vusa Mangena, Bookkeepers

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

Dimbangombe Ranch and Conservation Safaris: Roger Parry, Manager Trish Pullen, Assistant Manager, Catering Albert Chauke, Ranch Foreman

PENNSYLVANIA Northern Penn Network Jim Weaver, contact person RD #6, Box 205 Wellsboro, PA 16901 717/724-7788 jaweaver@epix.net

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

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

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

Come Visit Us! AT DIMBANGOMBE

We Offer:

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

In an unforgettable setting with comfy lodging, memorable meals

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

www.africansojourn.com HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE • SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2003 19