INS IDE THIS ISSUE

May/June 2004 * Number 95 www.holisticmanagement.org

Holistic Management

The What: Holistic Managementis a decision-making processthat helps people make

decisions that are socially, economically, andenvironmentally sound. The Why: A cooking pot resting on three rockswill lose its balance and spill its content if oneof those rocks is removed. So too, if we do nottake into account the social, economic, andenvironmental consequences of our actions,we risk damaging the environment, ourrelationships, and our finances now and/or forfuture generations.

Whole Under Management

The What: Determine thedecision makers, resource base,and money

The Why: By defining the whole you aremanaging, you are better able to manage it. Inidentifying the decision makers, you aredetermining who will form the holistic goal. Thekey is to get the right people to the table. Indefining your resource base you are identifyingthe resources—assets, including people—you haveto work with. The money you identify is whatyou have available for management and can

The Essence of Holistic ManagementAnn Adams and Jody Butterfield . . . . . . . 1

Love & Trust on the RangeSam Bingham . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Land LanguageSteve Rich . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

The Essence of Holistic Managementby Ann Adams and Jody Butterfield

a p u b l i c a t i o n o f t h e s a v o r y c e n t e r

INS IDE THIS ISSUE

Guy Glossom had the adventure of alifetime teaching low-stress livestockhandling to the ranch hands at theAfrica Centre for Holistic Management’sDimbangombe Ranch in Zimbabwe. Toread more about his cross-culturalexperience turn to page 11.

IN PRACTICEIN PRACTICE2 0 t h A n n i v e r s a r y * 1 9 8 4 - 2 0 0 4

Ruminations on Herding, Handling, and Africa

Guy Glosson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11From Grass to Trees—Extending Holistic Management to Forests

Ray Travers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13

Savory Center Grapevine . . . . . . . . . . .16Certified Educators . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18Marketplace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20

FEATURE STORIES

LAND & LIVESTOCK

NEWS & NETWORK

e’ve all tried at one time or another to distill the essence of Holistic Management for someone. It can be challenging, especially if we want to tailor the material for a specific

audience and address a variety of learning styles. We may not always be able to useHolistic Management terms (like forms of production) when we are working with a specificaudience, but if we clearly understand how the Holistic Management® model functions, we canbetter adapt our materials or conversations in a way that captures the “functional properties” ofHolistic Management.

In other words, we need to know what makes it work and why. Then we can more easily makepoints of comparison to other ideas, processes, and systems more familiar to our audience. Many ofthese systems, ideas, or processes have overlapping guiding principles, but Holistic Management’seffectiveness comes from defined practices within the model that help people move toward consistentlyliving those principles. It is the practice behind the principles of understanding, assessing, and workingwith nature (including humans) and adapting and adjusting our management in response to whatnature is telling us.

For the most part, “A Holistic Primer” is the distillation of the model. While many of thefollowing statements might seem elementary or obvious, many people have found that in returningto these basics they have improved their practice and, therefore, the results they have achieved.Holistic Management: A New Framework for Decision Making is still the best source for a deeperunderstanding of these principles, practices, and the model.

W

A Holistic Management Primer

Our appreciation to Dean William Rudoy, Ph.D. for his generous donation that has enabled usto redesign IN PRACTICE and print in color throughout 2004 in celebration of our 20th Anniversary.

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The Essence of Holistic Managementcontinued from page one

generate from your management. Decision makers are routinely involved in

decisions and actions that affect the whole.While it is important to think about who hasveto power and include them in forming theholistic goal and in testing decisions that arewithin their veto power, they are notmanagement decision makers. In larger situationsor organizations you may have wholes withinwholes to define structure and relationships.

Statement of Purpose

The What: This statement isspecifically for organizations, orentities within organizations,

that were formed for a specific purpose. Itanswers the question of “Why do we exist asan organization or entity?”The Why: This statement clarifies the purposefor which you were formed so you can ensure,when forming your holistic goal, that you don’t

lose sight of it. At least one of the forms ofproduction you describe will specify what youhave to produce to ensure that purpose is met.

Holistic Goal

The What: A written referencepoint or guide for makingdecisions. Contains quality of

life, forms of production, and future resourcebase. The Why: Decision-making can be complex, andhumans can only really hold one thought at atime. Writing down what you want and whatyou need to do to make that happen bothimmediately and far into the future thenbecomes a guide toward which you test yourdecisions.

Above all else, the holistic goal is a guidefor decision making and management. While itshould also be inspiring and motivating, its keyfunction is for more effective decision-making.

2 IN PRACTICE * May/June 2004

The Four Key Insights1) Holistic Perspective Is Essential to Management

The What: The need for managing holisticallyThe Why: Nature functions in wholes (patterns of matter, energy, and life whose qualities cannot be predicted by studying any aspect in isolation).

2) The Brittleness Scale

The What: Brittleness is defined as the distribution of moisture and biological decay presentthroughout the year in a given area. On a scale of one to ten, a rainforest would be a one and a desert would be a ten.The Why: This scale is a way to quickly assess the level of brittleness of a region so you can better determine how the land will respond to the tools you apply.

3) Predator/Prey Connection

The What: In brittle environments, relatively high numbers of large, herding animalsconcentrated and moving as they naturally do in the presence of pack-hunting predators, arevital to maintaining the health of the lands we thought they destroyed.The Why: Understanding this concept is critical to addressing the issue of overrested soils andplants, which results from too few animals wandering around.

4) Overgrazing is a Function of Time Not Numbers

The What: In any environment, overgrazing and damage from trampling bear little relationship to the numbers of animals, but rather to the amount of time plants and soils are exposed to the animals. The Why: Understanding this concept focuses the discussion on how the animals are managed— how long they remain in any one place and how soon they will return to it.

SavoryCENTER

The

SavoryTHE SAVORY CENTER is a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization. The Savory Center worksto restore the vitality of communities and thenatural resources on which they depend byadvancing the practice of Holistic Managementand coordinating its development worldwide.

FOUNDERSAllan Savory * Jody Butterfield

STAFFTim LaSalle, Executive Director

Shannon Horst,Senior Director, Strategic Projects;

Kate Bradshaw,Director of Finance and Administration

Kelly Pasztor,Director of Educational Services;

Constance Neely, International Training Programs DirectorLee Dueringer, Director of Development

Ann Adams,Managing Editor, IN PRACTICE and Director of

Publications and Outreach Alicia Schell, Finance Coordinator

Lee Johnson, Project AssistantBrooke Palmer, Executive Assistant

Donna Torrez, Administrative Assistant

BOARD OF DIRECTORSRio de la Vista, Chair

Allan Savory, Vice-ChairLeslie Christian, SecretaryRichard Smith, Treasurer

Manuel CasasJudy Richardson

Bruce WardTerry Word

ADVISORY COUNCILJim Shelton, Chair, Vinita, OKRobert Anderson, Corrales, NM

Michael Bowman,Wray, COSam Brown, Austin, TX

Leslie Christian, Portland, ORGretel Ehrlich, Gaviota, CA

Cynthia & Leo Harris, Albuquerque, NMTrudy Healy, Taos, NMClint Josey, Dallas, TX

Krystyna Jurzykowski, Glen Rose, TXDianne Law, Laveta, CO

Doug McDaniel, Lostine, ORGuillermo Osuna, Coahuila, Mexico

Jim Parker, Montrose, CODean William Rudoy, Cedar Crest, NM

York Schueller, El Segundo, CARichard Smith, Houston, TX

Africa Centre for Holistic ManagementPrivate Bag 5950, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

Tel: (263) (11) 404 979; email: hmatanga@mweb.co.zwHuggins Matanga, Director

HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE (ISSN: 1098-8157) is published six times a year by The Savory Center, 1010 Tijeras NW, Albuquerque, NM 87102, 505/842-5252, fax: 505/843-7900; email: savorycenter@holisticmanagement.org.; website: www.holisticmanagement.org Copyright © 2004.

AD DEFINITUM FINEM

CENTER

The

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The forms of production create the qualityof life and address what you need to do in theshort- and medium-term. The future resourcebase has to sustain what you produce (formsof production), over the long-term. In this waythe holistic goal guides your decision-makingfor both the short- and long-term.

Quality of Life

The What: These statements are how you wantyour life to be (i.e., We want meaningfulrelationships) in the particular whole you aremanaging.The Why: In defining how you want your life tobe right now, you determine what you value,what makes life fulfilling. By determining whatyou want in life and writing it down, you aremore likely to achieve it. The quality of lifestatements will likely tell youwhat people value, but they arenot a string of values.

Forms of Production

The What: What you need toproduce to create the quality oflife you have described (i.e., Wewill produce profit frommeaningful work) and to meetyour stated purpose (if youidentified one). The Why: You need to figure outthe basic ways in which you willproduce your quality of life (andmeet your purpose). Thesestatements should address allyour quality of life statements.This is where people are temptedto include specific how to’s. Keepthese statements as open aspossible so you don’t pigeon-holeyourself later.

Future Resource Base

The What: A description of howyour future resource base must be many yearsfrom now, if it is to sustain what you mustproduce to create the quality of life you want.The three primary features are: 1) A description of how the decision makers inyour whole must be perceived by the peoplelisted in your resource base (i.e., We must beperceived by our clients, suppliers, andneighbors as honest, ethical, creative, etc.). 2) A description of how you want the land inyour resource base to look in the future (i.e.,

Our land will have effective water and mineralcycles; solar energy flow will be maximized,with a biologically active soil, and diverse andstable plant and wildlife communities). 3) A description of your community and theservices available in the community (i.e., Wewill have good schools, libraries, and othersocial services available with a thrivingeconomic base).The Why:

1) If you want people to perceive you longinto the future as honest, creative, ethical,compassionate, etc., then you need to behavethat way now. 2) If you want the land to be as you describe it in your future resource base, you have to make decisions now to move you in that direction.

3) If you want a community or the servicesdescribed, you need to make decisions now tomake that happen.

This section ties the short- and medium-term with the long-term.

Ecosystem Processes

The What: The four basic processes throughwhich nature functions. They are thefoundation of all human endeavors. If youaffect one, you affect all.

Water Cycle—Maximize cyclingof water through plants & soils.Keep it local. Reduce export andimport.Community Dynamics—A wayto view relationships withinnature. Increased biodiversityleads to increased stability inplant and animal populations.Mineral Cycle—Maximize thecycling of nutrients throughplants and soils. Reduce exportand import.Energy Flow—Maximize theflow of solar fuel throughplants and soils. It is the basisfor regenerative naturalresource management.

The Why: These processes are ourlife support system and all of ourdecisions must take them intoaccount. Understanding thesymptoms of effective orineffective water and mineralcycles, impaired energy flow andsuccession in biologicalcommunities helps you read theland. The key to their effectivefunctioning on land is the soilsurface. If you managed to ensurethe soil is covered, all fourprocesses will be enhanced. Inessence, bare ground is publicenemy number one.

The Tools

The What: Inside thebrackets areTechnology, Rest,

Fire, Grazing, Animal Impact, andLiving Organisms. Outside thebrackets are Human Creativity andMoney & Labor.The Why: Those tools inside the

brackets are the only tools (or categories oftools) humans can use to modify theecosystem processes. One or both of the toolsoutside the brackets have to be used inassociation with the tools inside the brackets.

The dotted line around Living Organisms inthe tools line and around CommunityDynamics on the Ecosystem Processes linereminds people that when you use the tool of

Keys To An Effective Holistic Goal1) No how to’s (Those are tested).2) It needs to be written (Decisions are complex with many factors.

Writing things down clarifies what you want, what you need to doto create it, and addresses short and long-term issues).

3) Don’t prejudice future action (Leave the playing field open for allthe options. Your testing will weed things out).

4) Write what you want, not what you don’t want.5) No quantifying or qualifying elements. Don’t make one item more

important than the other or try to create a hierarchy or priority ofquality of life items, etc.

6) Don’t include issues or problems7) Start with the quality of life, then list the forms of production, and

finish with the future resource base, as they build on each other. 8) Be careful to not confuse or mix up the quality of life statements

with forms of production statements or with the future resourcebase. They each have their purpose. If people are confused aboutthese different elements, then they are less likely to develop theseelements fully, which could affect the quality of their decision-making.

9) Revise your holistic goal if there has been any significant change inthe whole under management (such as a change in decision makers).

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living organisms, you are by default affectingthe dynamics of the biological community;they are same thing. Understanding the toolsand their effect on the ecosystem processes isessential for diagnosing a resourcemanagement problem.• Money & Labor—One or both of these toolsis always required.• Human Creativity—Key to using all the toolseffectively.• Fire—The most ancient tool.• Rest—The most misunderstood tool.• Grazing—The most abused tool.• Animal Impact—The least used tool.• Living Organisms—The most complex tool.• Technology—The most used tool.

Testing Guidelines

The What: Seven guidelines fortesting to ensure yourdecisions are socially,

environmentally, and economicallysound and will take you toward yourholistic goal. The Why: The seven tests supplement allthe factors that are normally consideredwhen making a decision (conventionalresearch, peer pressure, gut feel, legalconcerns, cash flow, intuition, etc.). Thetesting is a check after all that work iscompleted.

As mentioned earlier, decision-making can be complex, particularlygiven certain decisions or in groupsituations. Having seven tests thataddress both thinking questions andfeeling questions, as well as short-termconsequences and long-termconsequences, helps to make sure thedecision is a sound one and addressesthe complexity effectively.

The testing also tends to bring upquestions that may have been missed inthe first round of exploring a decisionor plan. You can play with the order ofhow you ask the questions, but try tomove quickly through the tests and notget mired. If you do get stuck, youprobably need to do more research. Alwayssave the society and culture test for last asit is the one feeling question to bring the

decision back to the gut or heart.

1) Cause and Effect: Does this action addressthe root cause of the problem?The Why: This question forces you to definethe problem and the root cause. Be sure you’vedefined the problem correctly. If it’s a resourceissue, try to figure out which of the ecosystemprocesses is most affected (i.e., a problemspecies means its probably a communitydynamics issue). If it’s a human issue, look tostructure and leadership.

2) Weak Link—Social: Have I/we considered and/or addressedany confusion, anger, or opposition this actioncould create with people whose support I/weneed in the near or distant future?The Why: It doesn’t matter if your decision is

right if you don’t have support from others orcause conflict. This question helps you figureout how to make sure you don’t make anyenemies or create misunderstanding.-—Biological: Does this action address theweakest point in the life cycle of thisorganism?The Why: By determining the weakest link inthe life cycle you increase your ability toeffectively improve the ability of the organismto survive or to remove or reduce its numbersif it is a “problem” organism.—Financial: Does this action strengthen theweakest link in the chain of production?The Why: By determining where the weakestlink is you will get the most return for anymoney or time invested in strengthening thewhole chain. That’s why expendituresaddressing the weak link are consideredwealth generating. This test is done inconjunction with financial planning when youdetermine what the weak link is in eachenterprise. Decisions you test throughout the

This is a four color revision of the model developed by Certified Educator Ken Jacobson. You canview it in color on our website at www.holisticmanagement.org/model2.cfm.

The Essence of Holistic Managementcontinued from page three

4 IN PRACTICE * May/June 2004

©2001 The Savory Center

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year that involve an expenditure for a specificenterprise should refer back to the weak linkyou identified. The links in the chain ofproduction are:Resource Conversion: If it’s an issue of havinginsufficient ability to convert sunlight into rawresources and/or not having sufficient rawresources (including money, capacity, talent,etc.), then it is a resource conversion weak link.Product Conversion: If your raw resources areplentiful, but you lack the capacity to convertthem to marketable form, you have a productconversion weak link (e.g., if you have morethan enough forage, but lack enough animalsto convert the bulk of that forage to meat). Marketing (Money) Conversion: If you can’t sellthe products or services you have produced, thenyou have a marketing conversion weak link.

3) Marginal Reaction— (Comparing two ormore actions): Which action provides thegreatest return, in terms of my/our holisticgoal for the time and money spent?The Why: It helps you prioritize your effortsand expenditures so you can maximizeprogress toward your holistic goal.

4) Gross Profit Analysis—(Comparing two ormore enterprises): Which enterprisescontribute the most to covering the overheadsof the business?The Why: You want to see which enterprises,after the direct costs and risks associated withthem have been factored in, produce the mostincome for the least additional cost. Enterprisesthat pass this test should pass the other testingquestions as well to be considered.

5) Energy/Money, Source & Use: Is the energyor money to be used in this action derivedfrom the most appropriate source in terms ofmy/our holistic goal? Will the way in whichthe energy or money is to be used lead towardmy/our holistic goal?The Why: You want to favor renewable orenvironmentally benign sources of energy andavoid nonrenewable or environmentallydamaging sources whenever possible. Moneyderived internally (what your land or businessgenerates) usually leaves you better off thanmoney derived externally (from a lender).

Energy and money that are used to buildinfrastructure are preferable, as are uses for aone-time investment that will then sustainitself. What you want to avoid are

consumptive uses of energy or money thatachieve no lasting effect, or worse, uses thatbecome addictive in that, once initiated, yourisk an undesirable dependence.

6) Sustainability: If I/we take this action, willit lead toward or away from the futureresource base described in my/our holisticgoal?The Why: This question helps you keep inmind the long-term consequences of youractions in the context of your holistic goal.

7) Society & Culture: How do I/we feel aboutthis action now?The Why: This is the feeling question thatprocesses all the information you have

analyzed in the other six tests bearing in mindthe quality of life you’ve described in yourholistic goal. The only time this test is donefirst is to weed out new enterprises you maybrainstorm in your financial planning thatconflict with your quality of life statement.

Management Guidelines

The What: These aremanagement principles to helppeople better use the tools

available. This section of the model is like afiling cabinet of insights and ideas based onthe practical experience of people applyingthose tools.The Why: The different guidelines apply todifferent tools or situations

• Learning & Practice (Shifting Paradigms)

relates to Human Creativity

• Organization & Leadership (NurturingCreativity) relates to Human Creativity

• Marketing (Developing A Strategy in Linewith Your Holistic Goal) relates to HumanCreativity

• Time (When To Expose & Re-expose Plantsto Soils) relates to Grazing

• Stock Density & Herd Effect (Using Animalsto Shape the Landscape) relates to AnimalImpact

• Cropping (Practice That More CloselyImitates Nature) relates to Living Organisms

• Burning (When & How, and What To DoBefore & After) relates to Fire

• Population Management (Look to AgeStructure Instead of Numbers,Diversity Instead of Single Species)relates to Living Organisms

These guidelines help you workwith Nature (and humans) moreeffectively in using the tools tomove you toward your holistic goal.

Planning Procedures:

The What: These aremethodical planningand monitoring

processes unique to HolisticManagement, which act like a roadmap for day-to-day decisions. The Why: While there are otherfinancial, grazing, and landplanning processes, none of themaddress some of the keymanagement concerns that arisewhen managing holistically.

Financial Planning

The What: Creating a Financial Roadmap toYour Holistic Goal. It is done yearly beforeyour fiscal year begins and is an essential cashflow tool.The Why: Holistic financial planning has someunique features:1) The planning is done with the holistic goalin mind.2) The issue of expenses rising to the level ofone’s income is addressed through planningprofit first and then using what is left forexpenses.3) Determines which expenses are wealthgenerating, inescapable, or maintenance.4) It produces more accountability and

Number 95 * IN PRACTICE 5

Four Modes of Use

The What: Holistic Management has four modes of use—1) Management,2) Research,3) Diagnosis, and 4) Policy Analysis & Design.The Why: Using the Holistic Management® model, youcan design research, perform a structured diagnosis of aresource management issue, and analyze or designpolicy all toward a generic holistic goal or one createdby stakeholders. Your research, diagnosis, or designwould be based on analysis of issues as they relate tothe whole under management, ecosystem processes,and tools. All research, proposed action, or policywould be tested using the testing questions andmonitored with a feedback loop. In turn, research,diagnosis, and policy influences management.

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knowledge around financial planning becauseeveryone is involved and knows the figures.

Identifying a Logjam

The What: This is an important part of thefinancial planning process to ensure thatpeople take time to think each year aboutwhether something might be holding up theoperation/business as a whole in terms ofprogress toward the holistic goal. A logjam istruly a blockage.The Why: If the business/organization as awhole is making reasonable progresstoward your holistic goal, then youprobably don’t have a logjam. In the earlystages of practice, the logjam might bepeople’s lack of understanding orownership in the holistic goal or HolisticManagement. Later on, people issues,leadership issues, or the structure of theorganization/business might becomelogjams. Logjam identification is tied to thefinancial planning process because youmight need to allocate money towardaddressing it as part of your financial plan.

Holistic Grazing Planning

The What: A grazing planning procedurethat helps you get your animals to the rightplace at the right time and for the rightreasons. This procedure uses an aide memoire(French for memory aid), a “cheat sheet”developed by military planners to helpsimplify complex and ever-changing situationsto produce desired outcomes.The Why: Grazing planning involves themanipulation of time (of grazing), area (ofland) and numbers (of animals), while cateringfor numerous variables related to managementand weather. The aide memoire breakseverything down into simple steps, in aspecific order, so you can effectively plan andmanage your land and animals for the bestoutcome. Key features of holistic grazingplanning are:1) Planning is done with the holistic goal inmind2) The length of grazing periods is based onthe time it takes for grazed plants to recover.3) In the growing season grazings are plannedso you can produce the maximum amount

of forage.4) In the non-growing season the aim is toration out the forage so that it lasts until thenext growing season begins, with minimaldecrease in animal performance.5) Livestock moves are planned backwards—youstart with where the animals need to be at acertain time, then plan backwards so you knowwhere they have to come from to get there.6) Drought reserves are based on time, notreserved areas.

7) There is maximum coordination withcropping, wildlife needs, and other land uses,as well as with the personal schedules of thosewho will operate the plan.8) Use of animal impact (stock density andherd effect) for land restoration is incorporatedinto the plan.9) Stocking rate is based on effectiveness of thewater cycle rather than rainfall received.10) In operating the plan, grazing periods areadjusted to cater for daily growth rates of plants,livestock performance, and/or wildlife needs.

Holistic Land Planning

The What: A process for planning anddeveloping the infrastructure (fencing, water,handling facilities, etc.) on large tracts of landwhere livestock are run. Implementation of theplan will likely take many years. The Why: Whether you have well-developedinfrastructure or not, you need to plan its ideal layout and gradually work toward it, astime and money allow. This will ensure you

will move toward your holistic goal morequickly, while increasing managementefficiency and reducing overall costs. The landplan ties into the financial plan each year asyou make decisions on which parts of the plan to implement—based on whether theywill make money or cost you money (e.g., you might decide to build one internal fencethat will enable you to grow more grassbecause the animals will now spend less time in all paddocks, giving them morerecovery time).

Feedback Loop

The What: Once you create your plan, orimplement a decision, you should

determine what you willmonitor to ensure theplan is on track or thedecision was the correctone. If you find you are

going off track, then you need toimplement some form of control(change what you’re doing) to get backon track, or replan entirely if thingshave gone too far. The Why: You must monitor to producethe result you desire, not to see whathappens. The feedback loop is essential tocreating a responsive plan. People usuallymake a decision or develop a plan andthen hope for the best. If you recognize

that creating a feedback loop is actually part ofthe decision, then you develop a habit ofdetermining monitoring criteria as part of yourplan or decision so you can easily correct courseat the earliest point rather than waiting untilthere is a train wreck. The key is to discern theearliest indicator of change and be sure tocomplete the feedback loop by controlling orreplanning when things go off track.

When your plan or decision concerns theenvironment, always assume you are wrong—because nature’s complexity is more than we canever fathom. In monitoring your financial plan,you know you will never come out right on themoney, so monthly control is imperative. In asocial situation, don’t assume you are wrong atthe outset because a negative attitude canseriously affect morale, but still monitor carefully.

Several of the images used in this article weretaken from The Bespectacled Crocodile by JohnHall. This document can be viewed in its entiretyat: http://managingwholes.com/crocodile/.

6 IN PRACTICE * May/June 2004

Simple Appreciation

The What: This management tool is again borrowed frommilitary planners who use it as an effective approach toplanning their way out of a crisis situation. The Why:

This tool enables you to sort through the chaos ofthe crisis by writing down the information necessary tomake an informed decision. 1. Aim — (What outcome would you like to see?)2. Factors (List all the factors that might affect thatoutcome.)3. Courses (What courses of action are open to you?)4. Plan (Decide which one is best and make a plan.)

The Essence of Holistic Managementcontinued from page five

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Number 95 * IN PRACTICE 7

Back in the late 1980s, when The SavoryCenter was known as the Center for HolisticResource Management, we ran a series ofcourses thataddressed acommon needexpressed by ranch and farmfamilies—bettercommunication. Led by organizationdevelopmentconsultant DonGreen, and his wife,Betty, these courseshad a profoundimpact on theparticipants andtheir relationshipswith their families.This article, whichdescribes one ofthose courses, firstappeared in October 1989.

In Colorado, as in most Western states,grass translates directly into healthy land, abundant wildlife and profit. But

just as in the hungry parts of Africa, an ever-increasing amount of ours is giving wayto bare ground and scrub for reasons thatmost assume have to do mainly with physical factors.

Yet here we sat in a windowless motelconference room learning that grass thrivesmore on love, trust and family harmony thanon any combination of climate geographyand science.

If the husband-wife team leading ourdiscussion could make their point, it wouldconstitute the most concrete proof ever thatdespite our technical skill, the salvation of the world, not to mention our personalsuccess, might go begging unless we allbecome better people.

For the last five years Don and Betty

Green have traveled a good bit of westernNorth America carrying this message topeople attending the Center for Holistic

ResourceManagement’s“Building An EffectiveOrganization” course.

As they see it, themanagement of vital,natural things,whether farms,forests or wildernessland, cannot succeedwithout sensitivity,cooperation, playfulcreativity andunalloyed humanity.These qualities, theysay, distinguish thecomplex naturalworld from thesimplicity of themachine.

If our humanstewardship fails

to recognize this, a good part of the earthmight become desert because rigid habits and sour relationships make us incapable of responding to anything as subtle as the ecosystem.

The group that gathered in a GrandJunction, Colorado motel for five days ofintensive soul-searching reflected the diversecast of characters in the environmentaldrama: an East Coast investment counselor, a Wyoming state senator and his wife, agovernment field agent, an ex-rodeo cowboy,several ranching and farming couples, an artteacher, and me, an environmentalist.

Don Green put our problems in thecontext of American industrial failures. Hepointed out how corporate cultures based ondogma, hierarchy and fear cannot competewhere profits depend on putting ideas andaction together quickly. But those rigidattitudes, it would seem, might still workbetter selling Buicks in Nagasaki than in the unforgiving economy of nature.

Green cited a long litany of cases:manufacturers that lost their best minds tothe competition, newspapers that drove away their circulation, schools that cultivatedmediocrity like mushrooms, and farmers who destroyed land and fortune throughstubbornness. Then he turned on a video inwhich Tom Peters, best-selling author of InSearch of Excellence, made the same pointfrom positive examples. We heard about steel companies where thousands ofemployees break production and qualityrecords without any job descriptions, workrules, inspectors or janitors; about big-timeCEO’s who answer their own phones; andvisionaries who turned fruit stands intomillion-dollar businesses.

“So, too, on the family farm or ranch,” saidDon Green. “What happens is usually whatpeople expect to happen. The potential forcreativity and action in a family is far beyondwhat any other organization can hope for,

because no matter what strife exists on thesurface, family members want to connect. Indecades of counseling, I’ve never failed tofind that. But how often do we let negativebeliefs mask that strength?”

He and Betty then set out to make us afamily, promising to demonstrate right therehow to give trust, candor and positiveattitudes the upper hand. The tools they usedwere many and varied, drawn mostly fromwork of modern prophets of managementpsychology: Peters, Jay Hall, Warren Bennis

Love & Trust on the Rangeby Sam Bingham

The salvation of the world, not to mention our

personal success, might go begging unless we all become better people.

continued on page 8

Sam Bingham

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8 IN PRACTICE * May/June 2004

and others. The common advice, however,was to dream and listen, no more than that.

The best leaders, we learned, do a lot ofboth. They believe in people. They listen.And if they dream so intensely that otherscatch fire, they also pay attention to thedreams of others and open doors for them.They preserve a childlike openness toeverything.

“Positive thinking isn’t enough,” said DonGreen. “When you allow someone to expressan idea in person without fear, it heals andenergizes them terrifically.”

He carried the idea a step further inanother exercise. We took turns sitting in aneasy chair listening to others brainstorm ideasfor satisfying our goals. It became instantlyclear what brilliance, creativity andcommitment we commanded as a family,regardless of background.

All the homilies we had heard aboutcaptains of industry who found the key tofortune by personally roaming the shop floorwith ears cocked made sense. Others, evenstrangers, had some damn good ideas.

“To think of the time and energy wewaste in our operation over little things,”mused one rancher over lunch. “Things likewhat kind of pickup the boys get to drive,when the success of our ranch depends on awholly different kind of communication.”

“It’s true,” said another. “The issue isn’twhether the best policy is to move yourcattle today or tomorrow or to winter themin the canyon or by the river or whether you should herd a thousand steers in abunch or in smaller groups. What matters isto not feel afraid to think things throughcreatively and to see mistakes as lessons, notembarrassments. If you trust your people andyour people trust you, you can either make itwork or learn something. Otherwise thedoubt paralyzes you. You don’t get better,and you end up defending decisions longafter you know they’re wrong.”

In the time we were together we hadlearned a lot of techniques about positivereinforcement, the qualities of enlightenedleadership, building job satisfaction, planningfor excellence and forging collaboration

between management and labor. We had alsobecome fast and true friends, sure that as ateam we would work magic. But would allthat survive in the advancing desert outside?

On the last night by way of answeringthat question, the Greens announced anactivity they called “sculpting” in which wewould reproduce our condition using realpeople as clay. In preparation for that, theydemonstrated body language symbolic ofvarious responses to assaults on self-esteem,the most common kind of violence between people,

We could recognize the “pleaser,” the“blamer,” the “super rational,” and the“irrelevant,” who simply changes the subjectand dithers on. And, of course, we heardabout the “congruent” individual who stoodin relaxed balance above all such pathology.

As a demonstration, one of the ranchersvolunteered to sculpt the family and staff ofthe ancestral homestead, including his ownparents, the foreman of nearly 30 years, theother hands and all their families.

According to the rules, they had to do thisin silence. As Don Green put it, too oftenwords get in the way. One person talks.Another hits back at a superficial point, andthe fundamental gets lost.

Slowly at first and grinning a bit self-consciously, the man began to select parentsand the others, placing them in various poses at jarring angles to each other As hedid so, his face, all our faces, began to expressrising tension.

“And where,” asked Don Green finally,“would you put yourself and your wife?”

That was not at all clear, and when theydid put actors in their positions, it did notresolve the scene. They stood apart, the wifelooking restlessly around the group, the manbent in the pleaser’s imbalance toward hisdad, who faced the other way pointing theblaming finger at his staff.

Some people around the room, and manyof the actors, began to sniff, and the linebetween reality and play evaporated. Adesert of emotion invaded the pit of my own stomach. The scene looked that barren.

But it was not.After the silence had soaked in a while,

Don asked if anyone who felt strongly aboutthe scene would volunteer to rearrange it.The government field agent stepped forward.

Deliberately at first, then in the rush of a person bent on putting out the fire, hebegan to move the frozen figures, join hands,lower the accusing finger, and bring peopleface to face.

Later he would say he had recalled howlong it took his own wife, an urbane andeducated woman, to win a true place in hisweather-beaten ranch family.

But he hardly had a chance to act beforethe figures began to move themselves,spontaneously embracing and drawingtogether like iron filings under the force ofsome magnet, and the whole room heaved asigh as if a shadow had passed away fromthe sun.

“You see,” said Don Green, breaking thespell. “All that desire to reach out and makecontact is present in every family. No matterhow hidden it may seem, it is always there.Sometimes it only takes one congruentperson to release it. Sometimes it is a child or a teenager, but it could be you.”

Going away into the night, we knew howa family that could go through that could andwould do what they had to to make the landprosper. They could see and hark to itsneeds quickly and wisely, and it would returnabundance.

It did seem possible to grow grass on trustand harmony. It only remained to take theidea back home, back to Wyoming, toDenver, to Wall Street, to wherever.

Love & Trust on the Range continued from page 7

A good part of the earth might become desert because

rigid habits and sour relationships make us incapable

of responding to anything assubtle as the ecosystem.

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Number 95 * IN PRACTICE 9

This article originates from a talk Stevepresented at the Holistic ManagementRendezvous held in Texas in September 2003.

hen I speak on this topic, I oftenbegin by saying (not quite yelling) in

the louder end of my very loud voice,“There aren’t any resource management problems !There are only communication problems ! ”

I do that because it works. People remember it. I do it because it’s true. We are strangers in astrange land. Almost all of us are. There weresome ecologically successfully cultures. Essentially,they are gone or vanishing. There is in WesternCivilization in general, a huge disconnect betweenpeople’s beliefs and the truth of the land they love.Ecological management tools are used according tobeliefs of cultures from an ocean away as a matterof political philosophy by well meaning peoplewho don’t know they’re doing that. These “fads”and cultural blind spots are terribly destructive.

For example, believe me, a pine forestgrowing in molic soils (you know, molisols! Theyform under grassland !) with a stem density offour or five thousand trees per acre is not saying“burn me,” even if it once had a fire frequencyaveraging one event every three years. Thosecool (as in temperature), little (as in size andintensity) fires in that ancient pine savannah(5 to 50 trees per acre) were basically grass fires.Crown fires in that dense forest with its hugeunnatural fuel load can only be catastrophic—soilsterilizing, horribly erosive, biodiversitydestroying—and with centuries long, oftenpermanent, consequences.

A grass plant (or a valley full of them), withyears of old growth smothering its few paleremnant leaves and rising stems, is not saying“burn me” either. Nor is a sagebrush steppe witha grass understory in the same shape as thoseabove where grass fire mortality may approach95 percent. If such sites are dry enough to carry a fire it will probably be too hot for functionalgrass survival. We need to hear what the land is telling us.

Talking Plant

I was on a consulting job in Texas once. Wemet with the management group at the ranch

headquarters one morning, and I allowed (in my loud voice) as to how we only havecommunication problems. Most cowboys figureyou shouldn’t almost yell at them. They did thesteely stare thing.

“I will illustrate,” I said to the steely faces.“Do any of you speak dog?” I asked.More steely stares. After a while one guy

narrowed his eyes further and said, “What?”

“Come on,” I replied. “Can you look at yourdog and tell by how she holds her ears, her eyes,her mouth, her tail, her legs and back andmuzzle, and how she moves, how she’s feeling,what she’s going to do, and what she wants?”

Eyes widened a little. These were men of theland. They already understood. In a few minutes,they all realized they “spoke” the behaviorallanguage of several animal species to one degreeor another. Most also acknowledged that thecritters could read them (the men) better thanthey could read the critters because their“language” is more existential and behavioral than our own.

“So you speak dog, huh?” I asked.“Yup.”“Horse?”“Yup.”“Cow? Deer? Cats? Hogs? Quail?” Yup every time.I then asked “Do any of you speak girl?”“What?”

“You know, the behavioral language of femalehumans. The one they’ve been using when theyfrown, stare at you, put a hand on one hip, andjust sigh sadly?”

“Huh?” (Eyes narrowing again)“Well, how are things at home?”Long silence. Then one tough old guy spoke,

in a gruff, but sort of wistful tone: “Well, I try not to go home much.”

I went on to explain that there are manylanguages (human and other species—likebanker) people must learn to succeed on theland. Every species has a language. I told themthat plants communicate their state of health toanimals visually and chemically—by the way theylook, smell and taste. By the time we’d talked allthat over, they could see they really didn’t speakthose plant languages and that was the reason for all the bare ground and invasive plants. They didn’t know how to relate to their plant“neighbors” because they didn’t know themeaning of a lot of the things they’d observed all their lives. Therefore they hadn’t adapted inresponse to the information.

A Context for Understanding

Land Language is a language of long intimacy.The land delivers its message to those with eyesto see, ears to hear, and a good deal of lifeexperience. “Text without context is pretext” as the feller said. Data without context is alsopretext, facts that have little to do withunderstanding a given situation. Many life anddeath messages may take years or decades forthe land as a whole (or its creatures or theclimate) to communicate. Drawing conclusionswithout context delivers clever factoids, but not“Truth” or knowledge. The best definition oftruth I know is that Truth is a knowledge ofthings as they are, as they were, and as they are to come.

Most of the past is lost—forgotten or garbledin memory. I work hard to be aware of thepresent. Humans can only be conscious of onething at a time. We can only project about thefuture. The message of this definition of truth is that our limitations require us to keep records,to pay attention, to base our expectations for the future on experience, to seek forunderstanding of governing principles and theirinteraction and relationships, in the place whereour judgments are made (sounds like doingmonitoring doesn’t it?).

Without all this, we easily fall into false (often

Land Languageby Steven H. Rich

W“These are obvious, plain messages

from the land. They are not subtle. Neither is the horrid,stinking reek that emanates from the soil surface under

the duff on long rested grasslands, the water repellent

surface layer, the shrunken grassand forb root zones (an average of 5 inches versus 38 inches on

holistically grazed lands).”

continued on page 10

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10 IN PRACTICE * May/June 2004

circular) logic traps through mistaking singularfacts for principles. The fact that a large oldmoribund bunchgrass plant may take three years to recover its complete productivecapacities after a single severe grazing (dependingon several factors) is a powerfulargument, in some minds, againstgrazing at all. If the plant’s recoveryis the only thing monitored, severalconclusions can be deduced from the data. Theseconclusions and data will be cited asevidence and may have a powerfulinfluence on policy,public and private.

Holistic Monitoring

However, our“Truth” definition asdefined by context is aholistic one. It does notsay “thing as it is” itsays “Things as theyare.” Real worldobservations usingholistic monitoringover, say, 12 years,would tell a different story.During those years, if spent under a wellplanned and monitored (adaptive) grazing andanimal impact regime, we may find, in alllikelihood, six plants occupying the spaceformerly occupied by one, an increase in total basal coverage, canopy cover, litter, soilactivity, seed production, bird, reptile, andmammal use, a shift from mites to beneficialnematodes in the soil, increased active bacteriaand micorrhizal fungi, and increased nativespecies diversity. Soil carbon and nitrogen willhave increased, the color of the plants will have deepened, and their digestibility andpalatability increased.

The original plant may, in fact, be smaller inthis new environment. But its survival chances arebetter, the watershed functions much better, andthe site will have much more potential energy instore, more resilience and better function andstability (according to most goals, those things areimprovement). The first (shrinking plant) fact

may be true, but it is not Truth, and theconclusions and inferences about its real worldeffects are not true. Intentional or not, they are adisastrous lie. After 12 years without grazing orother defoliation, our big grey bunchgrass, inbrittle environments where most bunchgrassesgrow, will likely be a sad little spiky lookingblack/grey circle: dead without descendants.

During the 12 years of planned, managed,monitored grazing, we may havewitnessed seedlings in 10 years withtwo or three big germination eventswhere seedlings occur on 1/4- to1/2- inch (6-12 mm) spacing even in

the 8-inch (200 mm) rainfall country I come from (if the site gets sufficient animal impact).The big old rested plant will likely not generate a single seedling in the crusted soil nearby in all that time.

These are, in fact, very clear, obvious, plainmessages from the land. They are not subtle.Neither is the horrid, stinking reek that emanatesfrom the soil surface under the duff on longrested grasslands, the water repellent surfacelayer, the shrunken grass and forb root zones (an average of 5 inches versus 38 inches, or 125 mm vs 950 mm, on holistically grazed lands)or the pale yellowish foliage or lack of wildlife(as researched by Dr. Jimmy Richardson, et al at North Dakota State University).

The soil of even overgrazed prairie landssmells sweet and has better diversity andfunction than long-rested soils, but they are a sad wreck compared to the deep abundant living world of grasslands created through

managing holistically.The land can deliver strong messages about

long-term consequences to specific long-termactions and policies, if we go to places where weknow how long and in what way certain toolshave been used there. We then may comparethem with places of similar climate, soils andshared histories up to the point of differing tooluse (I like comparing National Parks to nearbyranches). Even then we must use care. Do not, forexample, assume that plants growing on sites thathave never been grazed by large ungulates arethe same plants as those growing on sites with ahistory of ungulate use—even if they are of the

same species. They developed under a differentecological pathway. The response on the grazedsites will be very different.

This being said, there is a lot to learn fromthese landscape comparisons. This data can, afterone has learned a good deal of the language ofa place, be translated into human speech in the

same way one human language is translated into another. I invite you to find and share themessages. People find them to be of greatemotional power and authenticity, particularly if you describe the careful rigorous process of translation.

Steve Rich is President of the RangelandRestoration Academy and a long-time SavoryCenter member. He is an independent rangeconsultant and works with the Deseret Ranches. He resides in both Salt Lake City, Utah and Arizona. He can be reached at stevenhrich@comcast.net.

Steve Rich makes the audience sit up and take notice when he begins his land language talk with “There aren’t any resourcemanagement problems! There are only communication problems.”

Land Languagecontinued from page 9

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Number 95 * Land & Livestock 11

The Herd

I was taken to my chalet, very nice and very clean, then Roger and Ihad dinner; it was very good, with warm and friendly folks waiting on usfor everything. The next morning I was taken to the cattle corral (wherethe herd stays each night because of lions, leopards and other predators). It

had been raining and the corral was muddy, likea feedlot gets when it rains. It was built on aslope so it could drain and situated in a fairly good place.

The men looked over the cows very closely,tending wounds, checking their health and someof the men milked some of the cows. The cattlelooked a little gaunt, but they had been in acorral all night and were empty. The men easedthe animals out of the corral and sorted off thenew and young calves and goats. The weakand/or sick cows and the young animals wouldbe left in the corral to be tended to by theherders. After that they would be kept up closeto the corral for the day while the other mentook the herd out to graze. The herd waitedpatiently while this work was being carried out.That they weren’t in a hurry to graze indicated tome that they were in good condition. If the cattlewere, let’s say, “nutritionally challenged,” I wouldexpect them to be hard to handle when the gatewas opened. These animals very patiently waitedfor the men to get them ready to go.

The Herding Day

The strongest animals took the lead as the herd moved out to their day’sgrazing area. The herd consisted of oxen (which are leased out to farmersin plowing season), bulls, cows, yearling bulls, yearling heifers, calves andgoats. Some of the cattle belong to the Africa Centre and the rest to variousmembers of the community—the community being the people who live in

Last September at the Holistic Management Rendezvous held in TexasI got to talking to Allan Savory about low stress animal handling andhe asked what it would take to get me to Africa and to work with

the staff at the Africa Centre for Holistic Management in Zimbabwe.“Well,” I said, “you could pay me!” Of course, I knew where that would

get me.Anyway, Allan and I reached an agreement. He

got to keep most of his money, of course; I got touse up most of mine. But I got to go on theadventure.

West Texas Cowboy Meets Africa

I arrived at the Victoria Falls airport inZimbabwe the end of February feeling about as outof place as a dung beetle on Times Square. I wasmet by a skinny Zimbabwean in short pants andsandals—Roger Parry (I learned why these guyswear short pants and will tell you later). Roger runs“bush awareness” courses and also serves as a guide for visitors to Dimbangombe—the name ofthe ranch where the Africa Centre is based.

Roger recognized me right away as the man hewas supposed to pick up because I was the onlyguy with long sleeves, Wranglers, a ball cap andspeakin’ Texan. After a short drive, we turned offthe paved highway onto a sand road through theforest. The grass was taller than the pickup (shortpickup, gas is over $8/gallon). In a few miles wereached Dimbangombe where the grass was even better, taller, andobviously much thicker.

It was hard to believe that this could ever have been bare ground, there was such a tremendous amount of plant material. There were a lot of trees, with grass plants almost as tall as the trees. They tell me thatduring the dry season the conditions are much worse. Well it is hard tobelieve but I’ve witnessed the same thing at home—lots of feed one season,thinking the grass would last forever, only to see it back to nothing the next drought cycle.

Ruminations on Herding, Handling and Africaby Guy Glosson

Guy enjoys a chuckle with one of theherdsmen following a low-stress handlingsession.

&L I V E S T O C K &

continued on page 12

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12 Land & Livestock * May/June 2004

the nearby villages. This creates a situation where there are lots of bosses. Iguess you could say this adds to the diversity; it also adds to themanagement challenges.

The animals graze out in tight bunches with the herders staying in frontof them keeping them under control. They can’t let the lead get too faraway as it is hard to keep track of them in the bush. As the cattle start tofill up, they begin to slow down the pace and soon settle down to graze.The herders keep track of where they are to graze by keeping yesterday’stracks on one side of the herd.They also take GPS coordinatesevery hour. This record helps topinpoint the grazing area each day.The herd may spread out a bit butthe herders will keep them close sothey can keep track of them. Thesecond crew comes on in theafternoon and the cattle return tothe corral before dark, full from aday’s grazing. I found the cattle tobe in good shape and the operationgoing quite well. But, this is therainy season and it has rained!

This seems to work very wellfor the herders and the cattle. I amsure that during the dry season,when the forage quality andquantity starts to dwindle, thesituation changes drastically. Thecattle need to graze longer and theherders don’t want to get out of bed early; it’s cold!

Low-Stress Handling Lessons

I was able to help the men with their handling, but the animals werepretty gentle to begin with. When the men milk the cows they just walk up behind them and tie their hind legs together with a small cord orshoestring, and milk them. The cattle are treated for ticks almost monthlyand go through the “race” (chute) very often. The “race” is built out of netwire, with posts 10 feet (3 meters) apart. It’s about 3 feet (1 meter) wide.There are no gates on the front or the back, only poles that slide across theopening. The gate shutting them into the crowd pen is a wire gap. The gategoing into the crowd pen is 4 feet (1.2 meters) wide. Not the kind of set upyou would find in Texas!

After a short lecture, through translation (drawing on the ground with astick) we started to work the animals through the “race.” As always, peoplehave to hear it, see it, and do it before the learning can begin. These guyswere no different from us Texans, though maybe they were a little quickeron the uptake. After watching me demonstrate on several bunches of cattle,I literally “got a hold” of these guys and led them through the motion. And

then they started to understand. It was great fun to see the lights come onas they began to see why and how we were doing what we were doing.

I was able to get the men to work the front and quit pushing from theback (the secret of low-stress handling). They did a good job and caught onquite fast. We moved almost the whole herd of 600 through the “race” inabout two hours, and the animals were not the least bit bothered by theinconvenience.

Elephant Tracking

On one afternoon I asked Roger if we could track elephant, since wesaw fresh elephant sign almost daily. Roger was game, so off we went. Thisis where I learned my lesson about short pants and sandals. We werewalking through the bush, grass taller than my head, just about as thick asany good grass flat in an East Texas River bottom. Roger turned to me and

said: “If we do happen on elephantthey are likely to be very close.” Thenit dawned on me that I was makingso much noise any deaf Americantourist could hear me coming formiles! Roger, on the other hand, madeno sound at all, he didn’t have onjeans to be dragging in the grass andhe also didn’t have to haul the extraweight through the grass either.

We had a nice walk, but it startedto rain and was getting late so Rogerwent to get a heading on the GPS.Well, guess what, the begin pointdidn’t log into the machine like weboth thought it did when we got outof the truck. That’s the way it is withtechnology: it breaks. We did,however, have a compass. Good thingtoo, as it had been cloudy all day andyou couldn’t see the sun anyway. I

mean we were in thick bush, like being a mouse in a hay field. The onlyplace you could see was straight up.

It started to rain hard and we started to walk. Then I saw why sandalswere a good thing too, they don’t care if it rains. Boots have to dry out.Anyway, Roger checked the heading every once in a while and after aboutan hour we walked right out of the bush and into the back of the truck.Pretty good navigation if you ask me.

If you can’t tell, I had a pretty good time. Met good folks, ate good food,and really enjoyed the privilege of seeing life in a different culture. I got tosee a bit of the world I’d never seen before.

Thanks to all those at the Africa Centre for seeing to me, and to Rogerfor babysitting me.

I hope that in some small way I have helped make those herders lives a little better. All I can do is plant seeds, then hope they grow.

Certified Educator Guy Glosson manages the Mesquite Grove Ranchnear Snyder, Texas, runs a ranch consulting business on the side, andteaches low-stress animal handling. He can be reached atglosson@caprock-spur.com.

Guy positions herdsman to work the cattle.

Ruminations on Herding,Handling and Africa

continued from page 11

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by Ray Travers

Holistic Management has broad application in many walks of life,including forestry. The holistic goal, which integrates humanvalues, the future resource base description, and forms of

production, and drives decision-making, has major but to date, unutilizedapplication in most forest policy and practice.

The testing guidelines have the same potential in forestry as in grazingmanagement. They can ensure the best available knowledge is used toevaluate forest management alternatives before a decision is made and canhelp transform forestry from the clearcut-and-plant regime to one that issound, ecologically,economically andsocially.

While many forestmanagement agenciestoday have goodvegetationclassification systems,which organizeecological data alonggradients of climateand moisture (similarto the brittlenessscale), this is notenough. Clearcuttingis still the dominantlogging practice (byfar), even when itsnegative impacts aresoftened by practicessuch as protectingwildlife trees andriparian land.

The majorcontribution thatHolistic Managementoffers to forestry is itsemphasis on active(versus passive)management. HolisticManagement accepts that humans are part of nature and that it is possible,through sound decision-making, monitoring and, where necessary,replanning, to improve the health, biodiversity and productivity of the forest.Holistic Management practitioners managing grasslands already know this.These same concepts and principles can be extended from grass to trees.

Forms of Production

Good forest practice is all about intentionally changing the foreststructures (i.e. trees) and composition (mix of species), which produce theflow of values and outcomes that people want. Several forms ofproduction that can help make this happen are:

• managing for timber volume;

• managing for timber value; • managing for habitat of desired wildlife or plant species. (Habitat for

many generalist plant and animal species is found in early succession—thatis young—forests. Habitat for many specialized species is found in latesuccession—that is old growth—forests).

These forms of production provide the link between the futureresource base description and the quality of life values in thecomprehensive holistic goal.

A forest that willoptimize growth oftimber volume andvalue begins withhigh initial stocking(1,000+ trees/acre,2,500+ trees/hectare), islightly thinnedfrequently—every twodecades or so—andleaves over 70 percentof the stand after eachthinning, as illustratedin the photo taken ina research study areain coastal BritishColumbia, Canada.

“Reading” theForest

Forest managers,like ranchers, need tospend as much oftheir time as they canon the land,continuously “reading”the condition of theforest. As in ranching,the reason is simple:

weather, wind, insects, disease, fire, animals and human activity are alwaysimpacting the forest’s composition, structure and ecological processes.

Much of the terminology of forestry is similar to the terms in grazingmanagement, although the meanings are specific to trees. Some examplesof forestry terms are: • Basal Area: the cross sectional area of a single tree, including the bark(or the sum of trees/hectare or trees/acre) measured at 4.5 feet (1.5meters) above ground;• Rotation: The time between stand establishment and cutting, measuredin decades or even centuries;• Stocking: the number of trees on a given acre/hectare;

From Grass to Trees—

Extending Holistic Management to Forests

This Douglas fir stand was 52 years old when this photo was taken in August 2000. It hadbeen lightly thinned six times, leaving 70 percent of the growth in each thinning. Note therelatively high stocking of the stand and that each tree is close to cylindrical form. There isan absence of lower green branches, and self-pruning of the small dead branches isoccurring. Coastal Douglas fir Study, Sayward, Vancouver Island, Canada.

Number 95 * Land & Livestock 13

continued on page 14

Pacific Forestry Centre, Natural Resources Canada

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14 Land & Livestock * May/June 2004

• Stand Density: a quantitative measure of stocking which may be thenumber of trees, basal area or volume on an acre/hectare. It measuresthe degree of crowding or competition.

In the end, good forestry is always more concerned with what is leftstanding after logging than what is taken. The economic goal is toincrementally increase the forest’s net worth with every action taken.

Forest Restoration Through Applied Disturbances

Natural disturbances in forests include windstorms, insects, disease andfire. Each forest has a natural disturbance regime that is characteristic forits climate and forest type. The three distinct propertiesof a natural disturbance are:

• Return Interval: The average time betweendisturbances in a stand. A disturbance regime with a50-year return interval, for example, suggests that 2percent of the landscape will be disturbed every year. • Severity: The intensity of the disturbance. A standreplacement fire, for example, is more severe that astand maintenance fire. • Spatial Pattern: The spatial distribution of thedisturbance at different scales, from the stand to thelandscape level.

The prevailing view in conventional forestry is thatnatural disturbances are an aberration (we’ve all metSmoky the Bear). When these natural disturbances dooccur, the conventional view is that major efforts arerequired to control their spread, as in the case of fire, or to salvage timbervalues before economic losses occur.

Holistic Management, in contrast, is a restorative management paradigmthat accepts that natural disturbances are the way nature keeps anecosystem healthy. Where wild forest fires have been extinguished formany years or their spread restricted, there is usually increased treemortality from insects and disease. A natural disturbance also prevents aforest from developing the maximum leaf area, so it acts as a naturalthinning and fertilization agent. But the spatial effect of a naturaldisturbance is usually irregular and selective.

Without disturbance in a forest, there is increased competition andreduced growth efficiency of the trees. The ecological effect of a naturaldisturbance (or a thinning) in the tree canopy is to extend the influence ofprecipitation and solar radiation down to the forest floor. Soil temperaturewill increase and some tree mortality will temporarily reduce transpiration.Increased soil temperature and moisture on the forest floor will stimulatemineralization and microbial activity. Fresh leaf fall, insect droppings orwood ash will stimulate these processes as well.

As the forest recovers from the disturbance, water and nutrient uptake perunit of green leaf area will increase. Additional light in the understory will alsoincrease the rate of photosynthesis in the lower canopy. The rate of woodproduction per unit of leaf area will increase. In other words, naturaldisturbances increase the effectiveness of the ecological processes—particularlyenergy flow—that restore the forest's productivity, health and biodiversity.

These natural restorative processes in a forest are analogous to theanimal impact and herd effect in planned grazing:

Animal impact is defined as everything that large animals do physically

Extending Holistic Management to Forests continued from page 13

to affect land condition, except graze. Animal impact includes trampling,rubbing, dunging, urinating and salivating—which have a restorative effecton rangelands.

Herd effect is the impact that a concentrated or excited herd of largeanimals have on soil and vegetation properties. Hoof action and tramplingknocks down standing vegetation and grinds it into soil, along withmanure and plant seeds. If the herd effect is excessive—too long or toofrequent—it causes soil compaction.

In both forestry and ranching, practices that promote effectiveecological processes also restore the health of the land.

Forest Stocking Levels Determine Wood Quality

High-quality, high-value trees have close to a cylindrical form, andstraight logs can be made from them. The wood density is high, with a high number of rings per inch or centimeter. Small green knots areacceptable but loose encased knots are not. Low-strength low-value

“juvenile” wood, caused by fast growing wide ringsgrowing adjacent to the green branches, must be kept toa minimum.

Open-grown coniferous trees at low stocking levelswill have large green branches the entire height. Thetrunk of this kind of tree looks like an inverted icecream cone. The wood produced in open-grown treeshas low structural value. On the other hand, trees grown at high stocking levels will have smaller greenbranches in the top third of the tree, and the tree formwill be close to a cylinder. This wood has high structuralvalue.

High basal area reduces the diameter growth rate ofeach tree, but each log will have well-developed, high-quality attributes from an early age. High basal area alsoimproves tree form by reducing the taper rate. As well,high basal area reduces the proportion of juvenile wood

and the number of juvenile rings in the core of the tree. But mostimportant, high basal area promotes development of small knots andeventually, no knots, as self-pruning occurs.

Varying the levels of stocking and basal area in different tree growingregimes will not eliminate branches and knots but it will control theirtype, size and distribution. Competition between trees of the same speciesstarts earlier at high initial densities in contrast to low densities. Trees inlow-density stands retain green branches longer. When competition withinthe stand starts to occur, self-pruning of the dying branches proceeds andthe green crown “moves up” the tree.

The Weak Link: Commercial Utilization of Small-Diameter Trees

The weak link in managing young forests for value is a perceivedinability to commercially utilize the small diameter tree. Indeed, manyforest landowners have assumed it couldn’t be done. Making small treescommercial requires growing them at high initial stocking levels afterlogging, so high quality attributes can develop from the time of standestablishment. Another key is to “clean” the stand at an early age so that individual trees with poor form and low commercial value areremoved. Markets need to be developed for small trees. For the rancher,fence posts are a good use for strong, durable small trees. Where a pulpmill is nearby, green young “fresh” trees will make a high quality chip.Fortunately, with new markets, innovative logging and milling processes,the small diameter tree need not be the economic obstacle it once was.

Benefits of Extended Forest Rotations

Forests grown for value in a management program that starts with high

Ray Travers

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Number 95 * Land & Livestock 15

When we first published this article in July 1986 a number ofranchers tried the short, one-strand fence to protect small areas fromdeer and found it to be effective. The same idea has been usedsuccessfully in Africa to keep hippo out of gardens. Author DonnieHarmel passed away a few years ago, and we aren’t sure if the shortone-strand fence was ever tried on more extensive areas.

An economical method to retard the movement of wild game for management purposes and to protect crops has been a

problem facing many landowners throughout the country.Numerous types of 7- to 8-foot (2.1- to 2.8-meter)-high net-wire fenceshave been constructed to control white-tailed deer movement in ourarea. These fences have been effective, but very costly. Multi-strandelectric fences have also been used with varying degrees of success.

While conducting census surveys in a high white-tailed deerpopulation area of central Texas, two wildlife technicians from theTexas Parks and Wildlife Department noticed a peach orchard along thesurvey route that appeared not to have any fence around its borders.The orchard did not show any signs of depredation and yet deer were seen all around it. On completing the survey, the twowildlife technicians went back to further investigate and question theowner of the orchard. They found that the owner was keeping deer outof his orchard with a one-wire, electric fence approximately 10-inches (25 cm) above the ground.

We decided to put it to the test on the Kerr Wildlife ManagementArea. We had two plots containing oats, winter wheat, rye and cloverthat we used to feed the deer. Since the deer were overgrazing theseplots, our hope was to get some control with a fence. In the fall of 1985we partially fenced both plots with the one-strand, 10-inch (25-cm)-highfence, leaving the deer access to the unfenced areas. The fenced areas

were then fertilized and watered to ensure good growth and to appearespecially enticing to the deer.

After maturing, the height of the vegetation outside the oneprotected area averaged 18 inches (45 cm) as compared to a 48-inch (1.25 meters) average inside the plot protected by the one-strand fence. (During the growing season several visitors to the WildlifeManagement Area thought we had taken a lawn mower and mowed the unprotected portions.)

These were very small plots—less than 1 acre (1/3 hectare) in size—and more testing is being done to see if similar results can be obtainedon larger areas. I would encourage any of you who live in high-deer-density areas to further test this and would like to know what youlearn.

--Donnie Harmel

We would like to hear from anyone who has used this idea onlarger areas and with what results. Contact Jody Butterfield atjodyb@holisticmanagement.org, or 505/842-5252.

It Works!—One-Strand Deer Fencing

initial stocking (say 1,000 trees/acre, 2,500 trees/hectare), followed byfrequent light thinnings, will extend the rotation. This contrasts with theconventional short rotation “sudden sawlog” method of growing widelyspaced trees (say 400 trees/acre, 1,000 trees/hectare). Extended rotationtrees with large well-developed crowns in their later years are ready to puton large annual increments of volume and value in a stand. Forest researchstudies have confirmed that when trees in a thinned stand are given somespace to grow, the growth rate of the remaining trees continues to increasefor decades, and perhaps for over a century. Until this progressive kind offorestry has been practiced for over a hundred years, it simply will not beknown how long the increasing growth rate will continue.

Other environmental, economic and social benefits of value-basedforestry are: • reduced land area in early and mid-successional forest; • more natural regeneration and lower reforestation costs; • less need for brush control and slash burning; • improved habitat for certain wildlife species; • less visual impact; • maintenance of long-term site productivity and enhanced water cycle;

This one strand wire stretching 10 inches (25 cm) above theground has proven to be an effective deer barrier.

• increased carbon storage with larger growing stock; • increased stand health and reduced insect, disease and fire risk;• generation of intermediate income and employment with eachcommercial thinning during the extended rotation.

Forest Conservation and Management at its Best

Holistic Management is purpose driven and proactive. When itspractice restores the health, productivity and biodiversity of the forest,the likelihood of success increases. When its practice improves thequality and value of the timber, greater financial rewards are assured.When negative environmental impacts are reduced, both land andpeople are better off.

This is resource conservation and management at its best. HolisticManagement practitioners are doing it with grass. It can also be done with trees.

Ray Travers is a Registered Professional Forester and private forestryconsultant, based in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. He can bereached via email at: rtravers@islandnet.com.

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16 IN PRACTICE * May/June 2004

Savory Center Receives Grant

Early this year we received a grant of $25,000from the Maria Gans Norbury Fund for

Animals to create an endowment fund for theAfrica Centre for Holistic Management inZimbabwe. The endowment funds will beinvested in cattle, and possibly goats, in order to grow the endowment principal through retention of females, and accrue “interest” throughsales of male progeny and cull cows and bulls.The herd will be used as a tool for restoringwildlife habitat even as it grows in numbers. InZimbabwe, where inflation is running at 700percent and rising, there is no option but to investin hard assets. Livestock is the logical investmentchoice for The Savory Center/Africa Centre sincewe have many years experience in managinglivestock to achieve land restoration, and theAfrica Centre currently runs a mixed herd ofcattle, goats, and donkeys. The “interest” earnedfrom the endowment will be invested in theeducation and training programs the Africa Centreis running through the Dimbangombe College ofWildlife, Agriculture, and ConservationManagement. We’re grateful to the Norbury Fundfor this tremendous opportunity.

A Progress Report

IIn last issue’s Grapevine we acknowledged the many contributions we had received

to cover the costs of heart-valve replacementsurgery for a former Africa Centre staff memberand wife of the Africa Centre’s CommunityPrograms Manager, Elias Ncube. We’re very happyto report that Tasiyana Ncube had her surgery inPort Elizabeth, South Africa, on February 12th andafter a two-week stay in the hospital returnedhome to her family the end of February.According to Dr. Sonja van Riet, who performedthe surgery, Tasiyana could not have waitedmuch longer. Thanks to all of you who sent inthe contributions that saved Tasiyana’s life.

West Ranch Research Planning

On March 20 a group of researchers andothers gathered at The Savory Center’s

ranch (the West Ranch) near Ozona, Texas, to map out a research plan that will help usdocument progress at this learning site. The

members at its headquarters in Wilmington,Delaware, who plan to follow up when Allanreturns in June for the awards ceremony.

Savory Center Members Win Awards

In February David and Mary Marsh were namedConservation Farmers of the Year by the

Central West Conservation Farming Association in Australia. The Marshes run a 200-acre (800-hectare) farm in the Boorowa District. Theyimpressed judges with their efforts at buildingbiodiversity and working in harmony withNature. As of last year they decided to notcontinue their cropping operation and insteadfocus on their low-input grazing operation in an effort to manage the land holistically.

George Whitten, Jr. was presented with the2003 Colorado Cattlemen’s Association (CCA) Private Livestockman of the Year award atthe CCA annual banquet in Colorado Springs inNovember 2003. The January 2004 Cattle Guardnoted that this award, “recognizes those l

T h e

GRAPEVINEnews f rom t he savo r y cen te r * peop le , p rograms & p ro jec t s

The team of judges who selected the winners for this years DuPont Sustainable Growth ExcellenceAwards (Allan Savory is on second row, third from left).

group agreed that the most immediate need was for range and soil food web monitoring to be conducted and analyzed by third partyresearchers. That monitoring is set to begin in late September. The Savory Centre would like to thank all those who contributed ideasbeforehand and participated in the meeting—representatives from the Texas Parks and WildlifeDepartment, Natural Resources ConservationService, University of Texas at Austin, TexasA&M University, and HRM of Texas members and staff.

Savory Center Assists DuPont

Early this year, Allan Savory was invited byDuPont’s Safety, Health and Environment

Excellence Center to serve on an 18-memberpanel of judges to select the winners of DuPont’s 2004 Sustainable Growth ExcellenceAwards. These awards are given annually tonominees who are working within DuPont toenable it to become “a more sustainablecompany.” The judges were brought in from allover the world and represented various DuPontdivisions as well as outside organizations such asNatural Capitalism in the U.S. and the EscolaSuperior de Agricultura in Brazil. Over the threedays Allan was also given the opportunity tomake a presentation to key DuPont staff

David & Mary Marsh

PHOTO BY THE LAND

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Number 95 * IN PRACTICE 17

andowners who have served as model stewardsand have demonstrated to the public theircommitment to the environment. Whitten'sexemplary stewardship practices in the areas ofrange, soil, water, and wildlife management haveshown his dedication to a lifestyle we all endear.”

Congratulations to David, Mary, and George.

Development Director Honored

Savory Center Development Director Lee

Dueringer recently received the 2004 E. BurtonMercier Alumni Service Award from the IllinoisState University Alumni Association. This awardis presented to alumni in recognition of theiroutstanding volunteer service and contributionsto Illinois State or in service to the community,state, country, or an important social cause.Congratulations, Lee.

New Staff at the Savory Center

Brooke Palmer joined The Savory Center inFebruary as the Executive Assistant to

Executive Director Tim LaSalle, and to Director ofDevelopment Lee Dueringer. Brooke comes withover eight yearswork experience at HarvardUniversity whereshe worked atthe KennedySchool ofGovernment, inthe Departmentof Economics asAdministrativeAssistant toeconomist,ProfessorEmeritus John Kenneth Galbraith, and morerecently, at the Harvard Divinity School’s Centerfor the Study of World Religions where shecoordinated the events and fellowship programs.

Brooke graduated from Smith College (whereshe received a B.S. in Geology), and attended theSchool for International Training. She was a

former Peace Corps Volunteer in Bolivia andtraveled to Taiwan with the IFYE (InternationalFour-H Youth Exchange). She is conversationallyproficient in Spanish.

Brooke is a refugee from the harsh winters of her native New England, and is indeed pleasedto be in sunny Albuquerque with her newposition at The Savory Center.

She likes to sail (although there won’t be asmany opportunities for that here), hiking,camping, reading, print-making, and photography.

Brooke is excited about joining The SavoryCenter staff because she likes the mission and the work. She also is pleased that we have aninternational focus.

Alicia Schell has joined The Savory Center asthe FinancialCoordinator,replacing JessicaStolz whorecently marriedand moved toPortland. Aliciawas born andraised inWashington State.She is currentlyworking towardher bachelor’sdegree in

Finance. She has worked in a number of officepositions, including accounts payable and projectmanager, for a graphic designs firm, a travelcompany, and an advertising firm. When not at the Savory Center, Alicia and her husband,Brian, are busy with their children, Keanu andKailey. Alicia is eager to explore the language,food, and art of New Mexico, as well as thelandscape. She applied for the job because shelikes the focus on education at the Savory Centerand her position brings together a number of jobresponsibilities she’s had at her otheremployment.

Donna Torrez joins The Savory Center as ourAdministrative Assistant. She has worked in a number ofcustomer servicepositions, mostrecently at a local hospital ascustomer servicecoordinator. Shewas particularlyexcited aboutThe SavoryCenter’s holisticapproach to landmanagement, andis eager to work

with our membership as she enjoys listening topeople and helping them. She, too, is conversationally proficient in Spanish.

Outside of work, Donna is busy with herfamily, including her husband, Gilbert, and hertwo children, Valerie and Daniel, and her threegrandchildren. She enjoys gardening, landscaping,embroidery, and learning about medicinal herbs.

Welcome to Brooke, Alicia, and Donna.

Ride Benefits Savory Center

In late March the Savory Center was presenteda check for $1500 on behalf of over 60 riders

in the Dupuis Piney Pig Endurance Ride, heldJanuary 31 near South Florida’s Indian Town. The event is held annually to raise funds for The Savory Center and a local charity and drawsEast Coast riders from as far north as Maine. Dr. Megan Davis (daughter of Allan Savory)started the event three years ago for enduranceenthusiasts who race 15, 30, 50, 80 and 100-mile courses.

Outreach Efforts

This winter we’ve had a number of peopleattending conferences and staffing booths

for us. We’d like to thank Abe Collins who staffeda booth for us at the Northeast Organic FarmingAssociation-Vermont Conference; Mike Bowman

who represented us at The Beginning Rancherand Farmer Conference in Nebraska; Seth Wilner

who represented us at the Keep Growing NewFarmers Conference in Connecticut; and to Phil

Metzger for getting our materials to theconference participants at the NortheastGrasstravaganza Conference in New York.

Our thanks to all of you who have worked to spread the word about Holistic Managementand The Savory Center.

Brooke Palmer

Donna Torrez

Alicia Schell

Kelly Fisch won the 15-mile race in thisfundraising event for the Savory Center.

PHOTO BY KEN SILER

George Whitten (on right) with Lee Johnson andCraig Leggett as part of the “cattle crew” on the

La Semilla revegetation project.

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18 IN PRACTICE * May/June 2004

ARIZONA

Kelly Mulville2884 W. Hilltop, Portal, AZ 85632jackofallterrains@hotmail.com

ARKANSAS

Preston SullivanP.O. Box 4483, Fayetteville, AR 72702479/443-0609 • 479/442-9824 (w) prestons@nwaisp.com

CALIFORNIAMonte Bell 325 Meadowood Dr., Orland, CA 95963530/865-3246 • mbell95963@yahoo.com

Julie Bohannon 652 Milo Terrace, Los Angeles, CA 90042323/257-1915 • JoeBoCom@pacbell.net

Bill Burrows12250 Colyear Springs Rd.Red Bluff, CA 96080530/529-1535 • sunflowercrmp@msn.com

Jennifer Hamre9641 Charleville Blvd #382Beverly Hills, CA 90212818/943-5402; yosefahanah@yahoo.com

Richard King1675 Adobe Rd., Petaluma, CA 94954707/769-1490 • 707/794-8692 (w)richard.king@ca.usda.gov

Christopher PeckP.O. Box 2286, Sebastopol, CA 95472707/758-0171ctopherp@holistic-solutions.net

COLORADOCindy Dvergsten17702 County Rd. 23, Dolores, CO 81323970/882-4222info@wholenewconcepts.com

Rio de la VistaP.O. Box 777, Monte Vista, CO 81144 719/852-2211 • riovista@rmi.net

Daniela and Jim Howell P.O. Box 67, Cimarron, CO 81220-0067970/249-0353 • howelljd@montrose.net

Tim McGafficP.O. Box 476, Ignacio, CO 81137970/946-9957 • tim@timmcgaffic.com

Roland Kroos

4926 Itana Circle, Bozeman, MT 59715406/522-3862 KROOSING@earthlink.net

* Cliff MontagneMontana State University Department of Land Resources &Environmental ScienceBozeman, MT 59717406/994-5079 • montagne@montana.edu

NEW MEXICO

* Ann AdamsThe Savory Center1010 Tijeras NW, Albuquerque, NM 87102505/842-5252anna@holisticmanagement.org

Amy Driggs1131 Los Tomases NWAlbuquerque, NM 87102505/242-2787adriggs@orbusinternational.com

Kirk GadziaP.O. Box 1100, Bernalillo, NM 87004505/867-4685 • fax: 505/867-0262kgadzia@earthlink.net

Ken Jacobson12101 Menaul Blvd. NE, Ste AAlbuquerque, NM 87112505/293-7570kbjacobson@orbusinternational.com

* Kelly PasztorThe Savory Center1010 Tijeras NWAlbuquerque, NM 87102505/842-5252kellyp@holisticmanagement.org

Sue ProbartP.O. Box 81827Albuquerque, NM 87198505/265-4554 • tnm@treenm.com

Vicki Turpen03 El Nido Amado SWAlbuquerque, NM 87121505/873-0473 • mvt9357@aol.com

NEW YORK

Karl North3501 Hoxie Gorge Rd.Marathon, NY 13803607/849-3328 • northsheep@juno.com

NORTH CAROLINA

Sam Bingham394 Vanderbilt Rd., Asheville, NC 28803828/274-1309 • sbingham@igc.org

NORTH DAKOTA* Wayne BerryUniversity of North Dakota—WillistonP.O. Box 1326, Williston, ND 58802 701/774-4269 or 701/774-4200wayne.berry@wsc.nodak.edu

Chadwick McKellar16775 Southwood Dr.Colorado Springs, CO 80908719/495-4641 • cmckellar@juno.com

Byron Shelton

33900 Surrey Lane, Buena Vista, CO 81211719/395-8157 • landmark@my.amigo.net

GEORGIAConstance Neely

1160 Twelve Oaks CircleWatkinsville, GA 30677 • 706/310-0678cneely@holisticmanagement.org

IOWABill Casey

1800 Grand Ave., Keokuk, IA 52632-2944319/524-5098 • wpccasey@interl.net

KENTUCKYJoel Benson

1180 Fords Mill Rd., Versailles, KY 40383859/879-6365 • joel@growgdp.com

LOUISIANATina Pilione

P.O. 923, Eunice, LA 70535phone/fax: 337/580-0068tinamp@charter.net

MAINEVivianne Holmes239 E. Buckfield Rd.Buckfield, ME 04220-4209207/336-2484 • vholmes@umext.maine.edu

MASSACHUSETTS* Christine Jost

Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine200 Westboro RoadNorth Grafton, MA 01536508/887-4763 • christine.jost@tufts.edu

MINNESOTATerri Goodfellow-Heyer

4660 Cottonwood Lane NorthPlymouth, MN 55442763/559-0099 • tgheyer@comcast.net

MONTANAWayne Burleson

RT 1, Box 2780, Absarokee, MT 59001406/328-6808 • rutbuster@montana.net

Certified Educators

U N I T E D S T A T E S

* These educators provide Holistic Management instruction on behalf of the institutions they represent.

To our knowledge, Certified Educators are the best qualified individuals to help others learn topractice Holistic Management and to provide them with technical assistance when necessary. On ayearly basis, Certified Educators renew their agreement to be affiliated with the Center. Thisagreement requires their commitment to practice Holistic Management in their own lives, to seek outopportunities for staying current with the latest developments in Holistic Management and tomaintain a high standard of ethical conduct in their work. For more information about or application forms for the U.S., Africa, or International Certified EducatorTraining Programs, contact Kelly Pasztor at the Savory Center or visit our website atwww.holisticmanagement.org/wwo_certed.cfm?

Certified Educators

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Number 95 * IN PRACTICE 19

PENNSYLVANIAJim WeaverRR6 Box 205, Wellsboro, PA 16901-8976570/724-7788 • jaweaver@epix.net

OKLAHOMA

Kim BarkerRT 2, Box 67, Waynoka, OK 73860580/824-9011 • barker_k@hotmail.com

TEXAS

Christina Allday-Bondy2703 Grennock Dr., Austin, TX 78745512/441-2019 • tododia@peoplepc.com

Guy Glosson 6717 Hwy 380, Snyder, TX 79549806/237-2554 • glosson@caprock-spur.com

* R.H. (Dick) Richardson University of Texas at Austin Department of Integrative BiologyAustin, TX 78712512/471-4128 • d.richardson@mail.utexas.edu

Peggy Sechrist 25 Thunderbird Rd.Fredericksburg, TX 78624830/990-2529 • peggy@fbg.net

Liz Williams 4106 Avenue BAustin, TX 78751-4220512/323-2858 • evwilliams@austinrr.com

WASHINGTONCraig MadsenP.O. Box 107, Edwall, WA 99008509/236-2451madsen2fir@centurytel.net

Sandra Matheson228 E. Smith Rd.Bellingham, WA 98226360/398-7866 • smm1@gte.net

* Don NelsonWashington State University P.O. Box 646310, Pullman, WA 99164509/335-2922 • nelsond@wsu.edu

Maurice RobinetteS. 16102 Wolfe Rd., Cheney, WA 99004509/299-4942 • mlr@icehouse.net

Doug Warnock151 Cedar Cove Rd.Ellensburg, WA 98926509/925-9127 • warnockd@elltel.net

WISCONSINElizabeth BirdRoom 203 Hiram Smith Hall1545 Observatory Dr., Madison WI 53706608/265-3727 • eabird@facstaff.wisc.edu

Larry JohnsonW886 State Road 92, Brooklyn, WI 53521608/455-1685 • lpjohn@rconnect.com

WYOMINGTim MorrisonP.O. Box 536, Meeteese, WY 82433307/868-2354 • mcd@tctwest.net

AUSTRALIA

Helen Carrell“Hillside” 25 Weewondilla Rd.Glennie Heights, Warwick, QLD 437061-4-1878-5285 • 61-7-4661-7383 helenc@upfrontoutback.comSteve Hailstone5 Lampert Rd., Crafers, SA 515261-4-1882-2212shailstone@internode.on.netGraeme Hand“Inverary”Caroona Lane, Branxholme, VIC 330261-3-5578-6272 • 61-4-1853-2130gshand@hotkey.net.au Mark GardnerP.O. Box 1395, Dubbo, NSW 283061-2-6882-0605gardnerm@ozemail.com.auBrian Marshall“Lucella”; Nundle, NSW 234061-2-6769 8226 • fax: 61-2-6769 8223bkmrshl@northnet.com.auBruce WardP.O. Box 103, Milsons Pt., NSW 156561-2-9929-5568 • fax: 61-2-9929-5569blward@holisticresults.com.auBrian Wehlburgc/o “Sunnyholt”, Injue, QLD 445461-7-4626-7187ijapo2000@yahoo.com

CANADA

Don and Randee HalladayBox 2, Site 2, RR 1, Rocky MountainHouse, AB T0M 1T0 • 403/729-2472donran@telusplanet.netNoel McNaughton5704-144 St., Edmondton, AB, T6H 4H4780/432-5492 • noel@mcnaughton.caLen PigottBox 222, Dysart, SK SOH 1HO 306/432-4583 • JLPigott@sk.sympatico.caKelly SidorykBox 374, Lloydminster, AB, S9V 0Y4403/875-4418hi-gain@telusplanet.net

MEXICO

Ivan AguirreLa InmaculadaApdo. Postal 304, Hermosillo, Sonora 83000tel/fax: 52-637-377-8929rancho_inmaculada@yahoo.com

Elco Blanco-Madrid Cristobal de Olid #307 Chihuahua Chih., 3124052-614-415-3497 • fax: 52-614-415-3175elco_blanco@hotmail.comManuel Casas-PerezCalle Amarguva No. 61, Lomas Herradura Huixquilucan, Mexico City CP 5278552-558-291-3934 • 52-588-992-0220 (w)iconquiahua@att.net.mx

Jose Ramon “Moncho” VillarAv. Las Americas #1178Fracc. CumbresSaltillo, Coahuila 2527052-844-415-1542 • ffmh@prodigy.net.mx

NAMIBIA

Gero Diekmann P.O. Box 363, Okahandja 9000264-62-518091nam00132@mweb.com.naColin Nott P.O. Box 11977, Windhoek264-61-228506canott@iafrica.com.naWiebke Volkmann P.O. Box 182, Otavi, 067-23-44-48wiebke@mweb.com.na

NEW ZEALAND

John King P.O. Box 3440, Richmond, Nelson64-3-547-6347 succession@clear.net.nz

SOUTH AFRICA

Sheldon BarnesP.O. Box 300, Kimberly 8300Johan BlomP.O. Box 568, Graaf-Reinet 628027-49-891-0163johanblom@cybertrade.co.zaIan Mitchell-Innes P.O. Box 52, Elandslaagte 290027-36-421-1747 • blanerne@mweb.co.zaNorman Neave Box 141, Mtubatuba 393527-35-5504150 • norboom@saol.comDick Richardson P.O. Box 1806, Vryburg 8600tel/fax: 27-53-927-4367 judyrich@cybertrade.co.zaColleen ToddP.O. Box 21, Hoedspruit 138027-82-335-3901 (cell)colleen_todd@yahoo.com

ZIMBABWE

Mutizwa MukutePELUM Association Regional DeskP.O. Box MP 1059Mount Pleasant, Harare263-4-74470/744117 • fax: 263-4-744470pelum@mail.pci.co.zwLiberty Mabhena Spring CabinetP.O. Box 853, Harare263-4-210021/2 • 263-4-210577/8fax: 263-4-210273Sister Maria Chiedza Mutasa Bandolfi ConventP.O. Box 900, Masvingo263-39-7699 • 263-39-7530Elias NcubeP. Bag 5950, Victoria Falls263-3-454519rogpachm@africaonline.co.zw

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

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