2013 ANNUALREPoRt
Quivira Coalition’s mission is to build resilience by fostering ecological, economic and social health on Western landscapes through education, innovation, collaboration and progressive public and private land stewardship.
2
ŠCourtney White
QuiviraCoalition
Quivira Coalition The 2013 Quivira Conference marked the official first anniversary of my tenure as executive director of the Quivira Coalition. Exactly one year earlier, in November 2012, Courtney stood at the podium and passed off the proverbial baton—which in our case was a Quivira coffee mug. The significance of what was passed along to me in that fateful moment took a bit of time to set in. There was an organization to run, after all, and staff to support, money to be raised, workshops to be presented, budgets to be built . . . It wasn’t until April of 2013 that I finally had a moment to catch my breath and assess the enormity of the opportunity presented to me. In that moment, I sought guidance from my colleagues, my mentors, Quivira’s Board of Directors, and the selfhelp section of a local second- hand bookstore. One of the books that I stumbled upon during that period was Simon Sinek’s Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action. If nothing else, it had a promising title. Sinek opens his second chapter with the statement, “There are two ways to influence human behavior; you can inspire it or you can manipulate it.” This line caught my eye and got me thinking about the kind of leader I wanted to be. I bought the book. “Start with Why,” is the essence of Sinek’s message. He urges readers to employ strategies that engender long-term relationships built on trust and capable of inspiring systemic change. He begins by defining his terms. “What” and “How” are easy, the products and services we offer and the ways we create and disseminate them. “Why” is more challenging. According to Sinek, very few of us are able to say what our purpose, cause or belief is, why we exist, why we get out of bed every morning and why anyone other than us should care. Because most people in leadership positions never make it to the Why, they fail to inspire their target audiences into action, falling back instead on the time-tested tools of manipulation. Over the past year I have poured through Sinek’s book as we at Quivira have embarked on a strategic planning process. Quivira’s success to date has been rooted in our Why, but as the world changes, so must our Why. That imperative guided us through 2013, one of Quivira’s most active and exciting years ever. For starters, we enlisted Courtney’s gifts as a storyteller. In sixteen years of innovative work at the Radical Center, Courtney has accumulated a treasure trove of knowledge, mostly in the form of massively complex ideas, which he is now distilling into straightforward techniques that can
2013 annualREPoRt
be put to work on the ground. In 2013, Quivira’s publications coordinator, Tamara Gadzia, compiled fourteen of Courtney’s 2% Solutions in a special issue of our Journal, Resilience. In addition, Courtney completed work on his Carbon Country manuscript—slotted for publication by Chelsea Green in June 2014 with a Foreword by Michael Pollan. From bats to pasture cropping, it’s all captured in these two guiding texts by Quivira’s new creative director. Quivira’s Land and Water, New Agrarian and Tribal Partnership programs also went above and beyond to inspire adaptation in 2013. Land and Water Program director, Mollie Walton, PhD, worked with a team of brilliant young interns to devise an innovative methodology for watershed health assessment. New Agrarian Program director, Virginie Pointeau, oversaw the dramatic expansion in the reach of Quivira’s agrarian support activities by engaging new mentors, doubling the reach of the NAP list serve and increasing the profile of Quivira’s New Agrarian Career Connection. And, Tribal Partnership Program director, Catherine Baca, collaborated with our Navajo colleagues to lay the foundation for a re-localized food system that will help eliminate the “food deserts” that surround Native communities. As for me, I continue to be humbled by the opportunity to work within such a remarkable organization. In 2013 alone, we developed new partnerships with the National Young Farmers Coalition, Positive Energy Solar, The Nature Conservancy, the Western Land Owners Alliance, and spin-off groups in California and Montana, who refer to themselves informally as “Quivira West” and “Quivira North.” The magnitude of the challenges that we face keeps me on my toes and learning daily from Quivira’s development team, Deanna Einspahr, Kit Brewer and our Board of Directors. Quivira, now and always, is grounded in our Why. We want to inspire adaptation—as we did during our three day conference this past November and as we do in all of our activities throughout the year. And we want you to be a part of the process. We are grateful to you for being part of Quivira’s core community and we look forward to seeing you on the land in 2014. With gratitude,
Avery C. Anderson Sponholtz, Executive Director
3
4
Of the 519 people who attended the 2013 conference, 115 volunteered their respective acreages. A grand total of 3.9 million acres are under their stewardship. QuiviraCoalition
Connecting the Quivira Community November 13–15, 2013 Albuquerque, New Mexico Our 2013 conference was sold-out! For the second year in a row, the event enjoyed a capacity crowd of 500 people, more than a third of whom were ranchers or farmers. Attendees came from 26 states and one foreign nation, representing more than 3.9 million acres of land. This year’s conference theme was Inspiring Adaptation, which brought together scientists, ranchers, farmers, conservationists, urban planners and others with bright ideas and important tools to share from their adaptation toolbox. The lineup of speakers included a co-winner of the Nobel Peace Prize and recipients of a Pulitzer Prize in Poetry, a MacArthur “genius” grant, a Pew Fellowship in Conservation, the Stewart L. Udall Award for Conservation, a Guggenheim Fellow, two Society for Range Management awards, and six Clarence Burch and Radical Center awards from the Quivira Coalition! Our Wednesday workshop was titled Regrarian Farm and Ranch Planning for Drylands and featured rancher Dennis Moroney and permaculture expert Darren Doherty. The evening keynote speakers, poet Gary Synder and documentarian Jack Loeffler, held a large crowd in thrall. Other activities included a successful New Agrarian Career Connection, which introduced young job-seekers to potential farm and ranch employers, and the annual Awards Ceremony. It was an honor to give the 2013 Burch Award to the Malpai Borderlands Group. Many thanks to Andy Dunigan for funding this annual award, which honors the innovation and enterprise of his grandfather, rancher Clarence Burch. Speaking of thanks, the conference not would have been possible without the strong and steady support of its sponsors. We are deeply appreciative of your willingness to invest in the growing vibrancy of the Radical Center. From all us at Quivira to everyone who attended and supported the 2013 conference—Thank You! —Courtney White, Founder and Creative Director
2013 AnnualReport
5
Communities Represented Innovative Rancher/Farmer Environmentalist Academic Organizations Business Community Government Agencies Tribal Member Foundations, Public and Media
= 35% = 15% = 14% = 9% = 7% = 5% = 3% = 7%
States Represented New Mexico Colorado California Texas Arizona Other and International
= 50% = 20% = 5% = 5% = 7% = 13%
Carbon Ranch Project
Special issue journal: 2% Solutions
The idea of the carbon ranch involves the potential for removal of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere through plant photosynthesis and related land-based carbon sequestration activities. Strategies and co-benefits include: enriching soil carbon, no-till farming with perennials, employing climate-friendly livestock practices, conserving natural habitat, restoring degraded watersheds and rangelands, increasing biodiversity, lowering agricultural emissions and producing local food.
We bundled the original 14 2% Solution profiles into a special issue of our journal Resilience, which was mailed to Quivira members and supporters. In 2014, we will expand the quantity of profiles substantially and bundle all of them together into book format, with the goal of making the entire collection as widely available as possible. We believe that there is a large, untapped educational market for these case studies, especially among schools.
Grass, Soil, Hope A Journey through Carbon Country
Quivira is proud to announce that the electronic version of Quivira’s first book, The New Ranch Handbook: A Guide to Restoring Western Rangelands by Nathan F. Sayre, is now available on Quivira’s website. Courtney White has written a reintroduction to the book. Our thanks and appreciation to special volunteers Victoria Parrill, who retyped the text, and Ellen Herr, who gave the book its new look and did all the layout.
Courtney White
Completed in 2013: • Grass, Soil, Hope. Courtney finished researching and writing this book, based on the map from the 2012 Quivira Conference, which will be published by Chelsea Green Press in June, 2014. • A Carbon Blog. Courtney posted regularly on his blog, The Carbon Pilgrim, with the goal of explaining the role carbon plays in our lives http://carbonpilgrim.wordpress.com/ • The Carbon Ranch website. Courtney continued to update and add to a virtual library of resources related to the Carbon Ranch idea. www.carbonranching.org
6
QuiviraCoalition
In the Creek
Seeing all the different species of plants with the different methods to conserve water was amazing. I’ve been thinking about how tough and resilient these desert plants are. It makes me feel like I have a more clear connection with nature. The plants and animals of the Southwest know how to conserve water and I feel obligated to do the same. —Student with The Field Academy at Red Canyon Reserve
Quivira’s Land and Water Program continues to serve as the place where we can get some dirt under our fingernails and water sloshing around in our boots. Our 2013 field season was one of the most productive yet. Not only did we have three brilliant young interns join us for the summer, but we also tested a number of new methodologies for restoration monitoring. The most fun (and perhaps the most in need of future tweaking) was mapping the creeks in the Comanche Creek Watershed using an infrared camera mounted under a weather balloon. The Land and Water Program has always boldly tackled new and promising ideas (like induced meandering, for example) and beta tested them on the ground in a volunteer workshop setting. Our experience with balloon mapping was no different; we engaged the imagination and creativity of our volunteers, learned a great deal, and refined our sense of how to proceed in 2014. In addition to serving as a germination tray for innovative techniques, the Land and Water Program also gets a lot of restoration done on the ground. In 2013, we reached a milestone when we completed work funded by a River Ecosystem Restoration Initiative grant from the New Mexico Environment Department. We are proud to report that thirty acres of precious, high-elevation wet meadow and two-and-ahalf stream miles in the Comanche Creek watershed have been gently nudged back into a state of healing. We accomplished all of this under the direction of talented restoration professionals and with the help of many volunteer hands. Influencing significant landscapes like the Valle Vidal has been part of Quivira’s mission from the start, but landscapes aren’t everything. In 2013, we also played an important role in influencing important people—namely future conservation leaders. Utilizing our own Red Canyon Reserve near Socorro, New Mexico as the “classroom,” Quivira hosted students from The Field Academy, a traveling environmental education program for students in grades 10 through 12.
Quivira’s Land and Water program embodies our organizational tagline: “education, innovation, restoration.” We are committed to engaging new audiences in our work, and pushing the boundaries of conventional restoration to make our working landscapes healthier. —Mollie Walton, Land and Water Program Director
2013 AnnualReport
7
The Next Generation
The agricultural wisdom, passed . . . from the dawn of human civilization to modern day ecologists, feels timeless and engrossing. I feel the pull of this ancient knowledge and want to explore it in as may ways as possible. — Drew Cole, 2013 San Juan Ranch Apprentice
The New Agrarian Program is five years old! As Duncan Campbell, one of our dedicated supporters, recently expressed in an email, “The significance of the program’s Five-Year-Birthday—it’s your hard asset that separates you from the others. It speaks loudly about reliability and predictability of performance in the future.” We share this sentiment and feel great pride in our accomplishments. We have come a long way from our 2009 start as a small, modest program in partnership with a single family operation in southern Colorado. As of 2013, we have worked in partnership with eight mentor operations in the Southwest to graduate thirteen aspiring agrarians, all of whom are pursuing lives and careers in sustainable agriculture today. We have also formed ties with a number of additional operations, some of which have either hired apprentices out of our applicant pool or followed our model to create their own training program. To extend the reach of our work even further, we created the New Agrarian Newsletter to connect young agrarians to employment and learning opportunities beyond what NAP can offer. As of today we have more than 400 subscribers, and the list is growing! We held our third annual Career Connection in November—with more than 25 producers participating—to facilitate connections between young people seeking mentorship and established agrarians seeking youthful energy. We have also created a network of nonprofits and other organizations across the United States with similar values and goals, and we are now developing working groups of progressive organizations and agricultural operations within a 100 miles of Santa Fe to explore ways of scaling up the number of training opportunities for aspiring agrarians right here in New Mexico. And finally, as of late 2013, we have started the application process for the 2014 San Juan Ranch and James Ranch Artisan Cheese apprenticeships, and we are pleased to introduce a new, eight-month diversified farm apprenticeship with Julie and John Ott of James Ranch Eggs & Trees in Durango, Colorado. We are excited about the future of our program, and we look forward to working as an active part of a dedicated community of organizations and producers to better serve the growing population of aspiring ranchers and farmers. —Virginie Pointeau , New Agrarian Program Director
8
QuiviraCoalition
yá’át’ééh In 2006, a small amount of seed money paid for one range management workshop. Over the last seven years, that small seed has blossomed into a vibrant Native-led movement to revive all aspects of land and community health. With funding from The David and Lucille Packard Foundation and The Christensen Fund, the Quivira Coalition has worked with three chapters on the Navajo Nation to strengthen traditional resilience strategies by focusing on organization capacity, restoration, relocalization, paradigm shift, engaging youth and useful science. Our work with Ojo Encino, Counselor and Torreon is about rediscovering a land ethic. It requires building local capacity and testing strategies that make land-based activities economically viable and resilient in the face of increasing climatic instability. Our Navajo colleagues in these three chapters have created an organization called Hasbíditó. Building on a diverse set of community interests and talents, Hasbíditó draws together people from within and outside of the community with varied knowledge and resources to help them achieve their shared goals. As with all grassroots efforts, trial and error over the last seven years has helped us discover that the best way to utilize limited resources is in building enthusiasm around healthy food and recruiting/supporting an army of dedicated local food growers. Each year, community interest and participation is growing. Hasbíditó offers gardening workshops and seed exchange events in the spring and an annual Harvest Fiesta in the fall. In partnership with Quivira, Hasbíditó is also actively working to reduce the feral horse population on tribal lands through hands-on gelding and sterilization workshops, as well as through community educational events and in conversations with tribal decision makers. This is slow and on-going work, but critically important to reversing the trend of land degradation. Quivira’s partnership with Hasbíditó has transformed over the last seven years as our Navajo colleagues have assumed increasing autonomy in administering their events and determining their own course of action. Quivira is honored to have been part of this process, and we have a clear sense that our project will be successful when we have worked ourselves out of a job.
We are learning from mistakes and helping each other carve out our roles in a local food system. And we’ll have a bigger than ever harvest celebration in October. —Walter McQuie, Hasbíditó Farmer Consultant
—Catherine Baca, Tribal Partnership Program Director
2013 AnnualReport
9
boarD oF DireCtorS
2013 CaSh FinanCial rePort
Chair – Arturo Sandoval Center of Southwest Culture
Quivira Coalition, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, undergoes an independent audit each year to verify the financial information presented in annual reports and on the 990s filed with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. Copies of Quivira’s 990s are available by request. The following charts show ordinary income and expenses ending December 31, 2013. All financial documentation is shown before 990 tax reporting and our annual audit.
Vice-Chair – Sid Goodloe Rancher, Carrizo Valley Ranch Secretary – Ernest Atencio Land & Culture Consulting
Quivira 2013 Income 1% In-Kind Product Sales/Rent/Other
Treasurer – Craig Conley Professor, New Mexico Highlands University Members: Michael Bain General Manager, Twin Willows Ranch Joan Bybee Rancher, Mesteño Draw Ranch Kate Greenberg National Young Farmers Coalition Frank Hayes Heart and Horn Ecological Services, LLC Robert Potts Dixon Water Foundation Nancy Ranney Rancher, Ranney Ranch Beth Schnieders Cofounder, MoGro Virginia Smith Adelante Consulting Tim Sullivan Colorado State Director, The Nature Conservancy
3% Program Contractual
6% Registration Fees
Public Contributions
14% 10%
Program Grants and Contributions
66%
affiliations of the board members are listed to convey the breadth of experience that these individuals bring to the governance of the Quivira Coalition.
Quivira 2013 Expenses by Program Area Admin/Overhead/ Fundraising
16%
StaFF
Quivira Conference
24%
Avery C. Anderson Sponholtz Executive Director Courtney White Founder and Creative Director Catherine Baca Conference Director, Tribal Partnership Program Director Tamara E. Gadzia Publications Coordinator
Public Education & Outreach
12%
25% 10%
Tribal Partnership Program
Deanna Einspahr Business Manager Mollie Walton, PhD Land and Water Program Director
Land and Water Program
Virginie Pointeau New Agrarian Program Director Kit Brewer Development Assistant and Office Administrator
13%
Trish Jenkins GIS Coordinator
New Agrarian Program
10
QuiviraCoalition
Quivira FunDing Community
Quivira volunteerS
COMMUNITY $10,000+
In 2013, 111 people attended or volunteered at Quivira Coalition outdoor classrooms and workshops, contributing 1,795 in-kind hours. We want to specially thank and recognize the contribution of Steve Carson, Frank Hayes, Larry Cary and Cullen Hallmark—the Red Canyon Reserve Conservation Team.
The Christensen Fund Compton Foundation The Dixon Water Foundation Duncan Campbell Lillian Goldman Charitable Trust Grasslans Charitable Foundation Lydia B. Stokes Foundation Robert Jesperson and Sylvia Y. Atencio Jesperson Nancy Levi Ranney - Ranney Ranch Judith McBean Foundation McCune Charitable Foundation Giles W. & Elise G. Mead Foundation The David and Lucile Packard Foundation Barbara Roastingear and Henry Oliver III Family Foundation Schnieders Family Foundation
ANIMAL $5,000+
11th Hour Project Patrick A. Dunigan Fund of The Dallas Foundation The Bybee Foundation Farm Aid, Inc. Integral Ecology Group Ltd. Rebecca Mark-JusbascheWatrous Valley Ranch New Cycle Foundation Fund at the Santa Fe Community Foundation Owl Peak Farm Foundation Spur Lake Cattle Company
PLANT $2,500+
Positive Energy Solar TomKat Ranch Educational Foundation Western Landowners Alliance
SEED $1,250+
Anonymous Apache Foundation David E. Bacon Michael and Julie Bain CS Foundation 2013 Conference Attendees Central Colorado Educational Trust Enterprise Holdings Foundation Martha-Ellen Tye Foundation McBride Family and Aspen Business Center Foundation Stacey Sullivan Jill and Winston Walton - Hitchrock Ranch
SOIL $500+
Animas Foundation Edward Ames Ballentine Family Fund Adam and Sonya Berg Nancy Dickenson Environmental Systems Research Institute Pete Ferrell - Ferrell Ranch Patrick P. Fry Patrick O’Neill The Dennis A. O’Toole Family Foundation Robert Potts Jann Roney Thomas D. Sizemore The Sulica Fund Tim A. Sullivan Trinchera Blanca Foundation, LLC John Trotter Truchas Chapter Trout Unlimited
Adelante Consulting, Inc. Healthy Community Food Systems Heart and Horn Ecological Services, LLC PROFESSIONAL IN-KIND Nathan and Elizabeth Johnson Toni Beatty Seligson Johnson Donor Advised Fund, Cullen Hallmark The Nature Conservancy Microsoft Corporation Paicines Ranch Adobe Systems, Inc. PNM Resources Foundation
2013 annualREPoRt
11
On behalf of our board and staff, and the entire Quivira Community, we want to give a big THANK YOU to every donor, sponsor, friend and volunteer who helped us in 2013. It’s a cliché to say we couldn’t have done it without you—but it’s true! And, we look forward to another productive, exciting and resilient year in 2014. Sincerely, The Quivira Team
back row left to right: Courtney White, avery C. anderson, Kit Brewer. Front row left to right: Virginie Pointeau, tamara E. Gadzia, Mollie Walton, Catherine Baca and Deanna Einspahr.
Thanks and appreciation to our 2013 coalition partners… 47 Ranch, New Agrarian Mentor David E. Bacon Michael and Julie Bain Ballantine Family Fund Tony Benson Neil Bertrando Brenton Kelly Bybee Family Foundation Duncan Campbell The Christensen Fund U.S. Forest Service, Carson National Forest, Questa Ranger District: George Long, Jerry Mastel, Zigmund Napkora, Greg Miller, Kathryn Furr and Buck Sanchez Chico Basin Ranch, New Agrarian Mentor Drew Cole, New Agrarian Apprentice Community Bank, Santa Fe Compton Foundation CS Ranch, New Agrarian Mentor The Dixon Water Foundation Lori S. Doron, Land and Water Volunteer Dryland Solutions, Inc. Enterprise Holdings Foundation Esri Farm to Table, Tawyna Laveta Sandra Gavillot, New Agrarian Apprentice The Greenhorns Cullen Hallmark Hasbídító Highland Solutions, LLC Sam Hinkle, Quivira Summer Intern James Ranch Artisan Cheese, New Agrarian Mentor James Ranch Beef Garrett Hanks Hermit’s Peak Watershed Alliance HOBO Ranch KSFR La Montañita Co-op, Robin Seydel
LandLink New Mexico Lia Fund Nick Martinez McCune Charitable Foundation Walter McQuie Giles W. and Elise G. Mead Foundation National Young Farmers Coalition The Nature Conservancy New Mexico Environment Department, Surface Water Quality Bureau: Maryann McGraw, Shelly Barnes, Karen Menetrey, Matthew Schultz, Abe Franklin, Neil Schaeffer and Dan Guevara NM Forest and Watershed Health Office New Mexico Land Conservancy: Scott Wilber and Ariel Patashnik Ojo Encino Ranchers Committee The David and Lucile Packard Foundation Paper Tiger Palmer Westport Group, Susan Palmer Panta Rhea Foundation Elaine Patarini Prezi Quivira Coalition Board of Directors
Rainbow Ranch Rangeland Hands, Inc. Nancy Levi Ranney and David Levi Red Canyon Reserve Team: Steve Carson, Cullen Hallmark, Frank Hayes, Larry Cary, Brian Lemke and Jeffrey Adams Resource Management Services, LLC Rio Puerco Alliance San Juan Ranch, New Agrarian Mentor Santa Fe Garden Club Schnieders Family Foundation SFCC, Loretta McGrath Annika Silverman, Quivira Summer Intern Jessica Embry Sipos, Quivira Summer Intern Tom Sizemore, Land and Water Volunteer Martha Skelley, New Agrarian Apprentice Virginia Smith and Sandra Postel Southwest Urban Hydrology, LLC Spur Lake Cattle Company Lydia B. Stokes Foundation Studio X The Sulica Fund Taos Soil and Water Conservation District Terrasophia, LLC Three Shephards Cheese, Linda and Larry Faillace Patrice Treu, New Agrarian Apprentice Trout Unlimited, Truchas Chapter: Toner Mitchell and Art Vollmer USFWS, Stephen Davenport US Army Corps of Engineers (Albuquerque): Deanna Cummings U.S. Forest Service, Region Three: Judith Dyess and Dave Stewart Vermejo Park Ranch, Gus Holm Amy Wright, New Agrarian Apprentice Zeedyk Ecological Consulting, LLC
…and the entire Quivira Community! 1413 2nd Street, Suite 1, Santa Fe, NM 87505 Phone: 505.820.2544 ~ Fax: 505.955.8922 admin@quiviracoalition.org ~ www.quiviracoalition.org