Public land grazing is vital for a healthy America, for wildlife and people
ProPublica, together with High Country News, recently published articles that don’t tell the whole story behind federal lands grazing. The series suggests that ranchers utilizing federal lands are mostly the
No smoke, no fire, in trends of Montana land ownership, new study actually says
A recent study led by University of Montana professor Alexander Metcalf, published in Environmental Management, places private landowners squarely at the center of a familiar and often contentious debate. The
Colorado’s Attempts to Put Out the Insurance Wildfires
by Ben Cathey, The Daily Yonder There is one fire hydrant in the entire Four Mile Fire Protection District. This backcountry northwest of Boulder, Colorado, is full of switchback canyons and
They ride to reduce conflict. Training the riders who help ranches deal with large carnivores
“Be community-oriented.” Kim Kerns, a sheep rancher from Oregon, clarified her first rule of range riding early on a windy Thursday morning at Western Landowners Alliance’s Range Riding Workshop on the
Can range riding help ranchers live with wolves?
As wolves and grizzly bears continue to recover across the American West, livestock producers are navigating renewed challenges of sharing the landscape with large carnivores. Among the carnivore-livestock conflict reduction
Dung beetles dig it, create value for ranchers and rangelands
Plop! Big mammals poop. They poop a lot. Cattle poop up to a dozen times a day. Horses? Up to 15 times per day. Bison produce three gallons of poop per
A beetle biological control success story
The tamarisk is a gritty survivor, a tenacious shrub that evolved in the steppes of central Asia in dry conditions much like those of the American West. Introduced to the
Indigenous leaders urge California to rethink its relationship with fire
It's a hot day in mid-August in Northern California, not too far from the Oregon border. Smoke rises gently from the fire pit, curling into the late-summer sky as children
Fire on the Horizon, Wolves at the Gate
Amid wildfire smoke and rising tensions, a lone, uncollared wolf in northwest Colorado tested every mitigation tool—and my resolve—until CPW confirmed chronic depredation and lethal control was clearly the most
Seeding Rye with Wool to Outcompete Cheatgrass
Fight cheatgrass naturally by pairing rye seed with raw wool “tags” for stabilization, moisture, and a slow-release nutrient boost. Tip from Erik Kalsta, rancher and WLA’s Working Wild Challenge program director
Building Vibrant Rural Communities Through Place-Based Collaboration
The Montana Conflict Reduction Consortium (CRC) hosted a webinar offering opportunities to engage with producers and practitioners developing community-led solutions to natural resource challenges, while sharing novel funding opportunities for
Page Burners: The Big Burn by Timothy Egan
Elegantly written and abundantly informative, Timothy Egan’s The Big Burn tells the dramatic story of the 1910 wildfire that tore through Washington, Idaho, and Montana, burning over 3 million acres