Building resilient working landscapes through education, innovation, and restoration.
2015
12,800,000 agricultural acres stewarded by attendees of the 2015 Quivira Conference
The Radical Center, no matter how quiet or diffuse it might be, is a true populist movement. - Courtney White
775 engaged Quivira members 70 active collaborations with partner organizations
“Today Quivira is at the forefront of a new movement that regards agriculture, conservation, and all other productive endeavors as one practice, with one set of values.”
Improved access to healthy food in Navajo communities with Hasbídító’s Backyard Gardening Initiative and the Tri-community Mobile Farmers’ Market
1,132 agrarian mentors and apprentices connected
- Avery C. Anderson Sponholtz
Celebrated the International Year of Soils with scientist and restoration specialist Christine Jones, PhD
Reimagined the work of our Do-Teach-Spark Tank
A Banner Year
From Our Board Dear partners and supporters, In 2014, Quivira drafted a strategic plan for the years 2014 through 2017—but a big question got in the way of our completing it. What is the job of conservation today? Courtney White suggested that we needed to reach beyond the collaboration that called forth the Radical Center. He proposed a next wave based on progressive agrarian values, with no distinctions between the work of agriculture and the work of conservation. We set out to explore this wave, and that became Quivira’s work in 2015. We learned that the only effort with the potential to both mitigate climate change and feed our local populations is a grassroots movement that starts literally at the roots, restoring soil health through skilled ranching, farming, and forestry. Quivira’s contribution going forward is to foster an even more inclusive Radical Center and to communicate its message in ways that lift practical solutions to climate change into mainstream consciousness. Innovation, education, and communication have always been our way of work and will continue to be so in 2016 and beyond, as we expand our membership, grow our partnerships and networks, and evolve our programs in order to regenerate whole landscapes. We can say with pride that in 2015 the Quivira community responded to our calls for participation and support with more enthusiasm than ever before. Here we bring you a quick look at 2015, pointing forward to 2016, when we will bring you new leadership and an even greater presence in the world. Arturo Sandoval, Chair Current board roster from left to right, top to bottom: Arturo Sandoval, Chair; Sid Goodloe, Vice-Chair; Kate Greenberg, Secretary; Michael Bain, Treasurer; Craig Conley; Robert Potts; Frank Hayes; Nancy Ranney.
From Our Staff Transition Team Hello dear friends! Here at Quivira we kicked off 2015 with a commitment to grow our programs and enrich their content. Our major theme for the year was soil health, which focused many of our activities at ground level and then lifted us into the realms of advanced monitoring technology and global political action on climate change and carbon mitigation. We also celebrated the 80th birthday of our friend and restoration expert, Bill Zeedyk, and the launch of Courtney White and Avery Anderson Sponholtz onto their new professional paths. From the ground up, our growing Quivira membership and social networking community contributed to real, measurable change in the world, increasing the content of our land stewardship toolboxes, improving our agrarian practices, and spreading the word about regenerative agriculture to new audiences. Together with the ranchers, farmers, orchardists, gardeners, farmers market denizens, and all of the agencies, organizations, contractors, and artisans who support them, we made a big dent in the mistaken notion that it might be too late or too hard to create resiliency on working landscapes and abundance in local food systems. We’re happy to announce that in 2016 we’ll partner with Courtney to bring you the fifteenth Quivira Conference and that we’ll also introduce you to a new executive director. Please stay in touch with us online at www.quiviracoalition.org, on Facebook @quiviracoalition, and on Twitter @QuiviraAgRanch. We look forward to seeing you soon—on the ground or in November at the 2016 Quivira Conference: Lights, Soil, Action! Catherine, Deanna, Kit, Mollie, Sarah, and Virginie (left to right, top to bottom)
Success Stories from the Field Quivira changed and grew in 2015, touching may people, communities, and landscapes. For all of our programs and partners, it was a year of abundant good work. In June, Mollie Walton flew with LightHawk Conservation Flights to assess watersheds on the Comanche National Forest. In December, Courtney White was in Paris, where the 4/1000 initiative was launched to protect and increase carbon stocks in soils by transitioning whole nations toward regenerative agriculture. Meanwhile, Virginie Pointeau laid the groundwork to expand our New Agrarian Program throughout the Southwest as the first regional apprenticeship program focusing on ranchers and ranch apprentices. Members of the Navajo Nation and Hasbídító, who have organized a local growers association with the support of Quivira’s Tribal Partnership, produced abundant vegetables in their family gardens. So abundant, in fact, that they were also able to supply produce for a mobile market serving communities in three Navajo chapters. Together we hosted one of our best conferences ever, on the next wave of agriculture-based conservation, and published Bill Zeedyk and Courtney White’s latest books, The Plug and Spread Treatment: Achieving Erosion Control, Soil Health and Biological Diversity and Two Percent Solutions for the Planet: 50 Low-Cost, Low-Tech, Nature-Based Practices for Combating Hunger, Drought, and Climate Change.
neW aGrarian ProGram
Graduated 3 apprentices and first foreman-in-training, recruited 1 new mentor, and helped place 4 previous apprentices in next-step agricultural positions
Surveyed 60 apprenticeship programs throughout the U.S., including Tomcat Ranch, for our Agricultural Apprenticeship Guidebook
Secured funding to expand NAP throughout the Southwest as the first regional apprenticeship program focusing on ranchers and ranch apprentices
Partnered with the National Young Farmers Coalition to host 2 Career Connections and Farmer/Rancher Socials for 250 established and beginning agrarians
Doubled program capacity by hiring program coordinator Sarah Wentzel-Fisher
Connected more than 900 ranchers, farmers, and beginning agrarians to regenerative agriculture opportunities through our New Agrarian Newsletter
land and Water ProGram
Hosted 3 land health workshops with 118 participants
Expanded our educational program to Texas, where we demonstrated prescribed fire as a tool for grassland restoration on ranches near Bandera
Completed a survey of 11 tributaries in the Comanche Creek Watershed to assess past work and inform future restoration
Flew with LightHawk Conservation Flights over 2 watersheds on the Carson National Forest to assess wetland restoration potential
triBal PartnerShiP
Enlisted Navajo youth as Land Steward Summer Interns to help start community gardens
Dispensed fresh produce to families through COPE Rx, a prescription food program
Operated a weekly mobile market, including cooking demonstrations, to provide fresh produce to Navajo Nation chapters from June to October
Planted 1,000+ trees for garden windbreaks
Sent 14 Hasbídító members to the Quivira Conference, where 2 presented
Added new growers to Hasbídító’s successful growers association
education and outreach The 2015 Quivira Conference
Publications
Quivira’s fourteenth annual conference celebrated the emergence of a new movement that envisions agriculture and conservation as one practice with shared values. Workshops and plenary sessions focused on restorative techniques and methodologies that have the potential to regenerative whole landscapes, with a special emphasis on rebuilding soil health on farms and ranchlands by returning carbon from the atmosphere. Presenters and speakers included Paul Hawken, Christine, Jones, André Leu, Owen Hablutzel, Bill Zeedyk, Iván Aguirre, Scott Black, Rebecca Burgess, Christopher Gill, Hasbídító Growers Association, Dave Johnson, Betsey Neeley, Breece Robertson, and Richard Teague. Of 232 first-time attendees, 87 were students and beginner agrarians who received scholarships, made possible by Quivira’s generous donors.
Who came: Total attendees Ranchers and Farmers Conservationists Public Land Stewards Tribal Land Stewards Students and Teachers Other Business People General Public
550 29% 14% 7% 5% 18% 12% 15%
Two Percent Solutions for the Planet Courtney White’s latest book profiles fifty low-cost, low-tech, nature-based practices that return carbon dioxide to soils; reduce energy use; sustainably intensify food production; and increase water quality. Two Percent Solutions expands the regenerative toolbox to include holistic grazing, edible forests, biochar, keyline plowing, wildlife corridors, native seeds, bees, bears, bioenergy, animal power, and much more. Resilience Every year Resilience features stories and technical information from the Quivira community, with a focus on regenerating land health. In 2015 we celebrated the work of Bill Zeedyk with articles on the success of his wetlands regeneration techniques. Zeedyk himself reports on work at Hubbell Trading Post that “changed the creek, changed attitudes about stream restoration, presented new treatments,” and changed his life. Plug and Spread Treatment This thirty-three-page technical manual by Bill Zeedyk details new treatments to return seasonal runoff to meadows, rangelands, and other landforms that have been drained by human activities. Developed in part through a project funded by the New Mexico Environment Department’s Surface Water Quality Bureau, Plug and Spread promises to help mitigate drought, flooding, and other predicted impacts of climate change.
2015 Financial rePort INCOME
EXPENSES
Chart Title
Product Sales/Rent/Other
In-‐kind
Program Contractual
Program G rants & Contributions
Chart Title
Public Contributions
Registration Fees
Product Sales / Rent / Other In-Kind Program Contractual Program Grants & Contributions Unrestricted Grants & Contributions Registration Fees
Admin/Overhead
Qu ivira Conference
Land & Water Program
New Agrarian Program
Admin / Overhead Quivira Conference Land and Water Program New Agrarian Program Tribal Partnership Public Education & Outreach Fundraising / Building Management Tribal Partnership P rogram
Public Education & Outreach
Fundraising/Building M gt.
Quivira Coalition, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, undergoes an independent audit each year to verify the financial information presented in annual reports. Copies of Quivira’s 990s are available by request. These charts show ordinary income and expenses ending December 31, 2015. All financial documentation is shown before 990 tax reporting and our annual audit.
thank You to our 2015 FunderS Community $10,000+
Animal $5,000+
Plant $2,500+
11th Hour Project of The Schmidt Family Foundation Better Tomorrow Fund of the Rockefeller Family Fund The Christensen Fund The Dixon Water Foundation The Patrick A. Dunigan Fund of The Dallas Foundation James Weaver and Willard Heck, Grasslands Charitable Foundation Robert W. and Sylvia Y. Atencio Jesperson The Paul H. Johanson Fund Judith McBean Foundation McCune Charitable Foundation Owl Peak Farm Foundation The David and Lucile Packard Foundation Nancy Ranney and David F. Levi Barbara Roastingear and Henry Oliver III Family Foundation Regenerative Rangelands Fund of the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation Santa Fe Community Foundation Schnieders Family Foundation Lydia B. Stokes Foundation Thornburg Foundation Threshold Foundation
Harry Duncan Campbell, Jr. Central Colorado Educational Trust Farm Aid, Inc. Globetrotter Foundation New Cycle Foundation Fund at The Santa Fe Community Foundation Nelson Shirley, Spur Lake Cattle Company Paicines Ranch Tecovas Foundation
Adelante Consulting, Inc. The Bybee Foundation Lone Mountain Cattle Company LLC New Belgium Brewing Company Dennis A. O’Toole Family Foundation Nancy Ranney, Ranney Ranch Nathan and Elizabeth Johnson, Seligson Johnson Donor Advised Fund at The Nature Conservancy TomKat Ranch Educational Foundation The Trinchera Blanca Foundation, LLC, an Affiliate of The Moore Charitable Foundation Martha-Ellen Tye Foundation Thalia Venerable
Your GeneroSitY enSureS our SucceSS Seed $1,250+
Soil $500+
SOIL (Continued)
Julie and Michael Bain Ballantine Family Fund Bookworks Colorado Branch for Holistic Management Jesse Embry, Hitchrock Ranch Frank Hayes, Heart and Horn Ecological Services Semrod Family Private Foundation Solution Strategies International Stacey Sullivan Union Land and Grazing Company Ute Creek Cattle Company
Animas Foundation Aspen Business Center Foundation Sonya and Adam Berg Pat and Mike Boring Betsy and Reeves Brown CS Foundation Nancy G. Dickenson Enterprise Holdings Foundation Pete Ferrell, Ferrell Ranch Greg Friel, Haleakala Ranch Patrick Fry Amanda Harper Dale Heinemann Real Estate Sara and Gus Holm Kay and David James, James Ranch Enterprises Helen and Werner Muller, Sierra y Llanos Land and Cattle Cathy and Patrick O’Neill Pleiades Foundation Painter/Rudd Charitable Foundation Arturo Sandoval Sally B. Searle, Maggie Creek Ranch Craig Sponholtz, Watershed Artisans
Timothy A. Sullivan Thomas A. Teegarden John Trotter Trout Unlimited, Truchas and Enchanted Circle Chapters William D. Zeedyk and Mary B. Maulsby
Professional In-Kind
Arturo Sandoval, Voces LLC Garber and Hallmark, PC Heart and Horn Ecological Services, LLC Microsoft Corporation MGM Roofing, Inc. Panorama Organic Grass-Fed Meats Paper Tiger Stucco Seal
Thank You to Our 2015 Collaborators Ann Adams, Holistic Management International Jeff Adams, Terrasophia Kelly Adler and Deanna Cummings, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Albuquerque Lesli Allison, Western Landowners Alliance Ned Ames Bill Armstrong and Dusty Bruns, Hill Country Prescribed Burn Association Ernie Atencio, Quivira Board Member Emeritus Morgan Ayers, Bandera County River Authority and Groundwater District, Texas David Bacon, Southwest Energy Institute Maddie Bailey, Whitman College Intern Julie Bain Nancy Baczek (retired) and Maceo Martinet, USFWS Toni Beatty Leanne Beauxbeannes, Jennifer Bennett, and Regan Faught, Hill Country State Natural Area Neil Bertrando Whitney Brock, Union County Extension Agent, NM Joan Bybee, Quivira Board Member Emeritus Sallie Calhoun Beatrice Caraway and Cathy Downs, Native Plant Society of Texas Watson and Lula Castillo, Hasbídító Cimarron Watershed Alliance
Christa Coggins Comanche Creek Workshop Volunteers Clay and Diane Conoly, Dixie Dude Ranch Cottonwood Gulch Foundation C.C. Culver Stephen Davenport and Jason Davis, USFWS DeHaven Ranch Mary-Charlotte Domandi, Santa Fe Radio Cafe Judith Dyess, Region Three, USFS Ben Eldredge, Cibolo Nature Center and Farm Jessica Embry, Quivira Land and Water Field Assistant Enterprise Rent-A-Car® Esri Megan Fehrman, Rogue Farm Corps Micaela Fischer Chris Furr, Alicia Gallegos, Michael Gatlin, Jack Lewis, John Littlefield, George Long, and Greg Miller, Carson National Forest, USFS Melanie Gisler, Institute for Applied Ecology-SW Kason Haby and Larry Stark, NRCS, TX Cullen Hallmark, Sommer, Udall, Sutin, Hardwick & Hyatt, P.A. Ted Harrison Jennifer Hashley, New Entry Sustainable Farming Project Frank Hayes, Heart and Horn Ecological Services, LLC Dale Heinemann
Hermit’s Peak Watershed Alliance Highland Solutions Hill Country State Natural Area, Texas Parks and Wildlife Greg Hiner Sam Hinkle, Land and Water Program Assistant Gus Holm, Vermejo Park Ranch Jessica Howe, Jason Scott, and Shawna Trujillo, NRCS, NM Courtney Hurst, New Agrarian Apprentice Timothy Ingalls Dan and Becca James, James Ranch Artisan Cheese, NAP Mentor Jan-Willem Jansens, Ecotone Patricia Jenkins and Jeremy Smith, Cycle Farm Anna Jones-Crabtree, Villicus Farm Aaron Kauffman, Southwest Urban Hydrology Professor Corrie Knapp, Western State Colorado University Wendy Lewis LightHawk Conservation Flights Lee Lockie Deborah Madison Jeremiah Martin Nick Martinez, MGM Roofing Rick Martinez Maryann McGraw, Michelle Barnes, Karen Menetrey, Abe Franklin, Neal Schaeffer, and Dan Guevara, New Mexico Environment Department, Surface Water Quality Bureau
Your teamWork BuildS the moVement
Walter McQuie Will Mee Katie Meiklejohn, Ranch Advisory Partners Toner Mitchell, Trout Unlimited National Office National Young Farmers Coalition Neiman Family, Native American Seed Company New Mexico Land Conservancy Allan Oliver Trudy and Dennis O’Toole Susan Palmer, Palmer Westport Group Paper Tiger Jenny Parks Elaine Patarini, Paicines Ranch Phillip Paulson, New Agrarian Apprentice Sarah Peters, Land and Water Fellow
Robert Potts Joanie Quinn, New Mexico Organic Farming Conference Josh Raff, New Agrarian Apprentice Steve and Nansy Carson, Rangeland Hands Liz and Mike Reardon, Cañon Bonita Ranch Red Canyon Reserve Team: Steve Carson, Cullen Hallmark, Frank Hayes, Larry Cary, Brian Lemke, and Jeffrey Adams Red Canyon Reserve Workshop Volunteers Arturo Sandoval, Center of Southwest Culture Santa Fe Watershed Association Martha Skelley, New Agrarian Foreman in Training Craig Sponholtz, Watershed Artisans, Inc. Studio X Julie Sullivan and George Whitten, Blue Earth Education, San Juan Ranch, NAP Mentor
Tim Sullivan Tarpley Volunteer Fire Department Gordon Tooley and Margaret Yancey, Tooley’s Trees, NAP Mentor Mark Torres, Valle Vidal Grazing Association Trout Unlimited, Enchanted Circle Chapter Trout Unlimited, Truchas Chapter Thalia Venerable Twin Willows Ranch Cindy Villa, NRCS, CO Kevin Watt, TomKat Ranch Dorothy and Vick Williams, Land Health Workshop Hosts Bill Zeedyk, Zeedyk Ecological Consulting . . . AND the entire Quivira Community!
2015 Staff Avery C. Anderson Sponholtz , Executive Director Courtney White, Founder and Creative Director Catherine Baca, Conference Director, Tribal Partnership Director Tamara E. Gadzia, Publications Coordinator Deanna Einspahr, Business Manager Mollie Walton, PhD, Land and Water Program Director Virginie Pointeau, New Agrarian Program Director Sarah Wentzel-Fisher, New Agrarian Program Coordinator Kit Brewer, Development Associate and Office Administrator Lois Mee, Conference Coordinator Trish Jenkins, GIS Coordinator Sam Hinkle, Land and Water Program Assistant Maddie Bailey, Land and Water Program Intern Jessica Embry, Land and Water Program Intern
2015 Board of Directors Chair – Arturo Sandoval, Center of Southwest Culture Vice Chair – Sid Goodloe, Carrizo Valley Ranch Secretary – Kate Greenberg, National Young Farmers Coalition Treasurer – Michael A. Bain, Twin Willows Ranch Craig Conley, New Mexico Highlands University Frank Hayes, Heart and Horn Ecological Services, LLC Robert Potts, Dixon Water Foundation Nancy Ranney, Ranney Ranch Beth Schnieders Virginia Smith, Adelante Consulting, Inc Tim Sullivan, The Nature Conservancy Affiliations of board members are listed to convey the breadth of experience that these individuals bring to the governance of the Quivira Coalition.
Our Mission The Quivira Coalition builds resilience on working landscapes by fostering ecological, economic, and social health. Our programs support progressive grasslands and riparian regeneration, with a focus on food production, economic diversification, and collaboration across urban-rural and environmental-agricultural boundaries. We provide hands-on, on-the-ground educational opportunities and build professional networks for the next generation of food producers and land stewards. We believe that sequestering carbon in fertile soils and producing good food are essential to the regeneration of a vibrantly healthy natural world and thriving human communities.
1413 Second Street, Suite 1 • Santa Fe, New Mexico 87505 505-820-2544 • www.quiviracoalition.org