Synthesis Paper
Ranching as a Conservation Strategy: Can Old Ranchers Save the New West?

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Abstract

Working ranches are often promoted as means of private rangeland conservation because they can safeguard ecosystem services, protect open space, and maintain traditional ranching culture. To understand the potential for generating broad social benefits from what have come to be called “working landscapes,” one must consider the synergies of people, environment, and institutions needed to accomplish conservation, as well as complicating factors of scale and uncertainty. Focusing on the problem as it has unfolded in the western United States, we review the state of knowledge about the extent of ranchland conversion; reasons why maintaining working ranches may benefit conservation; and the challenges and opportunities of rancher demographics, attitudes, values, and propensities for innovation. Based on this review, we explore whether the supply of traditional, full-time ranch owners is likely to be sufficient to meet conservation demand, and conclude that although demographic trends seem to suggest that it is not, there exist alternative enterprises and ownership forms that could achieve the goals of ranch conservation. We offer suggestions on how potential shortfalls might be addressed.

Resumen

Los ranchos a menudo se consideran como medios de conservación privada del pastizal ya que pueden salvaguardar los servicios del ecosistema, proteger áreas abiertas y mantener la cultura tradicional del manejo de un rancho. Para entender el potencial que existe al generar beneficios sociales amplios provenientes de lo qué se ha venido llamando “paisajes de trabajo,” se deben considerar los aspectos sinérgicos de la gente, del ambiente y de las instituciones involucradas en la conservación, así como otros factores y puntos impredecibles. Enfocándonos en el problema como se ha manifestado en el Oeste de los Estados Unidos, revisamos los conocimientos disponibles sobre cómo la propiedad se ha utilizado para trabajo de rancho; las razones que existen para mantener los ranchos de manera que éstos pueden beneficiar la conservación; los desafíos y oportunidades que enfrenta el ranchero, y las actitudes, valores y factores para mejorar. De acuerdo con esta revisión, se evaluó si el tradicional tiempo completo de los rancheros es suficiente para resolver las demandas de la conservación. Se concluyó que mientras que las tendencias demográficas parecen sugerir lo contrario, pueden existir empresas alternativas y formas de propiedad que podrían facilitar la conservación del rancho. Hacemos algunas sugerencias de cómo podrían resolverse estas deficiencias.

Section snippets

INTRODUCTION

Rural population change and the associated changes in land use, biodiversity, and sociocultural conditions are a topic of concern throughout the globe. Many countries with developed economies are able to put considerable investment in programs that foster the integration of agricultural production with environmental and cultural conservation (Cooper et al. 2005). Such is the case with the European Union’s “Common Agricultural Policy” reforms of 2003 that shift program emphasis from commodity

THE EXTENT OF US RANCHLAND CONVERSION

In a way the West is the most urban US region, with more than three-fourths of Westerners living in metropolitan areas. However, the extent of population-driven land-use change is greater in the rural West than in urban areas because of the dispersed nature of exurban development (Theobald 2000; Sullins et al. 2002). The result is that agricultural land, especially ranch land, is indeed being lost—especially close to high-value recreational amenities or just beyond the edges of metropolitan

WHY PROTECT RANCHES FROM CONVERSION?

Much of the push for ranch protection is rooted in ecological concerns. Ranchers own a large proportion of the private nonforested land in the West, and it is generally land that has not been plowed, dewatered, paved, or dug out. Ranch land generally looks natural and can maintain many ecological processes depending on size and practice. This leads to something of a conundrum, as the public may view ranch land as akin to a park or preserve, with inherent public values that demand access and

WHAT ABOUT THE RANCHERS?

A fundamental assumption of ranch conservation is that that ranchers will remain on the land if given the opportunity. This assumption bears closer scrutiny. One factor that may suggest otherwise is rancher demographics. Huntsinger et al. (2007b) found that the average age of a California rancher was 59. Peterson and Coppock (2001) reported that 37% of respondents in a survey of Utah livestock producers were aged 66 or older, and that 28% of federal grazing permittees and 51% of ranchers

INSTITUTIONAL AND ECONOMIC CHALLENGES

Important questions must be answered if we are to maintain the viability of ranch conservation in the West. If ranchers are indeed aging and headed for retirement, the issue of how large properties can be sustained and transmitted intact across generations is critical. Addressing the issue requires attention to several key aspects of rangeland socioeconomic systems, including access to public lands for grazing; the treatment of ranch lands in state and federal tax codes; the role of land-use

WHERE DO WE FIND TOMORROW’S RANCHERS?

Another emerging problem with the transmission of ranches to the next generation is that some ranchers have no heir willing to work the ranch. In studies in California and Colorado the lack of an heir to pass land on to was the primary reason ranchers felt they might need to sell the property (Rowe et al. 2001; Sulak and Huntsinger 2002). Even if a ranch is restricted from development by a conservation easement, the sale price often remains higher than can be justified by production alone,

IMPLICATIONS FOR POLICY AND MANAGEMENT

In this paper we have attended primarily to the factors affecting conservation of the individual ranch. However, in order to maintain ecosystem processes and conserve habitat and water at an ecologically effective scale, it may take a community of ranches working together and with public agencies. Socially, a “critical mass” of ranches is also needed to support the infrastructure, markets, and human relationships that keep a ranch culture and industry alive. Having such a community, and

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    This research was supported in part by the Utah Agricultural Experiment Station, Utah State University, Logan, Utah, the California Agricultural Experiment Station, and the University of California Integrated Hardwood Range Management Program. Approved as Utah Agricultural Experiment Station journal paper 7896.

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