#084, In Practice, July/Aug 2002

In 1995, a dozen Holistic Management

practitioners in central Washington,

including myself, formed a non-profit

corporation, Solar $, through which we now

sponsor workshops, develop manuals and

conduct educational programs. “Creating

Wealth From Sunlight” is our slogan, and we

are becoming known in the Western U.S. for

our work in support of good land

stewardship and our promotion of Holistic

Management.

Although many in the group knew each

other before, it was only after we became

classmates in the WSU-Kellogg Holistic

Management Project that we decided to band

together in order to learn more and to

promote better resource management. We

decided to form a non-profit corporation to

be in a better position to attract and manage

grant monies. We anticipated being able to

support state and local projects for which

there might be grants from either

governmental agencies or private

foundations. With official status as a 501(c)(3)

non-profit organization, we are able to

receive grants and to manage the funds of

projects associated with our mission and goal.

As Holistic Management practitioners, we

decided to call our group Solar $ because the

one true source of all wealth is solar energy

and we’re trying to help others understand

that concept in our communities.

A Purpose

The WSU-Kellogg Project was a multi-

faceted educational program conceived and

coordinated by Don Nelson, Washington

State University Cooperative Extension Beef

Specialist, and directed by Jeff Goebel, a

Certified Educator living in Washington

state. The program included two week-long

training courses per year over a four-year

period and combined training in Holistic

Management, consensus building, Stephen

Covey’s leadership development, enterprise

facilitation and the Natural Step Program.

Over 150 people participated, including

farmers, ranchers, environmentalists,

educators, state and federal agency

representatives and members of the

in t h is I s su e

HRM of Texas, Inc.—Still Active After

All These Years

Peggy Jones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Tree New Mexico—Beyond Tree-Hugging

Ann Adams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

The Dry Creek Basin—A Rock in

the Pond

Ann Adams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

LAND & LIVESTOCK—A specialsection of IN PRACTICERancho de la Inmaculada—Prospering in

the Desert

Jim Howell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8

Bringing Back the Beasts—Managing

Wild Herbivores and Their Predators

Jim Howell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13

Savory Center Advisory Board . . . . .15

Savory Center Bulletin Board . . . . . . .17

Marketplace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20

Creating Wealth from Sunshine is the

slogan for Solar $, a new non-profit in

Washington State that, among other

things, helps educate new landowners

about how to manage their land. Doug

Warnock is one of the founding

members of this group as well as a

Certified Educator. Like the other people

featured in this issue, Doug learned ho w

important sharing information with

others is for continued learning. Read

his lead on this page to learn more

about what Solar $ has to of fer and

what members of this group have

received in return.

Learning From Outreachby Doug Warnock

JULY / AUGUST 2002 NUMBER 84

HOLISTICMANAGEMENT IN PRACTIC EP r oviding the link between a healthy environment and a sound economy

In collecting the articles for this edition and talking with members, I was struck by ho w

many Holistic Management practitioners see community or public outreach as a means of

continued learning and motivation. While it might be easier to just practice within the

smaller whole of their business or family, these people have found they can learn a lot

from working on bigger projects with people from diverse backgrounds. The challenge of

being involved in these new ventures with new people keeps them from falling into routine

or habit and not making the most of their human creativity .

While management clubs can provide good support for some practitioners, they are not

the only way to remain motivated and to learn. Some practitioners find that a community

project is a better venue for sharing this new process with others because they have

developed a relationship with the other decision makers around a community issue and

can introduce these concepts in a context where people are better able to understand

them. Regardless of how you approach it, the key to a rewarding outreach experience is to

engage others in your community in a way that mo ves you toward your holistic goal; the

choice is yours. —Editor

continued on page 2

care, wildlife habitat, pest management,

landscape care and management,

maintaining water purity in private wells,

proper maintenance of septic systems,

and how to get help in dealing with

underground fuel storage tanks. The

manual has been very well received with

over 3,750 copies distributed.

One example of landowners we have

helped is John and Jackie Robinson. They

moved to the Kittitas Valley five years ago

and purchased 20 acres with the idea of

raising horses and cattle. They were

inexperienced in managing land and looked

for advice. “We had to learn from the

ground up,” Jackie says. She credits Solar $

with helping them learn about fencing,

irrigating, pasture improvement and grazing

management so they could, in turn, have

a positive effect on the land.

Other Educational Programs

Solar $ also sponsors workshops

conducted by a team of Washington-based

Certified Educators including myself,

Craig Madsen, Sandy Matheson, Maurice

Robinette, and Lois Trevino. We have

conducted three workshops this year and

have several more planned for next year.

These have gone well according to the

responses of participants. Most of the

participants have been farmers and ranchers

in Oregon, Washington and Idaho. Through

these workshops, we are helping producers

manage with a greater focus on the long-

term results of their actions and with a

more complete sense of direction. The

experience has been great for us and has

helped us improve our skills as teachers

and facilitators.

Planning for the Future

Solar $ is looking ahead to other

programs and projects. In September we

met to review our holistic goal, assess what

had been accomplished, and consider new

directions. While we want to continue

helping managers of both small acreages

and commercial ranches, we hope to get

more involved in some of the current

policy issues, especially those directly related

to land and water. We live in an area in

which agriculture is dependent upon

Colville Confederated Tribes. That diversity

helped enhance everyone’s learning in the

project and instigated our interest in further

opportunities to collaborate.

Early in Solar $’s life, several existing

agencies said they needed someone to

provide education on land management to

a growing number of new landowners with

small acreages. David Chain, Kittitas County

District Conservationist, is a member of our

group and he is the one that brought this

need to our attention. He suggested the

possibility of obtaining an Environmental

Quality Incentive Program (EQIP) grant

through the local conservation district to

fund such a program. Solar $ was willing

to take on the responsibility and the Natural

Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)

was able to obtain an EQIP grant, which

the local Conservation District administered.

Solar $ contracted with the conservation

district to begin the Small Acreage

Management program in the summer

of 1997.

Targeting Managers of Small Farms

Since then, Solar $ has conducted

educational meetings, field study tours,

distributed a bi-monthly newsletter and has

written and published the 90-page Small

Ranch Manual , a guide to management for

green pastures and clean water. The central

focus of the manual is on using irrigation

water efficiently, controlling soil erosion

and enhancing water quality. With over

3,400 land ownerships of 20 acres or less

in Kittitas County, there are a lot of people

that influence water quality, and the

influence can be positive or negative.

“Someone with five acres that are

mismanaged can be a real problem and

make it bad for all of the other land

owners,” says Anna Lael, manager of the

Kittitas County Conservation District. We

feel that the Holistic Management principles

we have incorporated into this manual will

help them influence these ecosystem

processes in a positive way.

The Small Ranch Manual has chapters

on setting a goal, pasture management,

pasture irrigation, managing streams and

ponds to protect water quality, erosion

control, managing animal waste, woodlot

2 HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE #84

The Allan Savory

Center for Holistic Management

The ALLAN SAVORY CENTER FOR HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT is a 501(c) (3)non-profit organization. The centerworks to restore the vitality ofcommunities and the natural resourceson which they depend by advancing thepractice of Holistic Management andcoordinating its development worldwide.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Rio de la Vista, Chair

Ann Adams, Secretary

Manuel Casas, Treasurer

Gary Rodgers

Allan Savory

ADVISORY BOARD

Robert Anderson, Chair, Corrales, NM

Sam Brown, Austin, TX

Leslie Christian, Portland, OR

Gretel Ehrlich, Gaviota, CA

Clint Josey, Dallas, TX

Doug McDaniel, Lostine, OR

Guillermo Osuna, Coahuila, Mexico

Bunker Sands, Dallas, TX

York Schueller, El Segundo, CA

Jim Shelton, Vinita, OK

Richard Smith, Houston, TX

STAFF

Shannon Horst, Executive Director; Kate Bradshaw, Associate Director; Allan Savory, Founding Director; Jody Butterfield, Co-Founder andResearch and Educational MaterialsCoordinator ; Kelly Pasztor, Director of Educational Services; Lee Dueringer,

Director of Development; Ann Adams,

Managing Editor, IN PRACTICE andMembership and Educator SupportCoordinator , Craig Leggett, Special ProjectsManager; Ann Reeves, Bookkeeper; Mary Child, Regional ProgramDevelopment Coordinator.

Africa Centre for Holistic Management

Private Bag 5950, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

tel: (263) (11) 213529; email:

[email protected]

Huggins Matanga, Director; Roger

Parry, Manager, Regional Training Centre;Elias Ncube, Hwange ProjectManager/Training Coordinator

HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT INPRACTICE (ISSN: 1098-8157) is publishedsix times a year by The Allan SavoryCenter for Holistic Management, 1010Tijeras NW, Albuquerque, NM 87102,505/842-5252, fax: 505/843-7900; email:[email protected].;website: www.holisticmanagement.org Copyright © 2002.

Ad definitumfinem

Learning From Outreach continued from page one

irrigation water. Water quality and quantity

are foremost as issues of the day, and we

think Solar $ needs to be more involved

in these issues. Solar $ members are also

interested in interacting with other

organizations that are involved in

environmental issues, and we hope to

develop better networks in order to

collaborate and be more effective in

influencing local and regional policies.

Charging Batteries

I think most of us are involved because

we couldn’t accomplish alone what we can

accomplish together, and it can be lonely if

you’re the only one trying something new.

“I appreciate being able to work and learn

with other folks that are not afraid to

think outside the box,” says Joe Meuchel,

rancher and Solar $ member. “Attending

and participating in this group’s activities

helps me keep my battery charged.”

Another member, Dave Duncan, a

purebred cattle breeder, says that one of

the major benefits of being part of the

group is having the support of people

with similar interests and goals. This has

made the group more effective. “We’ve

definitely had a positive effect. We’ve

influenced people in developing goals

for their resources, both land and

human resources.”

For me, it’s been a very fulfilling

experience. I have seen a number of

people influenced positively by our

activities. Being able to meet and work with

a group that has common interests and

focus helps me keep on track. I can

understand the loneliness of one enthused

about Holistic Management who has no one

with whom to share ideas and plan activities

on a regular basis. This type of group and

this organization has provided a focus for

my energies and I look forward to the new

and expanding experiences that we

encounter as we continue to move toward

our holistic goal.

For more information on Solar $,

its activities or the educator team’s

workshops, contact Doug at

[email protected] or phone

509/925-1070.

management techniques; to demonstrate and

conduct research concerning holistic resource

management; to provide educational and

scientific presentations; to provide consulting

and advisory services to interested individuals

in Texas, and generally to foster the

development of holistic resource management.”

Determining Course

Once we got the organizational structure

determined, we still needed to figure out who

we were and what we wanted to do within

the guidelines we had formed. David Graf

recollects, “We struggled with who we were,

what the function of the organization should

be, and what we needed to do for the people

of Texas. Everyone was doing things

differently.”

So we came together for facilitated retreats

to bond with each other and to sort out our

common answers to these questions. We

defined and redefined our mission from

“halting desertification worldwide through

Holistic Resource Management” to “dedicated

to forming a healthy ecosystem capable of

supporting the people in it” to our current

mission, “to provide encouragement and

support of holistic management in Texas.”

We formed a solid holistic goal, which has

changed very little since 1992. It reads:

Quality of Life—We value a healthy ecosystem

capable of supporting the people in it, strong

family units, financial sustainability, a land

ethic, and personal growth and development

while enjoying life and the fellowship of a

professionally proactive organization.

Forms of Production / Activities—Practicing

holistic management, self-sustaining forms of

revenue, facilitating training and education,

creating public awareness and forming

collaborative partnerships.

Future Resource Base—High biodiversity, a

healthy water cycle, a healthy mineral cycle,

efficient capture of solar energy, and a

harmonious interdependence between

urban and rural communities through an

understanding of ecological processes; an

active membership with respect for diversity,

Editor’s Note: We asked Peggy Jones to write

an article about the history of HRM of Texas

because it is one of the oldest and most activ e

regional Holistic Management groups in the

U.S. As Peggy notes, coordinating such a group

is not without it’s challenges, but HRM of

Texas has proven to be a vocal presence in

Texas regarding land management issues

and has helped spread the word about

Holistic Management.

What is it that has kept HRM (Holistic

Resource Management) of Texas going

strong for so many years? Texans have

a reputation of being stubborn and fiercely

independent, yet for a small organization (our

paid membership rarely reaches 200), we have

been able to accomplish a remarkable amount

over the 15 years of our existence. Our success,

in fact, is really about that very independence,

and our tenacity and dedication to making a

difference. It is also about coming together for

camaraderie and soaking up new information,

bringing in friends and neighbors, and handing

the baton to fresh energies when we need to.

In the Beginning

Some of Allan Savory’s earliest clients were

Texans, and some had even been active in

helping found the Center for Holistic Resource

Management in Albuquerque in 1984. But

being involved in someone else’s organization

and creating your own are two different things.

It took some key players getting together to

determine if there was enough interest and

need to form their own regional organization

based on Holistic Management. Those Savory

Center members who were active in forming

the Texas Branch in 1986 included Clint Josey,

Bob Steger, Charles Probandt, David Graf and

Claudia Ball, and they are still active today.

As interest in a new branch for Texas and

Oklahoma grew (the Oklahoma group got big

enough for their own branch by 1992), we

wrote our own bylaws and incorporated

in 1987 as Holistic Resource Management of

Texas, Inc., a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit.

Our Articles of Incorporation defined our

purpose, “to promote, organize and sponsor

seminars on ecological land and resource

HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE • JULY / AUGUST 2002 3

HRM of Texas, Inc.—

Still Ac t i ve After All These Ye a r sby Peggy Jones

continued on page 4

long-term productive relationships with

public agencies and endowment groups, and

proactive networking with other groups that

manage holistically.

What We Offe r

These valuable two-day retreats became the

yearly Planning Sessions, where participants

socialize in a relaxed setting, review the past

year’s activities, revisit the goal and mission,

and plan objectives for the coming year. Each

objective is put through the model and

examined for projected outcomes and logjams.

If the project passes the testing guidelines

and someone volunteers to chair the

committee, we add it to the list. Interested

parties volunteer to be on the committee and

proceed as a team to implement the project. In

addition, any members who feel so moved can

set up conferences, seminars, field days, public

relations opportunities, etc., on their own and

on behalf of HRM of Texas.

Yearly objectives have changed little over

the 15 years. While educating those new to

Holistic Management was a bigger focus at

the beginning, and support of those already

practicing Holistic Management is currently

our objective, educational projects have

continued to be a priority year after year.

We also produce a professional newsletter

of theory, anecdotal experiences, research

findings, and advice from other practitioners,

that includes bulletin board items, a

membership form, and contact info on

our board of directors.

Our annual meeting is another primary

vehicle for educating and supporting new and

existing practitioners. We always connect a

Holistic Management workshop that runs

from a half to three days with the two-day

symposium that contains the annual business

meeting, board meeting, lectures, tours, and

mini-workshops.

Field days/ranch tours are the most

popular with our membership and most years

we have four to six of them. We have also

tried to offer enough short courses each year

to meet the demand of new practitioners. We

do all of this on top of efforts to work on our

public image, seek a larger membership, seek

outside funding, and build partnerships with

other organizations.

our reputation for grounded, positive results

began to grow.

In 1995, HRM of Texas and Texas A&M set

up a forum to explore each other’s ideas, get

to know each other personally as well as

professionally, and accept what philosophical

differences might exist while building a

relationship on common ground. Certainly,

HRM of Texas’s approach to education is

different than Texas A&M’s (i.e., we provide

people with a value-based decision-making

model to help them reach a holistic goal while

Texas A&M’s focus is research driven

development of tools to treat various problems,

and educating people to use those tools). But,

the common ground lies in our values of a

healthy ecosystem and sustainable practices to

improve ecosystem health.

Since that date, we have collaborated with

Texas A&M extension on many of our field

days and annual meetings. We have always

had a few rogue agency and academic

representatives on our board, but lately the

attitude has begun to change. Now HRM of

Texas is considered an alliance worth pursuing.

Plans for the Future

HRM of Texas is preparing for our 16th

year. We have decided to seek more grant

funding and not pressure our membership so

much to support our activities. We want to

focus more on follow-up with new and old

practitioners, find more creative ways to get

people the training they need. We have chosen

to continue our annual meetings and to host

the international Holistic Management

gathering in Texas in 2003.

We were successful in seeking a National

Fish & Wildlife Foundation grant to continue

our newsletter, create a website, a member

directory, an introduction to HRM of Texas

booklet, a new brochure, a demonstration

project at the Reed Ranch, and ecosystem

education for urban sixth graders at the

Hornsby Bend water treatment facility near

Austin. We will continue with work on the

LaCopita demonstration ranch in south Texas,

a three-day educational conference in the Rio

Grande valley and our usual slate of field days,

workshops and board meetings. Our Advisory

Board will host its yearly symposium and the

PlanIt Texas Coalition will wrap up its outreach

phase and disband. Sounds like another

typically busy year for HRM of Texas.

Peggy Jones is the Executive Director

of HRM of Texas and can be reached at

512/858-4251 or [email protected].

Strategies & Alliances

What have our efforts produced? One

example of our results began at our annual

meeting in 1992. At this meeting we brought

together a panel of agencies, environmental

organizations, and landowner groups warring

over the Endangered Species Act. By

demonstrating that the core values of all these

groups are the same, our facilitators Certified

Educator Peggy Sechrist and Naseem Rakha

were able to introduce the Holistic

Management process as a powerful tool

that helps build consensus.


HRM of Texas board member Pat

Richardson, President C. Wayne Hanselka,

and Executive Director Peggy Jones.

Still Ac t i ve After AllThese Ye a r s

continued from page 3

The panel chose to further explore this

avenue to resolve management conflicts for

all of Texas. They expanded to become the

PlanIt Texas coalition and, with the help of a

generous grant from the Meadows Foundation,

took on the management of a central Texas

ranch to prove whether or not a property

could be managed in accordance with all

government regulations, satisfy all

environmental organizations, and still please

the landowner with the condition and

profitability of the land. The project was a

huge success and the lessons we learned we

disseminated to the public through field days,

videos, and a landowner’s manual of

techniques and resources.

But many leaders within HRM of Texas

felt strongly that if we could bridge the gap

between HRM of Texas and the Texas A&M

University system by getting them to embrace

Holistic Management and spread it through

their extension network, much of our mission

would be accomplished. As Peggy Sechrist

became more involved in networking with

other organizations such as SARE (Sustainable

Agriculture Research and Education), SAWG

(Sustainable Agriculture Working Group), and

various academic committees and task forces,


hat does someone with 20 years

experience in horticulture and

tropical plants do for a living? Become

Executive Director of a non-profit in New

Mexico whose mission is to help educate others

about trees in this arid Southwest state. As

Executive Director, Suzanne Probart has been

on a learning adventure for the past

12 years since she joined Tree New Mexico

as a volunteer. That journey took an exciting

turn when she learned about Holistic

Management in 1999.

A Life of Meaning

When Sue began volunteering with

Tree New Mexico in Albuquerque in 1990,

she was a plant broker and provided

interior plant maintenance services. With a

son about to graduate from high school,

Sue was looking for work that would get

her more involved in her community. She

thought about a number of avenues for

community service and decided she wanted

to work with a local organization that

would get people involved in improving

their quality of life.

Tree New Mexico did just that because

people can more readily see the connection

between trees and so many environmental

concerns and issues such as water, soil, air

quality, and pollution. In 1990, Tree New

Mexico also had a big growth leap because

the 1990 Farm Bill’s Urban Forestry Program

was a source of funding for a new contract.

While Sue had heard of the Savory

Center, it wasn’t until 1999 that she actually

met Allan Savory and served with him as a

member of the Bureau of Land Management’s

(BLM), Rio Puerco Management Committee

(RPMC). This committee, which includes the

key state, federal and tribal natural resource

agencies, nonprofits, permittees etc., has been

enacted (or charged) to find new approaches to

address and improve the conditions of the Rio

Puerco Watershed, one of the most degraded

watersheds in the country. At one point Allan

approached her to see if Tree New Mexico

would be willing to partner on a Holistic

Management learning site. She accepted the

offer. The first step in this partnership was for

Tree New Mexico—

B eyond Tree-Hugging by Ann Adams

continued on page 6

now I sit down with each Eagle Scout and help

him determine what he does or does not

know, and then help him structure the project.

In other words, I facilitate his development of

his project and not just tell him what his

choices are. It’s been so much more fun and

their success rate has increased. In the past

when we gave them a list of resources, they

didn’t really know what to do with the

resources so they couldn’t really follow

through successfully. Because they now are a

part of structuring their own projects , they are

more able to determine what steps are needed,

the details included, and as a result, have been

more successful.

“I’m learning to ask more process questions

so that the scout can come up with his own

answers and understand the relationship

between the different parts of the project.

Using this process really didn’t take any

longer than it had in the old way, and it

was so much less frustrating. To me that’s

what Holistic Management has helped me

do—pay more attention to the process. I

understand better how important it is for

people to understand what they are doing

and whythey are doing it. They are much

more able to then choose how they do it

with greater results.”

Among its numerous projects Tree

New Mexico has an Outreach Program, the

River Rescue Program, a Tree Planting and

a Classroom Education Program and works

with over 1,200 volunteers annually. Sue

has noted that since her training she is

better able to discern when a project she

is being asked to collaborate on or help in

some way is likely to succeed or fail and

determine if there are missing pieces that

will make it a success. With Holistic

Management this type of analytical

process is much clearer and she can assess

the situation more quickly. She also knows

what questions to ask to get other people

thinking the same way (e.g., “Are we

addressing the root cause?” “What is the root

cause?” “What might some of the unintended

consequences of that action be?”).

“I’ve also felt more stretched personally

because I am more observant of people’s

reactions to new pieces of information or the

questions I ask of them. In the past, I might

have been more focused on my agenda. Now,

I’m busy trying to determine their motivations

and whether or not we can work together or

if further involvement will be a waste of my

W

Successful Projects

Sue readily admits she really didn’t know

what she was getting into when she joined the

training program. She certainly didn’t realize

how much she would be affected personally

by the training. She sees the influences

everywhere in her work with Tree New

Mexico. “I set up my projects differently now

because I see things differently. For example,

we help Boy Scouts that are applying for their

Eagle Scout badges identify worthy projects. In

the past I usually would meet with them and

give them options A, B, or C and give some

coaching once they made their decision. But

Sue to get more training in Holistic

Management and in 2000, she joined the

Certified Educator Training Program and began

working on a Holistic Management project. The

Gibson Learning Site, is built around the

Gibson family’s ranch on the Navajo Nation.

Sue has been the lead person on this project as

it reports back to the Rio Puerco Management

Committee and the BLM. But this project is

only one place where she has integrated what

she’s learned in our training program.

Through many of Tree New Mexico's outreach and

educational programs, like this treeplanting at

O'Keefe Elementary School in Albuquerque, Sue

Probart has the opportunity to help others learn

how to look at trees as part of a bigger

environmental picture.


Back in 1974 Clyde Johnson joined the

Bureau of Land Management (BLM)

because he had an interest and college

degree in range management and no land

base to manage. Over the years he’s learned

a lot from the permittees he’s worked with,

but perhaps one of his greatest learning

experiences was his involvement with the

Dry Creek Basin Planning Group. The ripples

from his involvement in that effort are still

expanding today.

Bringing It Home

In 1990, Clyde was the Lead Range

Conservationist for the BLM in Hesperus,

Colorado. He had heard about Allan Savory

and Holistic Management, but he wanted to

see for himself if everything he had heard

was really true. He talked a fellow agency

employee into coming along for the ride

when he attended a field day at Mountain

Island Ranch where Certified Educator

Miles Keogh was the ranch manager.

That field trip was an eye-opening

experience. Through proper management

at Mountain Island the riparian areas were

actually improving and native species of

grasses were coming in that hadn’t been there

for a long time. Clyde knew he had to get

this knowledge to the permittees in his area.

Clyde put the idea of Holistic Management

training to a permittee, Debbie Burch, and a

colleague, John Hawks. The two took the ball

and ran with it. They approached the Grazing

Advisory Board (a grazing permittees fund

for range improvement) and said that such

a BLM-sponsored event offering partially

subsidized training costs would be a

reasonable expenditure for the board.

The board agreed.

So for five days 80 people including

environmentalists, agricultural producers,

BLM, Natural Resources Conservation Service

(NRCS), and the 30 grazing permittees came

together to learn. The results? “A greater

understanding between BLM and

I m p r oving Management

While Sue has been able to use Holistic

Management to help her with her projects, she

also believes that it has helped with the day-

to-day management of Tree New Mexico. “A

lot of non-profits can stumble with their

decision-making. They don’t take the time to

access the situation (financial or human

capacity). With Holistic Management I’ve been

better able to lead our staff through that

process,” says Sue.

“An example of how it’s helped us is the

fact that we’ve recently brought on two new

staff members, and they’ve really been able to

adapt to our organization easily and vice

versa, and the communication has been on a

much higher plane than with previous new

employees. Because I’ve been integrating

Holistic Management (setting a holistic goal

and testing decisions), the staff now feels like

they have more input into decisions and

policies and therefore have more ownership in

the organization more quickly (within three

months of starting). They offer suggestions

and take over tasks in ways I never would

have dreamed. As a team we are more

considerate and there is open dialogue of how

we can improve the team and the organization

as a whole.”

Tree New Mexico’s motto is to “Plant the

right tree in the right place for the right

reason.” Since learning about Holistic

Management, she has been better able to lead

Tree New Mexico in it’s mission and to

educate others about how trees are a piece of

the larger whole. Through integrating her

knowledge of Holistic Management into her

projects and into the non-profit she leads, she

has made Tree New Mexico more effective in

it’s efforts, made better use of time, and

increased TNM’s contribution to the

community. “We’ve moved from the

perception of being a “tree-hugging”

organization in the early ‘90s, to a nationally

recognized and commended environmental

tree-based organization. In the process we

have helped educate others on how trees are

an important part of a larger whole,” says Sue.

“Our decisions are based on that

understanding and that has made all the

difference.”

Suzanne Probart can be reached at


Tree New Mex i c o continued from page 5

time. I also know better who we need to

include (the stakeholders) and how to engage

them. For that reason, the success rates on all

our projects are higher.”

Has Holistic Management helped Sue work

with government agency people? Absolutely.

“I’ve found resource people to be brilliant in

their fields, but very focused on their little

piece and often unable to see the whole.

They’ve learned a lot of details along the way,

but haven’t had any ‘aha’s’ about how all this

works together.

“In our projects we help open people’s

mind to that. A component of Holistic

Management that has been really helpful in

that way is the ecosystem processes. The

explanation of how nature functions and how

people’s different interests fit within each

process really helps people see the bigger

picture. I’ve seen this happen with

the fire and watershed issues in particular.

“Tree New Mexico is part of a riparian area

improvement group that consists of a number

of professionals/experts in riparian

management. These folks, who are all working

to help improve the river and habitat, are some

of the most educated and dedicated people in

their field, and yet the situation continues to

worsen. As part of TNM’s River Rescue

program activities, in December 2001, I

arranged for Allan to speak about water cycles

and ecosystem processes at one of our

facilitated gatherings. It was really amazing to

hear the questions and to see all these experts

thinking about what Allan was saying and

what they were hearing. Some of them began

to see how many of the past decisions have

been made to treat symptoms and not address

root cause. When we are able to bring people

together and provide an atmosphere that

allows for deep thinking, I feel we are working

in the right direction and making headway,

that we are fulfilling our mission to be a

stimulant in the community on bigger issues.”

The Dry Creek Basin

G r o u p —

Rock in the Pondby Ann Adams

‘Holistic Management

has helped me pay

more attention to

the process’


permittees,” Clyde says, but that was just

for the short-term.

Mark Roeber from the U.S. Forest Service

(USFS) in Paonia, Colorado returned from

that workshop and began to influence the

work on the West Elk Allotment, which has

since gone on to win environmental awards.

Likewise, six months later, the BLM had

another three-day Holistic Management

training in which the NRCS sent one of their

employees, Cindy Dvergsten, who went

on to become a Certified Educator

in the Dolores area.

Creating a Sustainable Plan

But perhaps the greatest outgrowth of

that training was the Coordinated Resource

Management Plan for the Dry Creek Basin

the planning group developed after first

setting a holistic goal in 1995. They used

their holistic goal to help develop the

strategies and objectives specified in the

plan and tested their subsequent decisions

toward their holistic goal before

implementing them.

This simple act alone had a profound

impact, as did including the 100 people who

said they were interested (even if they only

responded by mail). Because this group

made an effort to include all interested

parties and addressed core values with the

holistic goal, they developed a document

that could withstand the test of time and

the waxing and waning of interest.

So what has come of the Dry Creek

Basin Planning Group since 1995? Is such

continued public input and commitment

sustainable? Clyde decided to find out. He

went to a recent meeting to see what they

were doing. He found they had recently

received $300,000 in Environmental

Protection Agency (EPA) money to increase

ground cover and improve upland and

riparian habitat. There had been some

contention over the sage grouse issue

because there had been a small population

on the allotment and the grouse is an

endangered species candidate.

Where this group had once meet

quarterly, they now met annually and about

half of the 28 people in the room were new

to the group. But throughout this transition,

there had been enough buy-in by agency

coming to the forefront with this monument,

it is critical to get and use public input,” says

Clyde. “The public just isn’t buying ‘vacuum’

decisions any more.”

Influencing the Field

Clyde also thinks that while Holistic

Management may not be embraced by

many academics who find this process

“unscientific” and too innovative or insulting,

it has influenced the range management

industry. Holistic Management terminology is

now the standard language, with such terms

as brittleness, animal impact, and ecosystem

processes commonplace.

Likewise, as the need increases for more

agency people, and others involved in range

management, to see the big picture in range

management, Holistic Management will offer

more possibilities for improved natural

resource management. “Government agents

are trained in natural resources in very

specific areas like timber, hydrology, and

range. Holistic Management pulls these

disciplines together. If the agency is working

on an Environmental Impact Statement, we

have all these specialists writing from their

point of view. But, if you have someone on

staff who understands Holistic Management,

you can pull those points together so

everything gels. I do that when I’m reviewing

oil and gas leases for the BLM. I look at all

the factors that others might not have

thought about from their special field and

make sure we are looking at the socio-

economic and environmental effects.

After 27 years in the BLM Clyde has

chosen to remain at the field level because

of who he gets to work with. It is a

conscious decision on his part. He finds that

his practice of Holistic Management at home

is just as exciting—especially working on

his grass-fed beef operation with his wife.

“Holistic Management is motivational.

Realizing that every decision influences more

than just what you are making your decision

about is a powerful experience. You can’t be

the same once you’ve had Holistic

Management training.”

Clyde Johnson is now a Realty Specialist

for the BLM. He can be reached at


participants that whatever the management

team decided, the agency approved.

Moreover, the original plan was still being

used to make decisions.

In the current meeting Clyde noted that

a woman from The Nature Conservancy

wanted to use some of the remaining $60,000

EPA money for tamarisk control so that the

willows could flourish in the riparian areas.

One of the ranchers responded that he could

understand wanting willows, but that kind

of control was very labor intensive, and

more importantly, the tamarisk was a

symptom of how the ecosystem was

functioning and they needed to look at that.

Clyde knew that rancher, and knew

that had not been his perspective 15 years

ago. “Holistic Management principles and

concepts carried the day. That rancher

was able to see the bigger picture and

influence conversations and actions because

of them. To me that’s an example of the

power of one person who is looking at

root causes and is able to help other people

see them as well.”

Currently as a new National Monument,

Canyons of the Ancients, evolves in southern

Colorado, Clyde is trying to influence the

planning process there by suggesting similar

strategies to the planners. “With so many

land ownership and property rights issues

Clyde Johnson: "You can’t be the same once

you’ve had Holistic Management training."

8 LAND & LIVESTOCK IN PRACTICE #84

Ilove to get off the beaten track. That’s not hard to do in old Mexico.

Last March my wife, Daniela, and I, along with our friends Bryron

and Shelly Shelton, headed south of the border for an off-the-beaten-

track adventure. The goal: to find our way onto the remote and rugged

ranches of some of northern Mexico’s most successful practitioners of

Holistic Management. This, and one or two future articles, will attempt

to highlight the lessons and insights gained from our journey.

Within a few hours of crossing the border, we found ourselves

pulling into the tiny town of Pitiquito, in northern Sonora. We were on

our way to Rancho de La Inmaculada, the home of Ivan and Martha

Aguirre and their children Dacia, Ivan Jr., Aurelio, and Marco. Ivan had

instructed us to ask anyone in Pitiquito for directions to the home of

his uncle Hector, who would then join our expedition and lead us out

into the middle of the Sonora Desert, delivering us to the doorstep of

the La Inmaculada headquarters. After a few inquiries we found

Hector, had lunch, inspected our vehicles to make sure they were up

to the trip, and were on our way.

The road from Pitiquito to La Inmaculada only covers about 60 miles

(100 km), but they are 60 of the longest and roughest miles any of us

had ever tried to negotiate. Rocks, gullies, washboards, and ruts gave

way to the occasional 50 meter (yard), much appreciated smooth stretch.

Our only mishap was a dented flywheel housing, made apparent by a

sudden, awfully dang loud clickitty clack. Luckily, Byron has a self-

sufficient streak of ingenuity, and he took it off, banged out the dent,

and away we went. The first two forks in the road were signposted,

but after that you had to know where you were going. Good thing

Hector was along.

We drove mile after mile through cactus, cactus, and more cactus,

mixed in with all sorts of desert brush and millions of acres of bare,

desert pavement. With just a couple exceptions, there wasn’t a perennial

grass plant in sight. After what seemed like an eternity, Hector assured

us we were getting close. Still no grass.

This isn’t the first article about La Inmaculada. I’ve read at least two

LAND L I V E S TO C K& A Special Section ofIN PRACTICE

JULY / AUGUST 2002 #84

Like all of us, Ivan Aguirre’s holistic journey has been

filled with highs and lows and lots of learning.

Rancho de la Inmaculada—

Prospering in the Desert

by Jim Howell

others, and the photos I’d seen, which depicted a grass-covered

landscape, didn’t look anything like what we had been driving through.

It was hard to imagine this was the same planet. We rounded the last

bend, a fenceline came into view, and all of sudden there it was—grass-

covered desert. How did that happen? Much of this story will cover

those details, but first a little history.

From Industrial Horsepower to Horse Horsepowe r

Ivan comes from a successful business family. Ivan’s father once

owned the longest laying-hen house in the world—1.1 km long, to be

exact—near the city of Hermosillo, about a four-hour drive south of the

ranch. When the first oil crisis of the mid-‘70s shot grain prices through

the roof, the senior Aguirre decided he needed to diversify his assets

beyond the egg business, and in 1974 he acquired Rancho de la

Inmaculada. Originally part of a gigantic 150,000 ha (320,000 acre)

estancia, the ranch now comprises 10,000 ha (25,000 acres).

Ivan’s father was a great visionary, and was determined to create the

model ranch according to the dominant industrialized culture of his time.

He started by clearing the entire ranch of every single brush and cactus

plant. These were all bulldozed into hundreds of windrows, forming a

distinctly man-made grid across a previously diverse and chaotic

landscape. The brush windrows were mixed with soil to create water

diversion dikes, the intention being to trap water on the ranch that

would otherwise escape down the ranch’s main channel, formed by the

Rio (River) de la Inmaculada. As a result of all the dirt work, the rio’s

original meandering channel was obliterated. Some 2,500 acres (1,000 ha)

were sown to buffel grass, an exotic, high producing, subtropical native

of South Africa. Ten irrigation pumps were developed, delivering water

to 12 center pivot irrigation systems. Feedlots were built, underground

grain storage pits were excavated, and 10,000 liters (about 2,500 gallons)

of diesel were consumed daily to keep everything running—all this in

the middle of the Sonora Desert, way, way, way off the beaten track.

It was hard to imagine.

The Aguirres followed this intensive industrialized model from 1975

until 1983. In the middle of it all, Ivan’s father unexpectedly passed away

in 1980. At the time, Ivan was in the midst of his collegiate years at

Texas Tech University, preparing himself to return home and manage

the whole show. Ivan and his brother took a semester off and returned

to the ranch in the fall of 1980, only to realize that their father’s dream

was hemorrhaging money and sinking fast. Along with their mother,

they made the decision to lease out the ranch and let someone else take

the financial hit. After graduating from Texas Tech in 1982, Ivan worked

as a nature guide in the Sea of Cortez’ Kino Bay before coming home

and taking over in July of 1983.

With one horse and one hired man (his mentor and teacher Don

Jesus), Ivan started custom grazing 300 mother cows. He was paid with

livestock instead of cash, and by the late ‘80s had accumulated 350 of

his own cattle and had paid off the ranch’s debt through the sale of all

the abandoned idle pumps, center pivots, and diesel engines. He was

also taking in 2,000 to 3,000 stocker cattle on a seasonal basis, and things

were going well.

Holistic Highs and Low s

A big turnaround came in 1985, when Ivan heard Kirk Gadzia give

a presentation on Holistic Management at a Mexican agricultural

conference. Kirk talked about the beneficial effects of time-controlled,

well-planned grazing and animal impact, and about how ranchers in

this sort of desert country were actually increasing their stocking rates

750 heifers. Ivan laughs at that purchase today, calling them a “tuity

fruity” blend of about every imaginable type of bovine. By the end of

1992, they had accumulated 1800 head of their own (but highly

leveraged) cattle. Their year-long average stocking rate worked out to

4 ha (10 acres) per stock unit, which is nearly unheard of in this sort

of country. The land was improving, the ranch was profitable, they were

living their dream.

Then came the inevitable crunch. By 1994, interest rates had

skyrocketed and the rainy seasons started to become less rainy.

Suddenly they were faced with insufficient grass to feed 1800 cows and

an interest payment the cows couldn’t make. According to Ivan, “they

weren’t doing their homework.” Things had been so good that an

attitude of invincibility had crept into their routine. Daily monitoring

wasn’t happening, let alone long term careful planning. Dormant season

forage assessments went out the window, and by 1996, well into the

extended drought that affected all of the Southwest and northern

Mexico, the Aguirres were out of grass. For the first time since taking

over the ranch, Ivan had to buy in outside feed.

Cattle were sold to pay off debt, and their stocking rate decreased

50 percent to 8 ha per stock unit from 1994 to 1996, and then down to

9 ha from 1996 to 1999. Ivan calls the mid-‘90s “a down time for the

ranch,” emotionally and otherwise. Their biological monitoring transects

didn’t get done in 1994. Things were so frustrating that it just didn’t seem

worth the effort. But sometimes it takes a crisis to shake us back into

reality. The Sonora Desert is an erratic place weather-wise, and Mexico

continued on page 10

IN PRACTICE • JULY / AUGUST 2002 LAND & LIVESTOCK 9

There is a sharp contrast between the majority of the country in this part of Sonora (to the right of the road) and the perennial grasslands

of La Inmaculada, to the left.

while also improving the ecological health of their land. Ivan returned

home that night to Martha, and with tears in his eyes, exclaimed that

“we have found someone who can show us how to do what we’ve

been dreaming of.” Since hearing Kirk’s talk, both Ivan and Martha have

attended numerous Holistic Management courses. They’ve even had

Allan Savory conduct a special course right out on the ranch itself.

Ivan’s dedication to the study and practice of Holistic Management

eventually led to his accreditation as a Holistic Management®

Certified Educator.

Like all of us, the Aguirre’s holistic journey has been filled with both

lows and highs and lots of learning. In 1990, when Mexican interest rates

plunged to between 10 and 12 percent, the Aguirres dove in and bought

is an economically unpredictable country. That is reality. Over-extending

both ecologically and economically will eventually come back to bite. It

seems like most of us have to learn this the hard way, like the Aguirres.

Not all of us buckle down and survive, though. Ivan and Martha,

instead of giving up and moving on to less demanding pursuits, analyzed

their situation, revised their holistic goal, and got back on track. By 2000

they were debt free and working within the ecological realities of their

arid environment. According to Ivan, it wasn’t until then that they and

their staff finally began to internalize the decision-making framework of

The ranch has been gradually developed into 78 paddocks, with an

average size of 320 acres (128 ha) per paddock. To create higher stock

density, cattle are day herded within the existing fence infrastructure.

Ivan says this is all the fence he will ever build, and ideally would like

to have no fenced paddocks. He is excited about doing a lot more

herding, and envisions a return of the herding culture that once

dominated ranch life in Sonora. One of his workers is from the goat

herding culture that still persists on the nearby coast of the Sea of

Cortez, and Ivan would like to let his family and their goats graze the

ranch in exchange for their herding knowledge. Ivan simply states that

“we need to learn to herd.”

The return of all the perennial grasses, and the spread of the buffel

grass, has primarily resulted from careful Holistic Management® grazing

planning. During the summer growing season, Ivan plans to graze each

pasture only once, but the plan never works out as expected (as Allan

Savory often states, that is precisely why we need to plan!). The erratic

nature of summer thunderstorms creates very uneven growing

conditions across the ranch. His basic rule of thumb during this time of

the year is to “go where it’s good,” but to make sure grazing periods stay

short enough to minimize second bites on recovering regrowth. Because

warm season grasses can grow so fast when moisture is present, this

often means grazing periods of a day or two. Such short grazing periods

usually mean that very little forage gets harvested during the growing

season. In other words, the cattle are never in one place long enough to

make much of a dent in the new season’s growth. So even though the

cattle are taken to where the best grass is, most of it escapes grazing

during the fast growth months of July and August and is saved for the

long months of the dormant season.

Ivan also varies his grazing management based on the inherent

productive capacity of each paddock. Some paddocks are predominantly

Holistic Management, and things really began to click.

G r owing Grass in the Desert

At 2,500 feet (820 meters) of elevation, the patch of desert embracing

La Inmaculada is blessed with an average of 13 inches (330 mm) of

annual precipitation. Since Ivan has been back on the ranch, annual

totals have ranged from 6 to 25 inches. About 70 percent comes during

the summer monsoons in July and August, their main growing season.

Because there is an almost total absence of cool-season grasses, winter

rains do them little good in terms of grass growth, but they do add to

the bank of soil moisture critical to brush green-up in the spring. Even

though every brush and cactus plant had been bulldozed in the ‘70s,

much of it has fortunately returned. Today it’s regarded as a fantastic

resource rather than a worthless pest. The main brush species include

two types of paloverde, ironwood, and mesquite, all of which are

legumes. With the exception of extreme drought years, they all flower

and leaf out in spring, several months ahead of the summer monsoon

season, providing valuable forage during the time of year that the grass

is at its worst.

Much of the South African buffel grass planted by Ivan’s father still

persists. In fact, it has spread from the original 2,500 planted acres and

can now be found across much of the ranch. But everywhere, it coexists

with a fantastic diversity of native warm season perennial and annual

grasses and forbs. Many of the grasses are high quality members of the

grama genus, Bouteloa , with the most abundant species being Bouteloa

aristidoides , known as needle grama north of the border.




From the first of July until the first big summer storms, outside

labor is contracted to harvest the ripening mesquite beans on

Rancho de la Inmaculada. The Aguirres have about a three-week

window to get the job done, and the beans aren’t

harvested where the cattle happen to be, or

where the cattle are planned to be. This is

because the beans are a great source of energy

and protein for the animals during the hottest

and toughest time of year.

The beans are hand-harvested directly off the

tree. Any that fall to the ground are left there to

prevent soil and bacterial contamination in the

main crop. The beans are then sun-dried down

to 5 to 7 percent moisture before being crushed

in the hammer mill. The whole ground-up pods

then pass through three sieves of increasing

fineness.

The final product is a powdered, sweet mesquite meal. It’s high

in soluble fiber, contains 16 percent protein, and is packed with all

kinds of vitamins and minerals. The Aguirres mix it with their

coffee and use it as a wheat flour substitute in a wide assortment

of stews, breads, and cakes.

After processing, the meal is stored in 110 kg

barrels, and currently is being shipped to

health food stores in Tucson and to a gourmet

baker in Minneapolis. The Aguirres are

currently receiving US$8/kg, and their costs

are US$2/kg. This year they’re shooting to

produce and market 10 tons (10,000 kg) of

flour. That’s a pretty good seasonal income-

earner from a plant many ranchers spend

money trying to kill.

Some 35 percent of the pod gets caught in

those first two screenings, and the Aguirres are

determined to find an outlet for it as well. The

Peruvians, who manufacture flour from a very similar plant called

algarrobo , use the coarser screenings to manufacture cardboard.

--Jim Howell

‘They get U S$8/kg on

costs of US$2/kg—

pretty good from

a plant many

ranchers try to kill. ’

Mesquite Bean Flour

in low-lying areas that receive the benefit of spreading flood waters

during heavy precipitation events. These areas are several times more

productive than the higher country above the floodplain. Through

experience, Ivan has learned that these low-lying areas have to be

grazed at least once during the growing season. Otherwise, they become

too rank and provide very low quality forage during the dormant

season. During dormant season grazing, he plans two selections on

these high production paddocks, claiming that the cattle perform better

with two shorter grazing periods than one long grazing period.

On the higher areas, he plans to use them fairly intensively for two

to three years, grazing once during the growing season (assuming

adequate moisture), and once during the dormant season. Because the

grasses are less lignified and higher in quality in these areas, one long

dormant season grazing doesn’t stress the animals. After these two or

three years of use, Ivan plans to take them out of the grazing plan for

at least an entire year, and thinks that recovery periods of up to three

years may even be necessary on the driest, least productive sites. This

will enable plants to develop deep root systems and excellent vigor,

and will allow older material to accumulate which will eventually add

to the soil-covering litter bank.

Ivan emphasizes that his overriding, number one grazing

management rule is to stay flexible. We can never know what nature is

going to throw at us. Careful daily monitoring and constant adjusting are

therefore vital to successful management of plants, animals, and the soil

surface. Monitoring and adjusting, and occasional replanning, are just as

important as doing the plan in the first place. Back in the mid-‘90s, the

Aguirres learned that lesson the hard way—a lesson that will last a

lifetime. Has all this careful management paid off on the ground? Well,

since the Aguirres began running biological monitoring transects in 1991,

total litter has increased from 23 to 63 percent and the distance to the

nearest perennial has dropped from 66 cm (26 inches) to 32.5 cm

(12.8 inches). I’d say they’re doing something right.

Desert-Bred Beef

The La Inmaculada bovines are currently split into three herds. This

isn’t ideal, admits Ivan, but it’s temporarily necessary. One herd is ideal,

since it allows a much more effective graze/trample to recovery ratio

than several separate herds. But the last few years have brought

reasonable precipitation and grass growth, which has left them with

more forage than cows. To strengthen this product conversion weak link,

Ivan is custom grazing two herds of outside cattle, the owners of which

don’t want to mix bulls—the reason for three herds this year. One herd

will be gone later this year, while the other is contracted for six years.

Ivan gets 50 percent of the calf crop as payment. With the outside cattle,

the stocking rate has been bumped back up to 7 to 8 ha (17 to 19.5

acres) per stock unit.

His own herd, which started out as that 750-head mixed up bunch

of tuity fruity cull heifers, has been bred to Beefmaster bulls for the

past six years, so they’re starting to even out a little. Culling is based

mostly on fertility. Though managed as a single herd for grazing

management purposes, Ivan manages the La Inmaculada brand cows

as two herds from a reproductive and culling standpoint—the A herd

and B herd. The A herd is bred to calve in spring, with the bulk of the

calves coming in May.

There’s a good reason for that. Remember all that brush that flowers

and puts out tender new leaves in the spring? Well that’s prime feed for

lactating cows. The calves can’t get at it too well, but they don’t need

IN PRACTICE • JULY / AUGUST 2002 LAND & LIVESTOCK 11

The Aguirre’s herd of Beefmaster-cross cows heading back out for their

evening graze. These and several hundred more were being loose herded

to concentrate grazing and animal impact to ward the back of the

paddock.

much high quality nutrition from the land for the first couple months.

By the time the monsoon rains start in July and the grass comes on, the

calves are big enough to start popping on that new growth. Ivan’s

neighbor has been gathering weaning weight data for years. May-born

calves are historically always the heaviest at weaning, and breed back

percentages are the best as well.

All the yearling heifers are initially bred in August to October

(at 14-16 months) to calve during the spring calving season. Those that

conceive stay in the A herd, and the rest go to the B herd. If they miss

again, they’re out. If a mature cow from the A herd misses, she goes to

the B herd as well, and stays there as long as she keeps having a calf.

All these A herd cattle that miss during their late summer breeding

season are put back to the bull as soon as winter wears off during the

following spring, and they’re now considered to be B herd cows. They

calve from December to March. About 60 percent are A cows and the

rest are Bs. Including yearlings and two-year-old first-calf heifers, the A

herd conception rate has averaged 76 percent over the years, and those

cows milk all the way through the winter till weaning in April, with no

outside supplement but a little sea salt. That’s awfully good for a Sonora

Desert ranch carrying such a high stocking rate. The herd only gets one

3-way vaccination a year. The occasional sick animal gets put in the sick

pasture. If she starts to get better, she goes back with her mates. If she

starts to look worse, she gets sent down the road before she falls over.

Mesquite Miracles

That’s the scoop on the cows and the grass, but there’s more to this

story. The Aguirres are mesquite farmers, too. Starting in 1985 and

continuing through 1997, La Inmaculada was a mesquite charcoal-

producing machine. Remember all those windrows of piled up brush

and cactus from the brush clearing days? Well the mesquite trees were

snagged out and turned into barbecue fuel. Some 8,000 tons of it were

shipped off the ranch over the course of those 13 years. The charcoal

paid for all the fencing and stockwater developments. Now that the


Aguirres have pretty well muscled their way through all the dead

mesquite, and now that lots of new mesquite has grown back, their

focus has shifted to figuring out how to transform this renewable

resource into value-added products.

For those of you not from the American Southwest or northern

Mexico, the mesquite is a leguminous tree or bush that produces copious

quantities of seed pods in late spring/early summer, especially if it’s

been a wet year. A bumper “bean crop” in the southwestern deserts

refers to mesquite beans, not soybeans. In more productive areas of

the Southwest, such as the Edward’s Plateau of Texas, the mesquite is

generally maligned as a grass-killing, moisture robbing noxious weed.

But in the drier parts of the Southwest, most ranchers are tolerant of

their mesquite plants due to this abundant production of high protein,

high energy pods, only they don’t call them pods, they call ‘em beans.

They are a fantastic source of desperately needed nutrients at a time of

year usually characterized by a nearly depleted bank of quality forage.

The Aguirres value their beans as cattle fodder, but are also tapping into

other economic uses for this abundant legume, one of which is the

production of mesquite flour (see sidebar on page 10.)

The second mesquite enterprise utilizes the wood itself to make

attractive, durable flooring. Small diameter limbs--down to about 2

inches--are pruned from living trees. The smallest parts of limb (about

30 percent) are left on the soil surface to add to the soil cover, another

15 percent of the limb (not suitable for flooring) goes to make charcoal,

and the remainder goes to the sawyer in the recently constructed

woodshop, where the limbs are milled, glued, and sanded into the

finished product.

The Aguirres are currently marketing through the San Pedro

Mesquite Company, based in Tucson (see related article in IN PRACTICE,

#81, page 5). This is the first time anybody has tried to produce this sort

of product from small diameter mesquite, so the whole enterprise is still

in the prototype stage. San Pedro Mesquite provided the machinery,

know-how and marketing expertise—now it’s up to the Aguirres to get

the whole process running smoothly out on the ranch.

The whole family is excited about the potential of this new venture,

and Martha is keeping close track of every step, from pruning to

marketing. In addition to the flooring, the Aguirres are experimenting

with other products, such as welcome mats made from the scraps of

wood that don’t fit the flooring specifications, and cutting and serving

boards. They’re even looking into marketing the sawdust as

smokehouse fuel.

The Aguirres and their staff are true stewards of the land. They have

a sense of place rooted in their love for every detail and intricacy of

their environment. They have an uncommon commitment to the piece

of the world they have been entrusted to care for. They are the type of

people who deserve to be living on the land. In fact, if we are to reverse

the decline of biodiversity and the spread of deserts across the world’s

brittle ranges, they are the sort of folks who have to be on the land.

They exude the passion, the love, the vision, the discipline, and the “stick

to it” attitude to which we would all do well to aspire. Many thanks to

the La Inmaculada team for sharing your generous time, knowledge,

expertise, incredible home, and inspiration.

Jim and Daniela Ho well will be leading a tour to northern Mexico

ranches in No vember of 2002, including Rancho de la Inmaculada.

You can contact them at 970/249-0353, or ho [email protected].




These three photos show the diverse plant community dominating

Rancho de la Inmaculada—a variety of warm-season perennial grasses

and forbs, growing under a diverse leguminous shrub community of

mesquite, paloverde and ironwood.

Dear Allan and Jim,

I appreciated Jim’s piece, “Living with Predators,” in the March/April

2002 issue of IN PRACTICE. But here is a quandary. I do not doubt there

are ways humans can intervene between their cattle and predators to

reduce predation levels to bearable levels. But there are no such

techniques I know of to protect mule deer herds from

mountain lions that kill a deer every five days, and more

often in summer when there are litters and heat to spoil

kills. One cat can kill 60 deer a year. We trapped and

killed five cats at Circle Ranch last summer. Our deer

herd is only 300. We have more deer than most of our

neighbors. Antelope predation is even worse. The game

experts tell us that there is a less than 12 percent survival

rate after predation for antelope fawns.

So what is the technique by which we protect our

wildlife from these predators? Eventually the solution is

lush perennial grasslands in which fawns can hide. But

what do we do in the 20 years between now and the time

that we can hope to re-achieve these conditions?

We have had an intensive predator control program, and

this consists of trapping coyotes during the fawning season.

This is in April and May for antelope, June and July for

deer.

Since we have suppressed coyotes and mountain lions, we have

had a noticeable increase in surviving young. It seems to me that if

everything is in balance, predators are wonderful, but when things

get out of balance predators can devastate deer, antelope and desert

bighorn sheep. Perhaps predator suppression is treating a symptom

rather than a cause. But, to pursue Allan’s analogy of the headache

and the hammer, sometimes you have to get symptoms under

control if the patient is to survive so the doctor can cure the

root problem.

Therefore, my question is, why would you object to seasonal

predator control in the short-term while we are doing the various

things to restore our perennial grasslands?

Sincerely,

Chris Gill

Irealize that bringing back healthy populations of wild herbivores

is important to you. I can’t argue with your policy of reducing

predators at times, but I do have some comments. As you stated,

you’re conscious of the fact that the real root cause of the low

herbivore numbers is the state of their habitat, and that reducing

predators is a temporary measure as you rectify the problem.

In the healthy population you ultimately desire, predators will

play a crucial role. For this reason and because you probably have

neighbors killing predators, you will need to act with some caution.

While the coyotes are not likely to be too drastically reduced, the

same might not be true for the lions. I’m not sure what that level

of over-harvest on lions is, but Texas Parks & Wildlife should have

an idea.

Some research from Idaho indicates that average lion density in

that area is about 35 square km (a little under 9,000 acres) per lion.

I can’t remember how big you said your ranch is (35,000 acres sticks in


IN PRACTICE • JJULY / AUGUST 2002 LAND & LIVESTOCK 13

Bringing Back the Beasts--

Managing Wild Herbivores and Their Predatorsby Jim Howell

Mountain lion populations tend to be limited by occupied territories

or home ranges.

Editor’s note: The following summarizes an exchange of ideas that

recently took place between Chris Gill, Allan Savory, and myself. Chris

is a successful businessman from San Antonio, Texas, who also ranches

in the Trans-Pecos area of west Texas just north of the town of Van

Horn. He is enrolled in the Savory Center’s Ranch and Rangeland

Managers Training Program, and is a keen wildlife enthusiast. He is

committed to restoring healthy, self-sustaining levels of natural

herbivore populations on his west Texas ranch. He is not only striving

to boost populations of resident mule deer, pronghorn, and desert

bighorn sheep, but has undertaken an ambitious elk reintroduction

project. Merriam’s elk, a subspecies of the North American elk that once

thrived in the desert Southwest, has been extinct since the turn of the

last century. Chris recently released a herd of 52 Rocky Mountain elk

that he acquired from a failing elk farm in Minnesota, adding one

more native grazer (or at least near-native, being a subspecies

classification remo ved from the true native) to his ranch’s mix of

herbivores. So far they’re adapting well. Chris’ ranch also supports

healthy concentrations of mountain lions and co yotes, and he is

concerned with their impact on his struggling populations of mule deer,

pronghorn antelope, and desert bighorns. He recently sent a letter to

Allan Savory and me, requesting some input on dealing with this

challenge. Below are his question and our responses.

As you strive to restore healthy wildlife populations you have

recognized one of the main problems--trying to build up elk,

pronghorn and deer numbers subject to predation in habitat

that is seriously depleted. As you have noted, these animals, given

good cover, would thrive despite the predation. I would go further.

They would be healthier because of the predation.

It could well help to reduce predation by culling predators in

the early stages. With the coyotes there will be little danger (as far

as we know), but with the lions you will need to act with some

caution. I am assuming your neighbors are also killing predators,

including lions, and you will not want to reduce their numbers

too low.

As the range begins to regain health due to the use of your

livestock under planned grazing, the problem should begin to ease

with increasing cover for fawning and calving. Everything you can

do to speed this range of recovery will help the wild herds and help

you financially. The best way I know of speeding range reclamation is

good planning of the grazing and striving at

all times to get high animal impact with the

best graze/trample to recovery ratio you

can achieve. Keep assuming you are wrong

and monitoring to bring about the future

landscape your holistic goal demands. If

you detect that litter isn’t increasing, or

that plant spacing and/or capped soil are

not decreasing, then increase the impact

and so on.

Ultimately you will be managing not

only the grazing of your livestock but

the grazing and browsing of the wild

herbivores. This necessitates getting them

moving and keeping them from becoming

static. Otherwise they will do as much

damage as static cattle do. We are all

learning how to do this, including myself

on the ranch we manage with the Africa Centre for Holistic

Management in Zimbabwe.

What we have learned both in Africa and here is that once there

is a large herd of cattle being managed under good planned grazing,

many of the wild grazers begin to move and follow them. When we

first noted this many years ago, buffalo, wildebeest, zebra, kudu, and

impala were moving two days behind the cattle. We surmised this was

because they obtained a better plane of nutrition on the sprouting

plants. At first this concerned me because it lengthened the grazing

period beyond that planned and shortened recovery periods. However,

with the very high animal impact we noted the range improved

incredibly--from bare ground with only occasional annuals to solid

perennial grassland with many species. So, what is best for the land

(increasing perennial grasses and cover) is also likely to be helpful in

beginning to get wild populations moving.

You, like us, have many years of exciting learning ahead as we

demonstrate to the world that we can reverse biodiversity loss and

desertification.

—Allan Savory

my mind). If that’s right, and if lion densities in Idaho are anything like

densities in west Texas, then you might be getting pretty thin on lions

after those five you killed last summer.

On the other hand, from what I’ve read, lion populations tend to

be limited by occupied territories or home ranges of individual animals.

In other words, young lions frequently die if there are no vacant

territories to fill. If you vacate a territory by killing a lion, therefore,

it will likely be filled in short order by a juvenile looking for a place

to call home. The same applies for coyotes. Those juveniles will most

likely be much less efficient hunters (for a year or two anyway),

which might allow some time for more wild herbivores to survive

past the juvenile stage.

Conclusion: If your neighbors aren’t trying to eradicate their

predators (or haven’t already), you’ll probably never run out of them

on your place. The inexperienced

juveniles that replace those that you

do remove will probably be less hard

on your herbivores, and you should

see a gradual increase, as you’re

already experiencing. By planting

those elk, you’ll potentially be reducing

some pressure on your deer and

pronghorn populations as well,

assuming the lions can figure out

how to kill elk again.

Remember that you may be able

to restore all the native herbivores to

abundant numbers, but if they’re

behaving like domestic livestock in the

absence of predators, they’ll be just as

hard on your land and plant

communities as poorly managed

domestic livestock. You have to be able to control, at least to some

extent, when and where the wildlife are. When you eventually get

herbivore numbers up significantly, this whole issue will have to

be addressed.

Luckily, human hunters can do a good job of keeping wild

herbivores out of areas you don’t want them to be in, and in the

areas you do want them to be in. You’ll eventually have to do a

wildlife grazing plan, and instead of using fences to control the

grazing, you’ll use well placed humans. They don’t necessarily have

to be hunting, but just keeping the elk (or pronghorn or deer)

spooked out of the areas you don’t want them to be in. If you had

eco-tourists coming to go hiking or mountain biking, you could shift

their major areas of activity to the parts of the ranch you were

trying to temporarily keep the wild herbivores out of. In the areas

you do want them to be in, you would release your pressure on them

when in those areas. We’ve got a lot of learning ahead of us as we

restore our wild populations of native grazers. Keep us up to date

on your progress.

—Jim Howell


Managing Wild Herbivores and

Their Predators continued from page 13

Coyote populations aren’t generally adversely af fected

by culling programs.


Robert B. Anderson, Chair, Corrales,

New Mexico

Robert is an officer and principal of

SunValley Energy, an independent oil and

gas exploration company based in Roswell,

New Mexico. Prior to that he served as

Executive Director of the Foundation for the

Development of Polish Agriculture in Poland

and as a senior advisor for Cornell University’s

Central and Eastern Europe initiative. In both

cases he helped promote a market economy

and private enterprise through a variety of

programs, of which a microlending program

was the most important.

Robert was originally attracted to Holistic

Management because of its range and ranch

applications, but he came to see that it

had potential beyond that—reversing

desertification and other urgent global

concerns. He attended his first course 20 years

ago. Robert has also served on the boards

of the Winrock International Institute for

Agricultural Development, The American

Farmland Trust, The Nature Conservancy,

and The Aspen Institute for Humanistic

Studies. He also served as a Peace Corps

volunteer in Colombia.

Sam Brown, Austin, Texas and Lena,

Mississippi

Sam has been a Center supporter since the

early ‘90s, and has served on both the Africa

Centre’s Board of Trustees as well as the

Savory Center’s Advisory Board. Sam graduated

from the University of Southern California

(Los Angeles) with a BS in Geology, and

immediately went to work in Venezuela as a

geologist and paleontologist. His first exposure

to Holistic Management was through his

purchase of a free-choice mineral

manufacturing company. He was offered a

seat in a 5-day “school” Allan was teaching in

Albuquerque took it, and never looked back.

Today Sam and his wife, Sherry, own and

operate a farm and registered Angus operation

in Lena, Mississippi, though primarily based

in Austin. Sam is involved with the Savory

Center because Holistic Management is “one

of the newest and most refreshing ways there

is of thinking about how one goes about

making decisions.”

and UCLA Film School, and the New School

for Social Research. She worked in film as

an editor, screenwriter, and documentary

filmmaker until 1979 when she began writing

full time. Her work has been published in

The Atlantic, Harper’s, The New York Times,

Time, Life, National Geographic Adventure,

Audubon, Architectural Digest , and O

Magazine , among many others, and has been

widely anthologized. Her books have been

translated into Danish, French, Italian, German,

and Japanese. She has been awarded a

National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship,

a National Endowment for the Humanities

Fellowship, a Whiting Award, a Guggenheim

Fellowship, and a Harold D. Vurcell award for

distinguished prose by the American Academy

of Arts and Letters.

Gretel first learned about the Savory

Center’s work through the Powder River

Resource Council in Montana in 1979. She was

asked to join the Board of Directors in 1986

(she served until 1991). She has remained on

the Advisory board since then. Gretel divides

her time between California and Wyoming.

She has served on the Wyoming State Library

Board and the Polartec Board for Malden Mills.

She works with the Nature Conservancy and

the Green River Land Trust in Wyoming, and

Zen Center Hospice in San Francisco.

Clint Josey, Dallas, Texas

Clint is a petroleum engineer, but also has

Leslie Christian, Portland, Oregon and

Seattle, Washington

Leslie is President of Progressive

Investment Management Corporation. She

has more than 25 years experience in the

investment field including nine years in New

York as a Director with Salomon Brothers Inc.

In addition to her ongoing responsibilities as

President of Progressive, Leslie co-founded

Portfolio 21, Progressive's no load mutual fund

committed to environmental sustainability,

and heads its management team.

Leslie received a bachelor's degree from

the University of Washington and an MBA in

Finance from the University of California,

Berkeley. She has earned both

the Certified Financial

Planner and Chartered

Financial Analyst designations

and is a member of the

Seattle Financial Analysts

Society and the Association

for Investment Management

and Research. She has served

on the boards of several

nonprofits and has been

active in such organizations

as Artfair Seattle, Black Dollar

Days Task Force, Center for

Contemporary Art, New

Beginnings Shelter for

Battered Women, New City

Theater, Seattle Women's

Commission, Leadership

Tomorrow, King County

Coalition Against Domestic

Violence, United Way Planning and

Distribution Committee, and the

Pride Foundation.

Leslie became involved with the Center

after hearing Allan speak at a conference. She

believes the Center’s approach offers a rare

combination of philosophical strength and

practicality. “Holistic Management makes sense

at all levels because there is a recognition of

core issues and a viable methodology for

finding solutions.”

Gretel Ehrlich, Gaviota, California and

Cora, Wyoming

Gretel was educated at Bennington College

Meet the Savory Center’s Advisory Board

This dynamic group of long-time supporters assist us in making important contacts for

program development and fundraising and in the last year have given generously of their time

and talents in working with the staff and Board of Directors to develop a long term strategic

plan for the Center. We are indebted to them and more grateful than we can ever say .

Savory Center Advisory Board. Top row: Guillermo Osuna, Allan

Savory (Center staff), Gretel Ehrlich, Doug McDaniel, Robert

Anderson, Rio de la Vista (Center director), Richard Smith. Bottom

row: Sam Brown, Bunker Sands, Gail Hammack (guest). Not

pictured: Leslie Christian, Clint Josey, York Schueller, Jim Shelton.



a cattle ranch at Leo, Texas. (The ranch will be

hosting our international gathering of members

in 2003.) He has a BS degree from University of

Texas/Austin in Petroleum Engineering, and a

master’s in Mathematics from Southern

Methodist University.

Clint took a Holistic Management course in

the early ‘80s and thought from the beginning

that the Savory Center’s work was important.

He was among the original group of ranchers,

farmers, academics and others who formed the

Center and he served on the original Board of

Directors.

He currently serves as a director for The

Nature Conservancy/Texas and the Native

Prairies Association of Texas, and on the

advisory boards of the North Texas University’s

environmental science department and HRM

of Texas.

Doug McDaniel, Lostine, Oregon

Doug grew up in a small northeast Oregon

logging community, received a BS degree

from Oregon State University in Production

Technology. He’s had a varied career in logging,

construction and ranching.

He first learned about the Center and

Holistic Management from agricultural

magazines. He is deeply committed to saving

his community and a way of life that is

threatened. He sees Holistic Management as a

means to achieve that. He is involved in the

Savory Center because “I still think this

organization has the most to give in settling

problems in the environment. There’s more

to be gained from this organization than any

I’ve been associated with.”

He currently serves on the board of

Wallowa Resources (a local organization that

focuses on trying to maintain family-wage jobs

for people in Wallowa County through proper

care of resources—grazing and timber. He has

also served on the boards of a number of

organizations associated with environmental

concerns, the proper use of resources, or

community development and revitalization.

Guillermo Osuna, Musquiz, Coahuila, Mexico

Guillermo met Allan Savory the first time

Allan lectured in the U.S.—in 1978 at an

international stockmen’s school in Phoenix,

Arizona. Guillermo attended the first “school”

Allan ran in San Angelo, Texas, two years later,

and has been involved with the Center ever

since. He sees Holistic Management as a real

ago. “The holistic approach had a lot of appeal

and the community involvement with the

Africa Centre was great.” York has been

involved with a number of environmental

organizations but currently devotes most of

his volunteer time to recording for the blind

and dyslexic.

Jim Shelton, Vinita, Oklahoma

Jim is the Executive Vice-President of

Oklahoma State Bank in Vinita. His family also

owns an 1800-acre cattle ranch outside of town.

He earned an Animal Science degree from

Oklahoma State University and is an alumni of

the Oklahoma Agriculture Leadership Program.

He later graduated from the Southwestern

Graduate School of Banking at Southern

Methodist University.

Jim learned about the Savory Center

through newspaper and magazine articles in the

late 1980's and from a friend who had attended

some of the early courses Allan taught. He

became an Advisory Board member nearly

two years ago, something he considers an

honor and both a humbling and inspiring

experience “because of the level of intelligence

and enthusiasm the staff and other advisory

board members bring to the Center.”

Jim is involved in the local Chamber of

Commerce and is President of the Board of

Education of Vinita Public Schools. He is also

a member of the Long Range Capital Planning

Commission for the State of Oklahoma, a

member of the Ag 2000 Task Force for the

State of Oklahoma, a member of the board of

directors of the Oklahoma State University

Alumni Association, and also various other

local and state organizations.

Richard Smith, Houston, Texas

Richard is the President of Ventex

Management, an investment company involved

in a wide range of industries, and earned his

BA in American Studies at Yale. He has served

on the boards of a number of private and

public companies engaged in oil and gas

exploration, manufacturing, organic and natural

food retailing, hospital pharmacy management,

pediatric home health care, newspaper

publishing, and land development.

For 35 years he has managed the family-

owned ranch in Kerr County, Texas both for

cattle and wildlife. He has been excited about

Holistic Management since he first attended a

course Allan Savory taught in 1984. But he

remains involved because he believes that the

issue of desertification is a valid concern that

needs to be addressed and that the Center and

Holistic Management can do that. He wants

to help the Center get its message out.

alternative for solving Mexico’s land

deterioration problems.

Guillermo was born in Mexico City and

received his BA degree from Dartmouth

College. In 1986, together with a group of

ranchers, he formed a non profit organization

in Mexico to promote Holistic Management.

This organization, known as Fundación para

Fomentar el Manejo Holístico A C, is currently

involved with the publication in Spanish of

Holistic Management . It is also training

government extension people in Holistic

Management and will coordinate the Center’s

first Certified Educator Training Program in

Mexico. Guillermo currently serves on the

board of the Fundación Mexicana para la

Conservacion de la Naturaleza (Mexican

Foundation for Nature Conservation).

Bunker Sands, Dallas, Texas

Bunker is the Executive Director of the

Rosewood Corporation, a family owned

company that has interests in real estate,

hotel management, oil and gas, venture capital,

and ranching. He has a degree from Trinity

University and learned about the Savory

Center as he explored how to manage some

ranch properties sustainably.

In the late ‘80s the Rosewood Hotel in Maui,

Hawaii, hired away one of the Center staff to

work with them to manage the hotel property

holistically (it included a ranch). Bunker notes

that learning about Holistic Management

changed the way he thinks. He believes that

when more decision makers work toward their

holistic goals, the world will be a better place.

Bunker is on the board of trustees of the

Nature Conservancy of Texas. He has received

a number of land stewardship awards from

the state of Texas and the Environmental

Protection Agency. He is also a member of

the World Economic Forum.

York Schueller, El Segundo, California

While relatively new to the Savory Center,

York is already assisting with the marketing

and development of our ecotourism and

community development efforts at the Africa

Centre for Holistic Management in Zimbabwe.

York is a computer animator who recently

joined the staff of Dreamworks SKG after a

number of years in animation, multimedia,

and website development. He earned a BS

degree from San Jose State University in

Industrial Technology with an electronics and

computer technology concentration, and

minors in International Business and Electro-

Acoustic Music.

York first heard about the Savory Center

when he visited the Africa Centre two years

Advisory Boardcontinued from page 15


Grants Support Savory Center’s Work

We would like to extend our thanks once

again to the William and Flora Hewlett

Foundation for their ongoing support of our

work. We recently received a $100,000 check as

the second installment of a $250,000 unrestricted

general support grant.

We also received a $40,000 grant from the

Flora Family Fund for our work in the Lost

River Valley as part of our efforts in the U.S.

Forest Service Holistic Management National

Learning Site in Challis, Idaho.

And last but not least, the Savory Center

recently received a $20,000 grant from the

Lumpkin Family Foundation to support the

work on some of our programs in the local

community.

On another note, we would like to thank

Christina Allday-Bondy, Liz Williams, Richard

Smith, Chuck Herring, and Ginny Agnew for their

fundraising efforts. In March they gathered

together an interested group of potential

philanthropists for two dinners with Allan

Savory in Austin, Texas.

A Training Program for Mexico

Years of effort and persistence on the part

of our members in Mexico have finally

paid off in what looks to be a multi-year effort

that will train Holistic Management® Certified

Educators for Mexico. With strong backing

from two members of President Vicente Fox's

cabinet—Secretary of Agriculture Usabiaga

and Secretary of Environment Lichtinger—the

new training program will be launched in

January 2003.

Mexican trainees, like those accepted into

the U.S. program, will need to go through the

same rigorous application process--though all

interviews and written materials will be in

Spanish. Translation of the Holistic Management

textbook is complete and publication (in

Mexico) should occur before the end of

2002. In the meantime, all of the Holistic

Management® planning guides, charts and

forms have been translated—largely by Certified

Educator Elco Blanco.

While we here in Albuquerque are excited

by this opportunity, our enthusiasm is nothing

compared to the Mexicans who have worked

so hard for so long to make this happen—

Jesus Almeida, Jr., Octavio Bermudez, Elco Blanco,

Moncho Villar, Guillermo Osuna, Manuel Casas ,

and the many others they inspired who opened

the doors that made this possible.

and economic troubles in Zimbabwe leading up

to and following the presidential election and

its controversial results. In particular, we have

launched two new women’s banks and the

demand for more remains high. Likewise, we

continue to have very strong support from the

local community with more chiefs asking to

join our Board of Trustees.

We just completed a rigorous selection

process for the first individuals who will take

part in our game scout training course—the first

offered under what will become our wildlife

and environmental management college, and

developed an internship program with Tufts

University School of Veterinary Medicine that

will be launched this summer at Dimbangombe

under the direction of Dr. Chris Jost. Lastly, we

met with other NGOs (non-government

organizations or “non-profits”) in the area, as

well as neighboring land holders who are

enthusiastic about the college of wildlife and

environmental management and will work

with us to make it a success in the region.

Outreach Efforts

We would like to extend our thanks to

Phil Metzger of the South Central New

York Resource & Conservation District for his

efforts in arranging for Allan Savory to speak at

the Farm Diversity Conference in Norwich, New

York, and to Jim and Judy Reed for hosting a

field day for HRM of Texas at the Reed Ranch

near Corsicana. Lastly, thanks to the Burrows

family near Red Bluff, California for hosting the

Holistic Management of California gathering.

David West Ranch Monitoring

On March 14th, Allan Savory and Savory

Center staff met with a number of

interested individuals and government agency

employees to begin the first round of land

planning and biological monitoring sessions

on the Ozona, Texas ranch bequeathed to the

Savory Center last year by David West.

Participants included area ranchers and Certified

Educators, Joe and Peggy Maddox (West Ranch

Managers), and representatives from the Sibley

Nature Center, Natural Resources Conservation

Service, and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

Holistic Management on CD

Through the efforts of Paul Griffiths in

Australia, we now have available to us

the textbook, Holistic Management: A New

Frame work for Decision Making , on CD

(15 CD’s to be exact). Paul, a well-known radio

personality in Australia, has professionally

captured this definitive text on Holistic

Management in a way that makes it come more

alive to those of us who are auditory learners.

He intersperses his rendition of the text with a

recorded interview of Allan that took place at

Dimbangombe, Zimbabwe (The Africa Centre

for Holistic Management). For more information

on ordering this CD collection see the

advertisement on page 23.

Africa Update

We have continued to make progress with

our Africa programs despite the political

New Directions

We are indebted to Cynthia O. Harris, MD, and her husband Leo O. Harris, who after only a

brief acquaintance with the Savory Center and our work, made a major gift early this

year so we could in turn invest it where we needed it most. In their eyes and ours that was to

engage fundraising counsel. Cynthia and Leo in turn recommended Durkin Associates of

Milwaukee, whom we engaged in January. It has turned out to be one of the best investments

we’ve ever made, and we knew it within the first two weeks.

Among other things, Bill Durkin and his staff conducted face-to-face interviews with more

than 20 of our members and financial supporters, and from them, and subsequent interviews

with our staff and Board of Directors, they were able to tell us a lot about ourselves—the good,

the bad, and most of all, the confusing. They helped us clarify our message so people could

begin to grasp what we do and what we plan to accomplish in the near and long term. Out of

a mound of opportunities that have recently come our way, they identified a handful that

were truly extraordinary and helped us focus on those.

In the next months, we suspect you’ll see the difference this challenging exercise in self-

examination and forward planning has made for us, and appreciate what this means for the

Savory Center’s future. None of this would have been possible had Cynthia and Leo not seen

our need for it and helped us make it happen. We are truly grateful.

S a vory Center Bulletin Board


Chadwick McKellar

16775 Southwood Dr.

Colorado Springs, CO 80908

719/495-4641; [email protected]

Byron Shelton

33900 Surrey Lane

Buena Vista, CO 81211


Certified EducatorsIOWA

Bill Casey

1800 Grand Ave.

Keokuk, IA 52632-2944

319/524-5098

[email protected]

LOUISIANA

Tina Pilione

P.O. 923, Eunice, LA 70535

phone/fax: 337/580-0068

tinap@bbs .whodat.net

MINNESOTA

Larry Johnson

RR 1, Box 93A

Winona, MN 55987-9738

507/457-9511; 507/523-2171 (w)

[email protected]

MONTANA

Wayne Burleson

RT 1, Box 2780

Absarokee, MT 59001

406/328-6808;

[email protected]

UNITED STATES

I N T E R N AT I O N A L

These Educators provide Holistic Management instruction on behalf of theinstitutions they represent.

ARKANSAS

Preston Sullivan

P.O. Box 4483, Fayetteville, AR 72702

501/443-0609; 501/442-9824 (w)

[email protected]

CALIFORNIA

Monte Bell

325 Meadowood Dr

Orland, CA 95963


Julie Bohannon

652 Milo Terrace

Los Angeles, CA 90042; 323/257-1915

[email protected]

Bill Burrows

12250 Colyear Springs Rd.

Red Bluff, CA 96080


Jeff Goebel

P.O. Box 1252

Willows, CA 95988

530/321-9855; 530/934-4601 x101 (w)

[email protected]

Richard King

1675 Adobe Rd.

Petaluma, CA 94954

707/769-1490; 707/794-8692 (w)

[email protected]

Christopher Peck

P.O. Box 2286, Sebastopol, CA 95472

707/758-0171

[email protected]

COLORADO

Cindy Dvergsten

17702 County Rd. 23

Dolores, CO 81323


Rio de la Vista

P.O. Box 777

Monte Vista, CO 81144


Daniela Howell

63066 Jordan Ct.

Montrose, CO 81401


Tim McGaffic

P.O. Box 476

Ignacio, CO 81137


AUSTRALIA

Graeme Hand

162 Hand and AssociatesPort Fairy, VIC [email protected]

Mark Gardner

P.O. Box 1395, Dubbo, NSW [email protected]

Brian Marshall

“Lucella”; Nundle, NSW 2340

61-2-6769 8226

fax: 61-2-6769 8223

[email protected]

Bruce Ward

P.O. Box 103Milsons Pt., NSW 156561-2-9929-5568fax: [email protected]

Brian Wehlburg

c/o “Sunnyholt”Injue, QLD [email protected]

CANADA

Don and Randee Halladay

Box 2, Site 2, RR 1, Rocky Mountain House, AB T0M 1T0; 403/[email protected]

Noel McNaughton

3438 Point Grey RdVancouver, BC, V6R 1A5604/736-1552; [email protected]

Len Pigott

#120 Stewart Crescent, Kindersley, SK S0L 1S1 306/463-6236, 306/[email protected]

Wiebke Volkmann

P.O. Box 182, Otavi067-23-44-48;[email protected]

NEW ZEALAND

John King

P.O. Box 3440, Richmond, Nelson64-3-543-3830; [email protected]

SOUTH AFRICA

Johan Blom

P.O. Box 568, Graaf-Reinet 628027-49-891-0163; j&[email protected]

Ian Mitchell-Innes

P.O. Box 52, Elandslaagte 290027-36-421-1747; [email protected]

Norman Neave

Box 141, Mtubatuba 393527-35-5504150; [email protected]

Dick Richardson

P.O. Box 1806, Vryburg 8600tel/fax: 27-53-927-4367 [email protected]

ZIMBABWE

Mutizwa Mukute

PELUM Association Regional DeskP.O. Box MP 1059Mount Pleasant, Harare263-4-74470/744117; fax: [email protected]

Liberty Mabhena

Spring CabinetP.O. Box 853, Harare263-4-210021/2 263-4-210577/8; fax: 263-4-210273

Sister Maria Chiedza Mutasa

Bandolfi ConventP.O. Box 900, Masvingo263-39-7699, 263-39-7530

Elias Ncube

P. Bag 5950, Victoria Falls263-3-454519; [email protected]

Kelly Sidoryk

Box 374; Lloydminster, AB, S9V 0Y4403/[email protected]

CHINA/GERMANY

Dieter Albrecht

Melanchthonstr. 23D-10557 Berlin49-30-392 [email protected] (international)

China Agricultural UniversityCIAD Office, Beijing 10009486-10-6289 1061

GHANA

Arne Vanderburg

U.S. Embassy, Accra, Dept. of StateWashington, D.C. 20521-2020233-21-772131; 233-21-773831 (w) [email protected]

MEXICO

Ivan Aguirre

La InmaculadaApdo. Postal 304Hermosillo, Sonora 8300052-637-78929; fax: 52-637-10031

Elco Blanco-Madrid

Cristobal de Olid #307 Chihuahua Chih., 3103052-14-415-3497; fax: [email protected]

Manuel Casas-Perez

Calle Amarguva No. 61,Lomas HerraduraHuixquilucan, Mexico City CP 5278552-5-291-3934; 52-5-992-0220 (w)

NAMIBIA

Gero Diekmann

P.O. Box 363, Okahandja [email protected]

Roland Kroos

4926 Itana Circle

Bozeman, MT 59715


Cliff Montagne

Montana State University

Department of Land Resources &

Environmental Science

Bozeman, MT 59717

406/994-5079 ; [email protected]

NEW MEXICO

Ann Adams

The Savory Center

1010 Tijeras NW, Albuquerque, NM 87102

505/842-5252

[email protected]

Kate Brown

Box 581, Ramah, NM 87321


Kirk Gadzia

P.O. Box 1100, Bernalillo, NM 87004505/867-4685; fax: 505/[email protected]

To our knowledge, Certified Educators are the best qualified individuals to help

others learn to practice Holistic Management and to provide them with technical assis-

tance 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?


Ken Jacobson

12101 Menaul Blvd. NE, Ste AAlbuquerque, NM 87112505/293-7570;[email protected]

Kelly Pasztor

The Savory Center

1010 Tijeras NW,

Albuquerque, NM 87102

505/842-5252;

[email protected]

David Trew

369 Montezuma Ave. #243

Santa Fe, NM 87501

505/751-0471

[email protected]

Vicki Turpen

03 El Nido Amado SW

Albuquerque, NM 87121

505/873-0473;[email protected]

NORTH CAROLINA

Sam Bingham

394 Vanderbilt Rd.

A s h eville, NC 28803

8 2 8 / 2 7 4 - 1 3 0 9

s b i n g h a m @ i g c . o r g

TEXAS

Christina Allday-Bondy

2703 Grennock Dr.Austin, TX 78745512/441-2019 ; [email protected]

Guy Glosson

6717 Hwy 380, Snyder, TX 79549806/237-2554 [email protected]

R.H. (Dick) Richardson

University of Texas at AustinDepartment of Integrative BiologyAustin, TX 78712512/[email protected]

Peggy Sechrist

25 Thunderbird Rd.Fredericksburg, TX 78624830/990-2529; [email protected]

UTAHChandler McLay

P.O. Box 12, Monticello, UT 84535303/888-8799; [email protected]

WASHINGTON

Craig Madsen

P.O. Box 107, Edwall, WA 99008

5 0 9 / 2 3 6 - 2 4 5 1 ;

m a d s e n 2 f i r @ m i n d s p r i n g . c o m

NORTH DAKOTA

Wayne Berry

University of North Dakota—Williston,P.O. Box 1326, Williston, ND 58802 701/774-4269 or 701/[email protected]

OHIO

Deborah Stinner

Department of Entomology OARDC

1680 Madison Hill

Wooster, OH 44691

330/202-3534 (w); [email protected]

OKLAHOMA

Kim Barker

RT 2, Box 67Waynoka, OK 73860580/[email protected]

OREGON

Joel Benson

613 Fordyce St.Ashland, OR 97520541/488-9630; [email protected]

Cindy Douglas

2795 McMillian St.Eugene, OR 97405541/465-4882; [email protected]

CALIFORNIA

Holistic Management of California

Tom Walther, newsletter editor

5550 Griffin St.

Oakland, CA 94605

510/530-6410

[email protected]

COLORADO

Colorado Branch of the Center

For Holistic Management

Jim and Daniela Howell

newletter editors

1661 Sonoma Court, Montrose, CO 81401

970/249-0353

[email protected]

GEORGIA

Constance Neely

SANREM CRSP

1422 Experiment Station Rd.

Watkinsville, GA 30677


IDAHO

National Learning Site

Linda Hestag

3743 King Mountain Rd.

Darlington, ID 83255


MONTANA

Beartooth Management Club

Wayne Burleson

RT 1, Box 2780, Absarokee, MT 59001


Local Netwo r k s There are several branch organizations or groups affiliated with the Center in the U.S. and abroad (somepublish their own newsletters.) We encourage you to contact the group closest to you:

OKLAHOMA

Oklahoma Land Stewardship AllianceCharles GriffithsRoute 5, Box E44, Ardmore, OK 73401580/223-7471; [email protected]

PENNSYLVANIA

Northern Penn Network

Jim Weaver, contact person

RD #6, Box 205, Wellsboro, PA 16901

717/724-7788

[email protected]

TEXAS

HRM of Texas

Peggy Jones, newsletter editor

101 Hill View Trail

Dripping Springs, TX 78620

512/858-4251

[email protected]

AUSTRALIA

Holistic Decision Making Association

(AUST+NZ)

Irene Dasey, Executive Officer

P.O. Box 543

Inverell NSW, 2360

tel: 61-2-6721-0255

[email protected]

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

Zeus 921, Contry La Escondida,

United States

International

MINNESOTA

Land Stewardship Project

Audrey Arner, Program Director

103 W. Nichols Ave.

Montevideo, MN 56265

320/269-2105

www.landstewardshipproject.org

NEBRASKA

Nebraska Branch of the

Center For Holistic Management

Brenda Younkin Kury

P.O. Box 3723, Alpine, WY 83128


www.users.uswest.net/~vkury

NEW YORK

Regional Farm & Food ProjectTracy Frisch, contact person148 Central Ave., 2nd floorAlbany, NY 12206518/427-6537

USDA/NRCS - Central NY RC&D

Phil Metzger, contact person

99 North Broad St.

Norwich, NY 13815

607/334-3231, ext. 4

[email protected]

NORTHWEST

Managing WholesPeter Donovan

501 South St.,

Enterprise, OR 97828-1345

541/426-2145

www.managingwholes.com

Sandra Matheson

228 E. Smith Rd.

Bellingham, WA 98226


Don Nelson

Washington State University

P.O. Box 646310

Pullman, WA 99164

509/335-2922

[email protected]

Lois Trevino

P.O. Box 615

Nespelem, WA 99155

509/634-4410

509/634-2430 (w)

[email protected]

Doug Warnock

151 Cedar Cove Rd.

Ellensburg, WA 98926

509/925-9127

[email protected]

WYOMING

Miles Keogh

450 N. Adams Ave

Buffalo, WY 82834

307/684-0532

[email protected]

Guadalupe, NL 67173

tel/fax: 52-8-349-8666

[email protected]

NAMIBIA

Namibia Centre for

Holistic Management

Anja Denker, contact person

P.O. Box 23600

Windhoek 9000

tel/fax: 264-61-230-515

[email protected]

SOUTH AFRICA

South African Centre For

Holistic Management

Dick & Judy Richardson

P.O. Box 1806, Vryburg 8600

tel/fax: 27-53-9274367

[email protected]

#084, In Practice, July/Aug 2002

Documents

Transcript of #084, In Practice, July/Aug 2002