The following is an excerpt of a letter Allan

Savory posted to our general list serve in

response to the events of September 11, 2001.

I think it, and the stories in this issue, reflect

the new perspectives we must all bring to

the table if we want world peace.

--Editor

s the events of the 11th unfolded I found

myself overwhelmed. Growing up

in Rhodesia after World War II,

I somehow recognized that guerrilla warfare

would be the future form of warfare and I

studied and later fought, for over twenty years,

in such a war. Having passed much of my life

in senseless guerrilla warfare, I now see the

past unfolding before my eyes.

What I saw was sinister and frightening.

I felt empty, not for the tragic loss of life, but

for the views from leaders and public figures

who spoke only of strength, war and revenge.

The President has called it a new form of

war and pledged to win it. This pledge, while

understandable because of prevailing emotions,

is about as meaningful as the many pledges

to win the war against drugs.

America and the Western nations, whose

way of life is under attack, will need far deeper

understanding to bring about peace and to

safeguard what we value in our way of life.

This is not a new form of warfare—it is one

of the oldest forms of warfare. And, due to

technological advances, it is capable of

wreaking unbelievable damage.

I see in America a repeat of what I lived

through. Our strength is our greatest weakness.

In Rhodesia we had an extremely capable and

efficient army for bush warfare. We never lost

a single encounter or battle no matter what

the odds, but that guaranteed we would lose

the “war.” Such “terrorist” acts are not “wars”

requiring military solutions, but situations

requiring civilian policies that deal with the

root cause of people’s frustrations and suffering.

When all your attention and funding is

focused on revenge, there is little room for

looking deeper.

I use the similarities with Rhodesia because

only the scale differs. America’s leaders would

be wise not to treat this as a war but rather as

a serious wakeup call to look at an extremely

broad and comprehensive strategy involving

our foreign and domestic policies and our

education and business systems.

Right now, the need to motivate people to

unite and to collaborate with other nations to

bring the perpetrators to justice, should be done

without setting people up for retaliatory war.

There is also a deep need to initiate, amid this

collaboration, the moves to bring about a

civilian strategy to win the peace we all seek.

It is not democracy that is under attack

but rather certain aspects of our lives that

others see as causing their suffering. It is in

our own enlightened self-interest to look at

our policies and business activity and the

effect these are having on the world’s natural

resources and communities.

The present catastrophe will unite Americans

as never before and that is good. But the unity

will not last. If our leaders cannot see what

is happening in our own country, what hope

have we of understanding the frustrations of

millions who are daily affected by the policies

of the US, and our fellow Western powers.

The President’s National Security advisors

are intelligent people and the President could

not likely put together a more competent team

for war. However, this same team will be ill-

suited to forming a strategy to win the peace.

To win the peace we seek, the President’s

advisors should also include men and women

who understand the effects on millions of

ordinary, peace-loving people of our policies

on trade, agriculture, weapons sales, and so

on—whether those policies originate in the

U.S. government or multinational corporations.

This is a battle for peace that can only

be won by statesmanship that takes steps to

contain the present violence to the best of

our ability while addressing the things that

will provide the opportunities and platform

for all people to gain greater security and

good governance.

in t h is I s su e

Holistic Management and

Environmental Assessments

Jeff Goebel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Reducing Carbon Dioxide Emissions

at Home

Jeff Goebel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

From Pests to Profit

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

A Turning Point

Vicki Ruby . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

LAND & LIVESTOCK—A specialsection of IN PRACTICEGoats as Tools for Flood Control

Rob Rutherford . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

Grazing Planning on the Colorado

Plateau—Measuring the Desert

Jim Howell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12

Questions & Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15

Savory Center Bulletin Board . . . . . . .16

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

Albert Einstein made the point many

years ago that you cannot solve problems

by using the same thinking that created

the problem in the first place. Holistic

Management practitioners around the

world are using the Holistic Management

model to help them find new ways of

addressing problems that face us all.

David Perino and Kathryn Ehrhorn

are two Savory Center members who

are helping others gain a new perspectiv e

on mesquite. Read about their ef forts

on page 5.

N ew Perspective sby Allan Savory

JANUARY / FEBRUARY 200 2 NUMBER 81

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

A

2 HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE #81

The Allan Savory

Center for Holistic Management

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

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Lois Trevino, Chair

Rio de la Vista, Vice Chair

Ann Adams, Secretary

Manuel Casas, Treasurer

Gary Rodgers

Allan Savory

ADVISORY BOARD

Robert Anderson, Chair, Corrales, NM

Ron Brandes, New York, NY

Sam Brown, Austin, TX

Leslie Christian, Portland, OR

Gretel Ehrlich, Gaviota, CA

Clint Josey, Dallas, TX

Christine Jurzykowski, Glen Rose, TX

Doug McDaniel, Lostine, OR

Guillermo Osuna, Coahuila, Mexico

Bunker Sands, Dallas, TX

York Schueller, Santa Barbara, CA

Jim Shelton, Vinita, OK

Richard Smith, Houston, TX

STAFF

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

Development Director; Ann Adams,

Managing Editor, IN PRACTICE andMembership Support Coordinator , Craig

Leggett, Special Projects Manager; Mary

Child, Regional Program DevelopmentCoordinator.

Africa Centre for Holistic Management

Private Bag 5950, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

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

rogpachm@africaonline.co.zw

Huggins Matanga, Director; Roger

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

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

Ad definitumfinem

Holistic Management and

Environmental Assessmentsby Jeff Goebel

In 1970, Richard Nixon signed the National

Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Over

the years, this act has evolved to include

the current process we have today of writing

Environmental Impact Statements (EIS) for

any act that would have an environmental

impact. The intent of this act has always

been to enhance environmental decision-

making (unfortunately, often at the exclusion

of social and economic values). Consequently,

there have been lots of legal and political

challenges, and this act has produced

the most paperwork and used more time

than any act ever passed.

In the spring of 2001, I took an

Environmental Assessment class that

was required for my Masters Program in

Regional Planning at Washington State

University (WSU). I have had a lot of

experience with NEPA and EIS writing

throughout my career in natural resource

management, but I enjoyed this class as it

gave me a deeper understanding of the

development of the law. I was able to

assess the law from my own experience with

holistic decision-making, and found strengths

and weaknesses in the process.

Since this is the law for our nation,

I looked at ways to bring holistic decision-

making into the law to help achieve desired

outcomes. I developed a paper with some

of my classmates (excerpted on the next

page) that reflects an attempt to merge the

two. It seemed to be very successful, as

my classmates learned about Holistic

Management through the focus of completing

the assignment.

I share this story to see if my ideas

could stimulate others who deal with

Environmental Impact Statements to think

creatively about how to fulfill a law or policy

holistically. I also want to encourage others to

figure out how to bring Holistic Management

into existing systems in a way that

encourages a deeper understanding

of Holistic Management and a desire to

practice it. However, I think you need to

be adaptable in the way you introduce it

so you don’t turn people off or make

them feel they are doing more work than

they have to.

For example, I was working with

classmates who wanted to get an “A” and

therefore didn’t want to risk anything too

novel or innovative. They didn’t have any

training in Holistic Management so they

couldn’t accurately assess how it could help

our project. I asked them to let me develop

one of the alternatives that would be part

of the EIS. I used the Holistic Management®

model and generated a generic holistic goal

for the situation. Later when we developed

testing criteria I explained the Holistic

Management® testing questions to the

group. They saw the reasoning and easily

adopted them into our project.

In this way, Holistic Management enabled

us to develop an alternative that would not

have existed under the standard approach and,

when tested with holistic guidelines and the

traditional ways, passed with flying colors. I

believe that such a creative merging of two

processes has significant ramifications for

developing an EIS or for other traditional

ways of determining true environmental

impact of natural resource use.

Jeff Goebel integrated Holistic

Management into the environmental

assessment process.

HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE • JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2002 3

Editor’s Note: The following is an excerpt from a Final Environmental

Impact Statement (FEIS) written by Laurie Ames, Jeff Goebel, Kim

Labno, Kholoud Mashal, and Mary Jo Monohan for a graduate

planning class project at Washington State University. While an

FEIS is not required in this circumstance, this project does of fer

an example of how an FEIS is written and how people could

incorporate Holistic Management into the process.

I n t r o d u c t i o n

Global warming has become a concern of many, and while

policies, such as the Kyoto Treaty, are being formed on a large scale,

it is the individual action that can more easily be modified to

contribute to the world goal. The proposed action for this Final

Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) is to find a suitable

alternative to reduce one Pullman household’s carbon dioxide

(CO2) emissions through a viable alternative that meets the family’s

goals and needs.

Proposed Ac t i o n

The proposed action is a combination of several alternatives. Its

emphasis is on incorporating efficient use of appliances while

educating the family on the need for reduced CO2 emissions. The

key is to modify behavior and plan for future activities listed as

alternatives. This will be done by first gaining support within the

household and from visitors, then replacing 16 light bulbs with

energy efficient bulbs, and, third, planting drought-tolerant plants

in the yard as good carbon sinks.

To gain consensus, the family will meet to introduce the

proposed changes, and future meetings will be used to explore

and develop a deeper understanding of the extent of the problem

and what can be done to resolve the global climate change issue.

These actions would reduce emissions/increase sinks by including

all family members in the job of reducing energy use.

A t t r i b u t e s

The attributes used to test the alternatives presented was the

effect on air quality, money spent each year and as a one-time

expenditure, aesthetics, biodiversity, water use, CO2 saved, electricity

saved, nitrogen fixed in the soil, and the seven testing questions of

the Holistic Management® model.

Purpose and Need for Ac t i o n

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) almost

15,000 pounds of carbon equivalent is emitted per person each year

in the United States. These emissions of greenhouse gases are

believed by a growing consensus to contribute to global warming.

The EPA suggests that emissions can be reduced by about 4,800

pounds of carbon equivalent by changing three areas of lifestyle:

electricity, waste, and transportation. This project will deal specifically

with the use of electricity and carbon sinks in order to reduce one

family’s CO2 emissions. Operating our homes produces about 2,700

pounds of carbon per person per year, and most of that is from the

energy used to power electrical appliances.

O b j e c t i ves of Proposed Action

The objectives for the proposed action are to reduce energy use

and costs, improve quality of life and improve education about global

warming and CO2 emissions. To ensure socially, economically, and

ecologically sound decisions, we included the Holistic Management®

model in the variables. This is the holistic goal we developed to do

that starting with the “whole” the goal refers to:

• Whole Being Managed

Land base: Home and yard in Pullman

People: Family, neighbors, government entities - public works, transit

service, recycling, utilities—schools, and employer.

Key decision makers: Family

Money & resources: Government revenues and assets; business

revenues and assets; Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO)

revenues and assets (grants); and private individual resources.

• Quality of Life: Basic needs provided—food, water, air, shelter; health

care is adequate; excellent educational opportunities; desire to make

an effort to decrease consumption of all resources; respect and

dignity prevail; conflicts are successfully confronted and resolved;

and ability to be meaningfully engaged in society.

• Forms of Production: Awareness of world and local conditions; fears

acknowledged and efforts channeled toward hopes, develop consensus;

creativity enhanced; effective and efficient utilization of resources;

enhanced distribution abilities; value diversity and richness provided

as a result; and commitment by family and community members.

• Future Resource Base:

Water Cycle: Effective cycling; Mineral Cycle: Effective with changes

supporting life sustaining conditions including carbon, nitrogen,

hydrogen, oxygen, and other; Energy Flow: Accumulation of energy on

earth, not increasing in atmosphere, ability for excess energy (beyond

human life supporting) to dissipate out of atmosphere; Community

Dynamics: Generally shift to higher serial conditions supporting

diversity and complexity, optimum biomass accumulation supported.

Neighbors, peers, mentors and other community members have

respect for us and see us as a role model based on our behaviors

and actions.

In using the holistic goal to determine the effectiveness of

alternatives, we used measurements on a scale relative to the ability for

the action to move toward or away from the holistic goal per attribute.

The scale is (1)—no measurable change from the present situation (for

example, alternative 1 which was to take no action) and/or moves us

away from our holistic goal through (5)-the greatest positive change or

moves us toward our holistic goal. Below is a description of the

alternatives considering the attributes we discussed.

A l t e r n a t i ve 1—No Action

Under the No-action alternative, the use of the refrigerator-freezer,

water heater and lighting would remain the same as it has for the

past year. All calculations are made using the following conversion

factors: 3,413 British Thermal Units (Btu) = 1 kilowatt (kWh);

1 kWh = 2.3 lbs CO2 ; 1 kWh electricity costs $.05. We used this

alternative as a basis of comparison with the other alternatives

continued on page 4

Reducing Carbon Dioxide Emissions at Home

4 HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE #81

Under this alternative, the electricity generated to power a 17.4 cu

foot refrigerator-freezer would emit 12,089 lbs/year of CO2. The

electricity generated to keep the 50-gallon water heater running would

emit 15,870 lbs/year of CO2, and lighting would emit 3,706 lbs/year of

CO2 . The total yearly output of CO2 for these two appliances and the

existing incandescent lighting is 31,665 lbs/ CO2 per year. The total cost

per year to keep the existing appliances and lighting running is $668.

Under this alternative no actions would be taken to either increase

or decrease carbon dioxide emissions or enhance biodiversity or

aesthetics.

A l t e r n a t i ve 2—More Effe c t i ve Use

of Existing Appliances

This alternative provides a way to reduce CO2 emissions by

regulating the use of existing appliances such as the water heater,

lighting, and refrigerator. It does not require a short-term monetary

outlay and may provide a long-term benefit.

Each of us can help prevent global warming and save ourselves

money through our own purchasing decisions and lifestyle choices.

More efficient use of the existing water heating, lighting, and

refrigerator can save $453 per year. It can also save 18,617 lbs/CO2per year.

A l t e r n a t i ve 3—Replacement of

Existing Appliances

This alternative may have the largest short-term monetary outlay,

but may provide the best long-term benefit in other desired areas by

reducing carbon dioxide emissions. Under this alternative, energy-

efficient models would replace the existing water heater and

refrigerator-freezer, and the 16 incandescent light bulbs would be

replaced by fluorescent light bulbs. After an initial monetary output

of $1,792, these replacements’ total yearly emissions of CO2 would be

12,492 lbs; a saving of 19,173 lbs of CO2 emissions per year. Total

electrical costs for the year would be $272, a savings of $416 per year.

A l t e r n a t i ve 4—Enhanced Photosynthetic Capacity

This alternative reduces carbon dioxide by increasing the existing

plants’ ability to absorb CO2 or by additional plantings. This alternative

has some monetary outlay, but may provide long-term benefit.

In an effort to decrease net CO2 emission on a household area

basis, it is desirable to increase CO2 gas consumption by proliferation

of photosynthetic (P/S) vegetation that can act throughout the year.

Plants selected for utilization should be perennials with high CO2assimilation, nitrogen and water use efficiency and leafy biomass.

Outdoor plants which photosynthesize in the winter are particularly

desirable because they continue to reduce carbon while root

respiration remains low.

Calculations described for this alternative use the dimensions of

the household area, and the assumption that 10 percent of the area is

vegetated under the no action alternative. The alternative action

increases vegetated area to at least 15 percent of total household area

resulting in a net increase of 495 square feet vegetated area.

We used a birch tree to estimate the average CO2 consumption of

Reducing Carbon Monoxide Emissions at Home

continued from page 3

a deciduous tree at 588 Mg CO2 /ha based on 180-day growing season.

A typical “giant” evergreen, such as a pine, could consume a maximum

of 1,220 Mg CO2 /ha based on a 365-day growing period. Carbon

sequestration by grasslands is approximately 1-2 Mg CO2 /ha/yr, a value

derived indirectly from biomass accumulation and a defined number of

growing days.

From the values above and assuming 15 percent of lot property is

devoted to non-dwelling grounds and completely covered with

vegetation, an estimated 33 lbs CO2/yr could be consumed by the

grounds surrounding the average household. However, there is a large

initial cost to implement this alternative ($1000). Following years will

include increased water and fertilization input.

A l t e r n a t i ve 5 —Public Awa r e n e s s

This alternative provides for long-term benefit and may provide

other solutions or alternatives.

The family level of public awareness focuses on gaining support

within the household and with visitors in order to support actions

addressing global climate change. Actions that can be taken are to foster

the opportunity for family members to explore and develop a deeper

understanding of the extent of the problem and what can be done to

resolve the global climate change issue.

There are six stages important to human change: 1) denial, 2) anger,

3) bargaining, 4) depression, 5) acceptance and 6) adaptation. Actions need

to be developed to allow humans to advance through these stages. An

assumption about this alternative is that by focusing on the whole family

being engaged in the change process, it will ultimately allow for optimal

levels of changes in CO2 emission reductions and improving CO2 sinks.

Conclusion

The proposed action—alternatives 2 through 5—compared to the

no-action alternative, improves air quality in terms of carbon dioxide

concentration and reduces energy costs. The higher initial costs of

implementing the proposed action, compared to the no-action

alternative, is an acceptable and predicted consequence of

accomplishing the goal of stabilizing climate fluctuations.

Jeff Goebel is a Certified Educator in Pullman, Washington.

He can be reached at goebel@palouse.net or 509/334-4767. For the

complete paper visit Jeff’s website at www.aboutlistening.com.

HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE • JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2002 5

From Pests to Profitby Ann Adams

If you enjoy talking to people who are

enthusiastic about their work, I suggest

you visit with Kathryn Ehrhorn and

David Perino of San Pedro Mesquite

Company (SPMCo). For the last five years

they have expanded their mission from

harvesting and marketing mesquite to

educating both consumers and potential

suppliers about the opportunities they are

missing because of the conventional view

of the mesquite tree. They’ve come a long

way in that process and are having more

success in that endeavor, while enjoying

the journey along the way.

B eyond Burning

David Perino has been in the mesquite

industry for 30 years now, beginning with his

father’s encouragement to use the wood

more in his work as a building contractor

in Tucson in the ‘70s. At one point he had

30 employees in his woodshop making

mesquite products, but he eventually had to

close his business because he couldn’t find a

reliable source for the mesquite. Everyone

was so busy viewing mesquite as a nuisance

tree, one that encroached on valuable land

and needed to be bulldozed and burned,

that he couldn’t find anyone willing to

harvest it other than for charcoal, which

returned about one penny for every

pound of mesquite.

In fact, David spent 11 years in Texas

trying to get ranchers to change their

perception of mesquite, but couldn’t find any

takers. The same was true in Arizona. But

when Kathryn joined SPMCo five years ago,

some things started to change. While Kathryn

didn’t have experience in the mesquite

industry, she did bring to the table a global

perspective and strong administrative skills.

With their combined skills and interests,

SPMCo was ready to look outside the U.S.,

where those working the land might be

more willing to see the income potential in

this resource.

And what potential there is. Mesquite

grows on over 25 percent of the world’s land

mass in semi-arid areas, home to 700 million

people. This labor force has few other ways

to earn a good income from local markets.

Kathryn and David saw their mesquite

training program, in which they educate

others about mesquite as a potential resource,

as a way to help others earn a good income.

Rancho La Inmaculada

One of their first forays south of the

border came about when they were

introduced to Certified Educator Kirk Gadzia

by a neighbor. He told them about a rancher,

Ivan Aguirre, in Hermosillo (Sonora), Mexico

who would be interested in learning about

their mesquite ideas. David couldn’t believe

that he had finally found a rancher willing to

think of mesquite as an asset.

Ivan had already made that shift in

thinking years before when he began

practicing Holistic Management. And as a

Certified Educator in Mexico, he had begun

outreach work in his community. Kathryn

and David contacted Ivan and went down

to visit the Aguirres.

Ivan and Martha Aguirre and their

extended family have done remarkable things

with their ranch since they began practicing

Holistic Management almost ten years ago.

With mesquite charcoal only yielding a

penny a pound, they were very interested

in David and Kathryn’s statement that they

could be earning 63 cents a pound by

creating value-added mesquite products.

So Kathryn and David developed a

special harvesting and marketing plan for

the Aguirres. For $25,000, they determined

the Aguirres’ expected yield, helped them

determine what the best products would

be for the local markets, and purchased or

manufactured the appropriate technology for

their harvesting needs. As always, the key

was to determine what resources were there

and then develop products and markets from

that resource base in order to sustain it.

The Aguirres live on a rather isolated

24,000-acre (10,000-hectare) ranch with no

electricity or phone lines. That means the

sawmill they purchased must be run off a

generator and marketing done locally by

word of mouth. The Aguirres main business

is beef cattle, which they wanted to

supplement with income that didn’t involve

extensively harvesting the mesquite trees.

So the Aguirres merely prune the trees and

use the mill to create lumber for a local

market. They use the sapwood and smaller

slash as a mulch around the trees to increase

the efficiency of the water cycle, which

they have already improved through their

grazing planning.

The effectiveness of the water cycle

at Rancho La Inmaculada caught David

unawares and caused him to miscalculate

mesquite yield projections. Normally, given

the 10-inch (250-mm) rainfall Rancho La

Immaculada receives, David would expect

.25-inch (6-mm) thick sapwood. So he based

his yield projections on that figure. But when

Ivan began harvesting his mesquite, he wasn’t

getting the projected yields. After many

faxes and phone calls, David realized that the

reason for the difference in yield was that

Ivan’s sapwood was an inch (25 mm) thick, a

thickness you might see in an irrigated park

in Denver. It suggests that the Aguirres are

capturing four times as much water in their

soil as their neighbors are.

David and Kathryn want to work with

more people like the Aguirres to make use of

their valuable resource. The Aguirres should

recoup their mill investment within two to

three years (a longer period than normal due

to their isolated location). David believes that

most people could use the time and money

they are currently allotting to eradicate the

mesquite and use that same time and money

to build mesquite as an enterprise

on their ranch.

In this way he hopes more ranchers will

view ranching and timber as synonymous

continued on page 6

While many people have seen mesquite as

a nuisance, David Perino and Kathryn

Ehrhorn are busy educating others about all

the beauty and versatility of mesquite.

6 HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE #81

with an expectation of achieving as much

money from their timber resources as they do

their livestock. Likewise, David and Kathryn

want others to see this mesquite harvesting

model as a model for other trees that are

considered pests, like juniper and pinon.

Because they recognize each whole is unique,

they realize such a model must be adapted on

a ranch-by-ranch basis. However, they believe

their training model can be a more effective

starting point for experimentation for people

who have the natural resources but don’t

have the knowledge or experience in

assessing, harvesting and developing value-

added products, and marketing those

products.

From Ironwood to Mesquite

Once Kathryn and David had finished

their research and marketing for the Aguirres,

they turned to Hermosillo and Miguel

Aleman, two towns near the Aguirres.

Because of their success with the Aguirres,

and through an introduction from

Cooperative Extension Agent and Certified

Educator, Manuel Molina, they were invited

to help address the issue of a rapidly

dwindling ironwood resource that local

artisans had used for income.

One of the first steps David and Kathryn

took to help these artisans was to develop

new, safer tools and to help them learn how

to work with the mesquite to protect what

was left of the ironwood as it was now

illegal to harvest. Many of the artisans were

missing fingers from working with crude

and dangerous machinery. Part of the switch

to mesquite was a switch to woodturning

lathes with which they could make other

value-added products. The lathes were

designed to incorporate the current machines

that had powered the crude saws the artisans

had been using.

Altogether, Kathryn and David worked

with 400 local artisans, as well as others who

were involved in the management of the

mesquite to harvest it sustainably. Kathryn and

David helped local landowners and artisans

assess the mesquite resources so they could

discern what they could harvest for the long-

term and then what type of value-added

product they could make that would sell

locally so they weren’t at the mercy of

exportation.

milling and joining equipment and traditional

laminating techniques, people can learn to

make just about any wood product.”

Likewise, another mesquite product of

great value is the mesquite bean, which is

ground into flour. Containing 20-30 percent

protein, this flour is a high source of soluble

fiber and Omega 3 fatty acids. A viable food

source for both humans and animals, SPMCo

encourages local harvesting of the beans.

They sell the flour and the value-added

products made from it—like dog biscuits—on

their website.

Bringing It Home

So have all these programs been good

for business? It’s booming. In the last five

years, gross sales of mesquite products have

doubled each year. Projected sales for this

year are $750,000. With their five employees,

Kathryn and David are busy answering

phones for requests for mesquite flooring

and the other products offered through

their website.

But the training and outreach programs

clearly bring much enrichment to the work

environment at SPMCo. “We believe in these

programs and that what goes around comes

around,” says Kathryn. Their interest and

involvement in sustainable development is

one of the reasons why they became

Savory Center members. “The Savory Center

was clearly in line with our values,” says

Kathryn. We always tell others about

Holistic Management. We give Kirk and

Ivan’s phone numbers to any ranchers

we talk to.”

“But Holistic Management is more than

just ranching,” says David. “We’ve used the

goal setting process to help create the plans

for our outreach programs, and to monitor

them. The concept of working with a whole

is so important in the work we do. But most

of all, Holistic Management has helped make

the business more fun. Before it always

seemed like drudgery to me. Holistic

Management has helped me see that we

owe ourselves a living.”

“It’s been a challenging growth curve,”

says Kathryn, “but we continue with great

zest and optimism. Seeing the mesquite

programs actually working for our families

and the many others with whom we

work makes it all worthwhile.”

Visit San Pedro Mesquite’s website at

www.spm.com or call Kathryn and David

at 520/212-9663.

As part of their training module, Kathryn

and David asked questions and created

“assignments” that required the local artisans

to do the legwork and determine the

products and markets, giving them more

ownership in the outcome. For example, one

assignment was to look around and see what

non-wood products were available that could

be made out of wood locally. In addition,

Kathryn and David taught them how to

communicate with the local media so they

could establish the kind of public relations

necessary for local marketing.

In addition to these efforts, the city

government of Hermosillo donated land

for the shop, and a local technical college

donated woodworking equipment. David and

Kathryn are donating their time and expertise

in partnership with the artisans and the

local government so that a local sustainable

industry can be established. And as that

partnership becomes profitable, everyone

shares in the profit.

“We’ve found that this type of economic

development works when we’re looking at

the whole picture and what is needed to

offer industry to local people,” says Kathryn.

“It can take some adjusting on everyone’s part

to work with a timber industry that expects

certain lengths of wood. But with new

From Pests to Profit

continued from page 5

San Pedro Mesquite has helped indigenous

populations learn to profit from the mesquite

that surrounds them.

HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE • JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2002 7

weren’t given many specific directives, there

was a lot of frustration — healthy frustration,

Wayne told us. We didn’t know what each

member would contribute nor what stake the

various organizations they represented might

have in our efforts.

One of our members, a banker, said that in

the beginning he was

confused about why he

was asked to participate —

what did finances have

to do with health? But

after making the effort

to become involved he

could see, for example,

the way that banks dealt

with farmers (especially

in stressful economic

times) had a significant

impact on the farmers’

relationships with their

families, their neighbors,

their own state of health.

We began to see the

interconnectedness of

all the various aspects of

our lives as community

members.

We worked to form

ourselves into a cohesive

group. We are pleased to note that unlike

many partnerships, we had few “turf issues.”

People did not feel they had to protect their

territory from others who might usurp power

and resources. I think that is, at least in part, a

reflection of Wayne’s work.

However, we also realized we did not

know as much about each other as we

thought. In a small community such as ours,

we assume we know everyone’s story, and

they know ours. As we continued to meet,

we learned more about the problems and

methods of each other’s business, and

learned how we might support each other

in new ways.

For instance, one of our Partnership

members, Glenwood Inc., is a center for the

developmentally disabled. They needed to

find useful work for their individuals. At

our Turning Point meetings, we identified

a need in our community for light

A Turning Pointby Vicki Ruby

Editor’s note: For the last four years,

Certified Educator Wayne Berry has served

as a facilitator for the Sheridan County

Turning Point Partnership, introducing

Holistic Management into this community

development project. Hired more as a

facilitator than a Holistic Management ®

Certified Educator, Wayne introduced parts

of the Holistic Management ® model to help

the Partnership reach their desired outcomes.

Although some members of the Partnership

might not have been fully aware of this

Holistic Management influence, both Wayne

and Vicki felt it had a significant impact on

the success of the Partnership. For example,

although there were numerous Turning

Point projects around the country, Sheridan

County’s was the only partnership out of

40 that started from a whole-community

foundation rather than a specific focus. All

partnerships had an initial three-year grant

for planning, but the follow-up development

grants were competitive across the whole

country. The Sheridan County partnership

was successful in obtaining one of those

development grants.

Sheridan County is a sparsely populated,

rural county of only 4,300 residents

located in the northeast corner of

Montana. The county has struggled in recent

years with high unemployment rates and

nearly half the county’s population living

at or below the federal poverty level.

The primary industry in Sheridan County

is agriculture, and farmers and ranchers have

been selling their goods for prices well below

today’s market. Such a depressed economy has

led to bank foreclosures and the collapse of

main street businesses, and has had a direct

impact on the health and quality of life of

families and individuals. Migration out of the

county has persisted at a rate of one percent

for the past 70 years.

To address some of these needs,

Sheridan County applied for a Turning Point

Partnership grant. I was hired by the

Partnership first in the capacity of secretary

and bookkeeper and, later, to gather and

synthesize information for required reports

and for publicizing our efforts. We then hired

Wayne Berry, a Holistic Management®

Certified Educator, to facilitate our meetings

and help us build a cohesive group from a

very diverse mix of individuals.

What Wayne taught us and the way he

guided us certainly helped us achieve the

cohesion necessary to win a development

grant and provide a service to the community

that wasn’t there before. I also think that

Holistic Management has

helped me do my work

because I am better

able to see the

interconnectivity in

all the different kinds

of work I do, both

professionally and

as a member of this

community. As we

prepare our final

reports for the National

Association of County

and City Health

Officials (NACCHO), I

will be turning to the

original holistic testing

questions Wayne

taught us to help us

evaluate our journey,

and to help us make

the transition into a

new beginning.

Building A Coalition

The original Turning Point grant awarded

to us came with the stipulation that we form

a coalition of community members. That,

then, was our first challenge.

At our first meeting, Wayne gave a

presentation emphasizing our need to take

a look at the whole picture. Providing us

with a list of “Holistic Testing Questions” (the

seven testing questions) to reflect on, he led

us through a series of exercises he called a

“grounding session.” Out of this session, we

developed a “Temporary Core Document”

(our holistic goal).

The group of people we gathered

came from all areas of our community

geographically, and it was a diverse group

professionally as well. All they knew at the

beginning was that we had access to a certain

amount of money, and we wanted to improve

the basic health of our community. Because

this goal was so broad, and because we

Holistic Management helped Vicki

Ruby see the interconnectivity of the

work she was doing in her community .

continued on page 8

8 HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE #81

housekeeping services for elderly and

handicapped people. The Glenwood

representatives were able to match those

needs and resources, and came up with a

Home Attendant Service. Their individuals,

under supervision, were able to offer their

skills for a modest fee.

Sustaining Change

Wayne has continued to urge us to return

to our Core Document to guide our current

work as a Partnership. From the beginning

this document crystallized our quality of life

statement—the things we want for our

communities. That statement includes the

desire for communities in which every

person is treated with dignity and

compassion, healthy schools and strong

faith communities, and a strong sense of

volunteerism. We placed a high priority on

safety, with high standards for the quality of

our environment and low crime rates. We

also identified good accessibility to health

care services, as well as health education

and health facilities, as very important.

The Core Document also identified our

stakeholders: youth, families, working people

and well adults, the elderly, low-income

families and individuals, and the physically

and mentally challenged. It also includes a

“Production Statement” that outlined our first

tasks as a group. While we don’t measure

ourselves against the Core Document, we do

keep it in mind, and we still speak in the

terms we used in that document.

For example, we wrote that we wanted

to establish a “mall” for quality of life issues

in which available services coordinate their

efforts, and the whole person/family is taken

into consideration. To this end, we have hired

an architect to complete a feasibility study

regarding a Wellness Center that we envision

housing fitness space and equipment,

community meeting space, and health

education and information resources.

Another main thrust in our efforts has

been to increase collaboration with other

communities statewide and especially in

the northeastern counties of Montana. We

see more and more clearly that we cannot

survive in isolation. For that reason, we

hope to increase our regional public health

of changes—such as moving the office to a

less accessible location—that Public Health staff

felt would be detrimental to the programs.

The staff took these concerns to the

Partnership, asking for their suggestions

and opinions. The individual partners

overwhelmingly felt that the Public Health

Office should remain at its original, accessible

location in the Courthouse. With the hospital

administration

increasingly adamant

that the move

would be made, the

Partnership sought

public opinion.

Partners were

instrumental in

developing a public

opinion survey and in

voicing their concerns

in the community.

Eventually,

following negotiations,

the County and the

hospital decided that

the County would

reassume sponsorship

of the Public Nurse’s

Office, and that the

office would remain

in its original location.

The entire decision-

making process had

heavy input from the

public at large, and this was very much due

to the existence of the Turning Point

Partnership. It was amazing how much people

knew and cared about what could easily

have been a behind-the-scenes matter

regarding their public health system.

Our grant period ends this year. However,

the Partners have expressed a commitment to

the network we have formed and continuing

our existence as an active Partnership.

Partners have also given their support to

participating in a Rural Consortium that is

being formed by Turning Point grantees

around the nation. For Sheridan County there

is a feeling that this is just the beginning of

progress toward a more sustainable future.

Vicki Ruby is Assistant Coordinator

of the Sheridan County Turning Point

Partnership in Plentywood, Montana.

She can be reached at 406/765-3473 or

at vruby@co.sheridan.mt.us.

service capacity through alliances with

neighboring counties.

A Voice for the Community

While we have done some specific

projects, we haven’t had many concrete

products “available for show and tell,” as

Wayne puts it. This has been frustrating for

people directly involved, and for others who

approach them to ask,

“Just what is Turning

Point, anyway?”

But what we

have done is lay the

groundwork for future

projects to be more

successful and to all

move toward a

common vision. Early

on, we created a

“Community Values

Survey” that asked for

residents’ perceptions

of and their level of

satisfaction regarding

many aspects of life in

Sheridan County. Two

important points in the

results showed that

people who live here

have a lot of pride in

Sheridan County, and

that economic stability

is a focus of concern for

nearly everyone. We’ve tried to incorporate

those concerns as we’ve increased awareness

of public health, and the idea that all of us

have a stake in our communities.

Most of all we’ve tried to find the

solutions to our problems within our own

community. We’ve sent people, both official

Partnership members and interested

community members, to grant-writing

seminars and leadership training workshops.

We are trying to increase our resource base

in terms of people and skills, by empowering

individuals and supporting teamwork.

An important effect of having the

Turning Point Partnership active here is that

community members have been given a

vehicle through which to voice their opinions

and inform themselves. For instance, for

several years the County had contracted with

the local hospital to provide personnel to

administer the Public Health Office. Then

hospital administration proposed a number

A Turning Point

continued from page 7

Wayne Berry was hired to facilitate the

Turning Point Partnership meetings.

Using Holistic Management he helped

them build an ef fective coalition.

IN PRACTICE • JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2002 LAND & LIVESTOCK 9

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

JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2002 #81

promising series of events on the Pacific Coast may be setting the

stage for more holistic management of municipally owned lands.

The setting is San Luis Obispo County, California. Located

midway between San Francisco and Los Angeles, the county features

some spectacular coastlines, floodplains with rich vegetable production,

inland grazing lands with the greatest collection of endangered species

of any place in the continental U.S., and rapidly growing urban centers.

In the southern part of the county, straddling US Highway 101 and

running to the ocean, are the towns of Arroyo Grande and Oceano.

Through this area run several waterways, including Arroyo Grande

Creek and Los Berros Channel. Years ago, the Lopez Dam was built to

capture the water in Arroyo Grande Creek, thereby creating a more

predictable release of water throughout the year.

The lower end of Arroyo Grande Creek was straightened in order

to quickly “dispose” of excess water during storm events. The Los

Berros Channel was made with the same purpose in mind. It flows

into Arroyo Grande Creek about two miles from the Pacific Ocean.

With the resulting flood control, vegetables could be reliably grown

and houses could be built in the flood plain with no fear of being

flooded. Assessments collected from the farmers and community

services districts were to be used to maintain the flood control channel.

As the years went by, and several species of concern (notably

steelhead trout and red-legged frogs) captured the headlines, the tools

available to maintain the flood control channels became more and

more limited. The Army Corps of Engineers became stricter about

dredging the channel. It became more difficult and expensive to find

places to dispose of the dredged materials, even if it was allowed.

Costs soared—up to $100 a yard in some estimates.

The fact that the stockpiled materials would undoubtedly find

their way back into the channels wasn’t even figured into the costs

of dredging and transporting. Herbicides were ruled out by several

agencies concerned about the impacts they would have on many

species in the channels as well as down stream. Fire has become less

viable because of air quality concerns, plus the difficulty in burning

Some of the 300 goats grazing down the vegetation choking a

suburban drainage ditch. The very next day “at least 50 people

from the area parked along the side of the road, out of their cars,

just looking at the goats. The local TV reporters were there taping

interviews.” When the goats came back the following year residents

met the first gooseneck as it was being unloaded, expressing their

relief that the goats were coming back.

Goats as Tools for

Flood Controlby Rob Rutherford

material that is standing in water. Hand crews could be brought in to

physically remove the vegetation, but they took a long time and were

becoming more expensive.

What about Goats?

It was with this dilemma on the table that George Gibson, an

engineer with the County Public Works Department, gave me a call.

I still remember his first words: “Are you the Goat Guy?” Taken a little

by surprise, I claimed not to be the Goat Guy, but that I knew one. It

seems that at a coffee table conversation at his department, and amid

a great deal of frustration—land owners yelling to get the ditches

cleaned, and a long line of agencies saying they couldn’t—that one of

the staff members jokingly threw out the idea of getting a goat to eat

the ditch clean. After a hearty laugh, a junior engineer said there was

a guy named Rutherford out at Cal Poly [University] that talked about

this stuff. I was only later to get to know more about that junior

engineer—a person living in conflict—an engineer who thought we

ought to work with the environment rather than beating it into

submission! Based on her input, George gave me the call.

I agreed that his proposal to use goats to reduce the vegetation

made good sense, but I didn’t have the goats. I contacted Bob

Blanchard, a local cattle/goat producer, who has been doing some

great grazing management in land adjacent to the Diablo Canyon

power plant. He uses the goats to reduce fire fuel hazard under the

power lines leaving the plant.

Bob and I met George at the site the next day. Immediately, Bob

continued on page 10

A

10 LAND & LIVESTOCK IN PRACTICE #81

Much to his credit, George Gibson,

the engineer who knew nothing of

the tools of grazing or animal impact

or much of anything else about

biology (and whose idea of a good

channel is the Los Angeles River with

its concrete channel), kept insisting

that this goat thing would work. He

pushed and pushed, insisting that this

needed to be a long-term thing, and

that he knew it wouldn’t look like a

mowing machine had come through.

The goats would leave some stuff,

there might be complaints about

animals in the waterway, the lettuce

growers would be nervous, he would

take the heat if it went wrong, etc.

Let’s Do It

With that kind of pressure, Bob

agreed to think about it overnight. The

next day, Bob came back with an offer

that he thought George would refuse.

We would move the goats in for a

four-day trial. No guarantees. If it

didn’t work, we’d part company on

good terms—and he needed $3,000 for the four-day trial. George’s response

was: “Can you have them here this afternoon?” Bob just about fell over

(should have asked for more money). We moved the goats in the next day.

Temporary electric net fence was set along the banks with four strands of

electric temporary fence stretched through the ditch. We fenced about one

acre per day and had about 350 goats in the area. It took about one day to

graze the first section.

We moved the goats in on a Tuesday afternoon. The next day, John

Phillips and I took our class down to the site to observe. When we got

there, there had to have been at least 50 people from the area parked along

the side of the road, out of their cars, just looking at the goats. The local TV

reporters were there taping interviews. One of the people interviewed was

an elderly lady who presented herself as the perfect ambassador for the

project. She could have been anybody’s grandmother. She talked about how

her home had almost flooded several years ago, how fun it was to see the

goats, etc. We were on four different TV news broadcasts, and received

nothing but positive press. As George claimed, “We couldn’t have purchased

better PR.” The goats did a nice job, leaving plenty of forage to stabilize the

banks, but consumed at least 90% of the vegetable matter in the area.

By the end of the second day, Bob’s fears were quelled, and he and

George negotiated to extend the contract. The grazing continued

downstream to a point where the National Fish and Wildlife folks insisted

that we get out of the ditch because of habitat concerns. The goats were

there for a total of 31 days and grazed about 1 .5 miles of ditch. The county

paid Bob $24,000. The previous time the ditch had been cleared the cost

for hand crews was about 3 times higher. During the winter of 2001, a

predictably heavy rainstorm brought the annual flood (made worse by

the floodplain management) but the area grazed by the goats held.

Unfortunately, the area that had been left ungrazed caused a blockage that

forced the stream out of its banks. As a result, the county became liable for

about $2.5 million in flood damage to houses, lettuce, and a riding stable.

Goats as Tools for Flood Controlcontinued from page 9

Berry bushes, afternoon, day 1.

Berry bushes, day 2.

Berry bushes, morning, day 1.

A predictably heavy

rainstorm brought

the annual flood but

the area grazed b y

the goats held.

Unfortunately, the

area that had been

left ungrazed caused

a blockage that forced

the stream out of its

banks. The county

became liable for

about $2.5 million

in flood damage to

houses, lettuce, and

a riding stable.

started to get cold feet. The channel was about 100-feet

(30-meters) wide. On one side was a housing development,

with at least one dog in every yard, on the other side was a

major county road, and then further downstream, about 200

acres of lettuce—and no fences.

IN PRACTICE • JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2002 LAND & LIVESTOCK 11

There were numerous meetings with agencies pointing fingers at each other,

residents praising the goats, the vegetable grower (a member of the Regional

Water Board) admitting that the goats did a good job, and so on.

Bob and George continued to communicate, and George was able to

secure a budget for this year. He also got permission to graze further down

the channel. Therefore, during August of 2001, we put close to 600 goats in

the ditch and grazed nearly to the ocean—a distance of about two miles. By

the time the first gooseneck had been unloaded, at least ten of the local

residents were right there expressing their relief that the goats were coming

back, including our TV-star grandmother from the year before. The grazing

this year took 41 days, and the county paid Bob $35,000. Of these dollars,

Bob paid about $3,000/month to my students who provided part time labor.

The rest was to compensate himself for his time, expertise, and

equipment/supplies.

Lessons Learned

During both years of this grazing adventure, Bob and I spent more

than a couple of hours sitting on chairs on a ditch bank, watching the

goats, and talking about what was going on. We agreed that what we were

involved in was addressing a symptom. The channel had become filled

with silt due to farming practices upstream. Flooding was inevitable given

all the development, and thus the bare ground, in the catchment, and the

monoculture practices on the vegetable farms. However, we both felt that

this was an opportunity to demonstrate how effective goats could be as a

riparian zone management tool—that they could actually enhance habitat.

We noticed that the goats ate different things depending upon what

was available. If there were a wide variety of plants, they readily went after

the willows. If other types of plants were limited, they didn’t browse the

willows nearly as heavily. The goats readily consumed hemlock and castor

bean with no deaths or illnesses. We did find that although goats don’t

really like to get their feet wet, these goats learned to stand in the water to

eat some of the delicacies like watercress.

It was our opinion that the quality of the forage was better the second

year, and if asked back, that we would continue to see a change in plant

materials. We were of the opinion that if flood control was the primary

motivation for the project, we should have grazed the creek later in the

year, just before the rainy season.

Because we were asked to be there

in August in order to fit the County

Engineering calendar, we are concerned

that a lot of regrowth will occur in the

five months prior to our wettest time.

Another very critical part of the

success of this venture was Bob’s ability

to visit with the residents and visitors

at the site—community dynamics if you

will. When the rumor got out that a

local opponent was going to protest to

the County Board of Supervisors about

having livestock in the creek, a woman

in the adjoining mobile home park

started a petition and got 650 signatures

in four days supporting the goats.

George Gibson knows a lot more about

goats now than he did a year ago. He

also takes credit for the success of the

venture, which is interesting in that

he never mentions that the whole thing was the idea of a

junior engineer who doesn’t “think that concrete channels are

a good thing.”

We’re looking forward to the winter of 2002 and hoping that

we do get a “flood” in order to assess the job done this year.

We’re hoping that the success of this venture can be shared with

other counties and municipalities as a way of converting solar

energy into money, while at the same time improving the

functioning of ecosystem processes.

So, here we have a situation of many goals—set by the junior

engineer, the senior engineer, the Fish and Wildlife Service, the

Army Corps of Engineers, the residents, the vegetable grower, the

goat owner—and we are spending our time perfecting our tool

use. I’m hoping that once the various stakeholders understand

that we’ve got the tool thing down, it might be a good idea to

sit down and create a holistic goal, which should set us up for

longer term efficiency at moving towards what we want,

rather than just addressing symptoms.

Rob Rutherford is Professor of Animal Science

at CalPoly. He can be reached via email at

rrutherf@calpoly.edu.

Grazed portion of the ditch downstream. Lettuce fields are on

the left. On the road is a travel trailer where laborers spend the

night, and a water trailer for the goats when the ditch is dry .

Ungrazed ditch in the residential area.

When the rumor got

out that a local

opponent was going

to protest about

having livestock in

the creek, a woman

in the adjoining

mobile home park

started a petition and

got 650 signatures

in four days

supporting the goats.

few months back I wrote an article about Dave James and his

Slick Rock Ranch ( IN PRACTICE #78, July/August 2001).

Situated in some of southwestern Colorado’s roughest canyon

country, I claimed the Slick Rock was the toughest piece of the West I’d

ever seen anybody try to run cows in. Since acquiring the ranch in the

late ‘90s, Dave and his crew have spent most of that time just learning

the country, figuring out how to coax cattle in and out, under and over,

and up and through the maze of canyons, benches, cliffs, mesas, and

bowls that constitute the Slick Rock.

They’re still learning and probably always will be learning, but

they’re a whole lot smarter now than they were when they started.

They know how to bring a big bunch of cattle out of McIntyre Canyon,

over Cougar Bench, and up onto Horse Range Mesa. They know how

many cattle can water on the spring in Bush Canyon, and when the

ponds thaw out on Egnar Mesa, assuming they’ve got any water. They

know that in the dead of winter, they better be watering on the Dolores

River if they want their critters to get a drink. If they have snow holding

in the shade of the junipers, they know they can push a big mob up

onto White Sage Bench and take some pressure off the riparian corridor

along the Dolores. They know that Grassy Hills are covered in mostly

low quality galleta grass, and if they hope to get some use out of it, they

better pack some protein up there ahead of the cattle. They know that

sometime around the first of April, the cattle better be somewhere near

the Snyder Place. If not, it’ll be a long, hard drive with heavy pregnant

cows up to the summer country. That’s a lot of stuff to keep track of,

and that’s just a small sample.

Time to Refine

Now, five years later and armed with a stockade of local knowledge,

Dave finally felt he was ready to take a stab at creating a proper holistic

grazing plan. One could argue that if he had started planning holistically

from the beginning, even without any practical history, he would have

figured out all these practical considerations even quicker. That may be

true, but his crew probably would have mutinied and left Dave in a

major fix. Actually, Dave did initially try to impose an intensive style

of grazing management, but with neither the cows nor the cowboys

knowing where they were going, a chain of costly wrecks was the

unhappy result.

After that initial reality check, I think he felt it was better to let his

guys make the day-to-day decisions, let them figure out how to get

around the country in their own way, and let them develop the local

knowledge. Now, going through the grazing planning process, it’s their

input that’s most valuable. They know whether the whole herd can

be expected to stay up on Grassy without bailing off down into the

Dolores Canyon, and how far up Summit Canyon a cow will go, and so

on. To create a grazing plan that’s going to work, this sort of knowledge

is absolutely critical. You can come up with a plan without it, but the

frustration that ensues when nothing works, the cattle aren’t happy, and

you’re working your behind into the ground, sort of sours you on the

whole deal. I know. I’ve been there.

Anyway, this summer Dave gave me a call and asked if I would

come help them do a holistic grazing plan for their winter dormant

season, not only on the Slick Rock, but also on the new 117,000-acre

(47,350-ha) winter grazing allotment in southeastern Utah in which he

recently became a partner. The new place, which Dave calls the Perkins

Desert, takes in all the country between Bluff and Mexican Hat, Utah,

plus some state lease country north and east of Bluff. It’s named after

the family that has ranched there for over 100 years, a descendent of

which, Corey Perkins, is Dave’s partner. For those of you who’ve been

in that part of Utah, you’ll realize that it’s smack dab in the middle of

Monument Valley, one of the West’s most scenic but austere landscapes.

Average rainfall is a scant 6 inches, and it can come at any time of the

year. Good growing seasons are consequently few and far between.

Grasses include an impressive diversity of dropseed species, lots of

galleta, some Indian rice grass, and lots of annual cheat grass. The brush

component, which accounts for a big part of their forage resource,

includes lots of blackbrush, plus quite a bit of four-wing saltbrush,

shadscale, winterfat, and Mormon tea.

Bare Ground and Drought Reserve s

As you might expect, the dominant feature of the landscape is bare

ground. Dave has identified this mostly denuded soil surface as the

primary culprit obstructing his goal of more effective ecosystem

processes, greatly enhanced biodiversity, and increased profit from

livestock. His management aim, therefore, focuses on gradually building

a source of soil-covering litter.

I asked him what he expected out of me during our three-day

planning session. He said he wanted to figure out how many cattle he

could run on both ranches (the Slick Rock and Perkins Desert) and still

leave a full year of forage in the event of extended drought. In other

words, if no rain came over the course of the coming year, he wanted

to feel comfortable that he could still bring his cattle back next year on

leftover forage. If it did happen to rain over the next year, that excess

forage from the year before would still be valuable as a source of soil-

covering litter. By letting those plants accumulate a year or more of

growth, there will be organic matter available to not only feed the cattle

during the next grazing period, but older, more brittle material to lay on

Jerry Heaton, cowboss on the Perkins Desert, gazing out over the

Upper Sand Island pasture.

Holistic Managemen t® Grazing Planning on the Colorado Plateau—

Measuring the Desert by Jim Howell

A

12 LAND & LIVESTOCK IN PRACTICE #81

estimate how many square yards it would take to comfortably hold a cow

for a day, while also leaving a lot of material to serve as litter and food

and cover for wildlife. At first the government guys were skeptical, but as

soon as we stepped off the first square they could see how easy it was.

For those of you who haven’t done this before, here’s how we did it:

Once we found what we felt was a representative sample of a certain

vegetation type, we’d have one guy stand still in one spot, then two

guys would walk in perpendicular lines originating at that spot. Those

two guys would agree to walk out around twenty paces, or about 20

yards, then stop and assess. Would the square they formed (using an

imaginary fourth person) feed a cow for a day, leaving a good residual

cover? No, not quite. Okay, walk out five more paces. How ‘bout now?

Yeah, easy, come in two paces. That’s about right. That’s 23 by 23, which

is 529 square yards to feed a cow for a day. Since there are 4,840 square

yards in one acre that means, if you divide 4,840 by 529, one acre of

this sort of country could feed about nine dry cows for a day, or 9 ADA.

If working with the metric system, you’d perform the same exact

procedure, but use meters and hectares instead of yards and acres.

The hard part was estimating how much of that pasture was made

up of the type of country in which we were currently doing our

estimates. We didn’t have time to go everywhere, and even if we could

have, it still would have been awfully tough to guess how much of the

pasture was productive bottom land, useless cliffs, sparsely vegetated

broken gullies, inaccessible mesas, etc.

Dealing with Landscape Dive r s i t y

We dealt with this challenge in two ways. One was to pick the brains

of the guys who know that country like they know their own living

rooms, Jerry and Corey. “How much of this sort of country is there in

this pasture,” I’d ask. They’d have a pretty confident estimate almost

every time. That sort of knowledge only comes with long, long hours

on horseback. It’s the type of knowledge that’s absolutely critical to

managing highly diverse and extensive landscapes. It’s also the type of

knowledge that people who don’t live out there, but claim they know

what’s best for the arid West, are sorely lacking. They should spend a

couple months moving cows with Jerry Heaton.

The other way was to look at soil survey maps. All those different

landscape features typically have slightly to radically different soil types.

The types of vegetation that can be expected to grow in those distinct

the soil surface as well.

This hasn’t happened on the

Perkins Desert for a long time.

After a day and half of covering

lots of country, I didn’t see one

plant that had an accumulation

of older material, let alone any

plant that was suffering from

overrest. Energy conversion, or

the efficient trapping of sunlight

energy by plant leaves, was their

weak link in the financial chain

of production, not the conversion

of excess grass into beef. Along

those lines, Dave also wanted to

figure out how to stay off the

western half of the Perkins

Desert, which received no

effective precipitation in 2001. It

was a tall order, and we got busy.

B ovine Grocery Shopping

The first order of business was to figure out how much forage was

out there, on both the Slick Rock and the Perkins Desert. Just looking

out over the country, with it’s buttes, mesas, cliffs, benches, gullies,

washes, and deep canyons, it was hard to visualize how in the world

we were going to do that in just three days. It seemed like we’d need

a month out there on horseback just to get started. But we had a

methodology. On their state lease land (leased from the state of Utah—

the balance of both Slick Rock and Perkins Desert are administered

under the Bureau of Land Management), I noticed that Corey’s map

had some numbers written on it by the government-employed range

conservationist in charge of that allotment. These numbers reflected the

acres that could support one animal unit month (AUM), or one mature

dry cow for one month, in different areas of the allotment. But the

numbers were based on historical averages, not on the current situation,

so they had little relevance. Anyway, I have a hard time looking out over

a piece of country and trying to estimate how much of that country it

would take to support a cow for a month.

Evidently Allan Savory used to have the same trouble and, using

Andre Voisin’s concept of animal days per acre

(ADA), was able to bring the measurement down

to the amount of land needed to feed one cow for

one day. It’s a whole lot easier to envision that,

than the area needed to feed one cow for 30 days.

Once you know how much land it takes to feed a

cow for a day it’s easy to calculate the number of

animal days one acre will support.

So Dave, his right-hand man Jerry Heaton (who

knows the country and is responsible for making

things work on the ground), and I spent a day and a

half estimating ADA on the Slick Rock. We spent

another day and a half on the Perkins Desert, where

we were joined by Corey Perkins, Dave’s BLM range

conservationist, and another local NRCS (Natural

Resources Conservation Service) range

conservationist. It was fairly straightforward to

One could argue

that if he had started

planning holistically

from the beginning,

he would have figured

out all these practical

considerations even

quicker. That may

be true, but his crew

probably would

have mutinied.

IN PRACTICE • JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2002 LAND & LIVESTOCK 13

Estimating the area required to feed one cow for one day .

continued on page 14

14 LAND & LIVESTOCK IN PRACTICE #81

and as their knowledge and data base grow, they’ll gradually be

able to make better and better decisions.

Putting it All To g e t h e r

Once we had all those estimates of forage on hand, it was time to

sit down, calculate grazing periods, and start figuring out how to make

everything work logistically. We already alluded to a bunch of those

practical considerations on the Slick Rock. On the Perkins Desert, we

had to take into account livestock theft threats when the cattle were

in pastures with access to the San Juan River, busy traffic seasons (an

unfenced highway runs right through the allotment), rafting season on

the San Juan, and seasonal use restrictions on the state lease country,

just to name a few. When all those factors are charted on the planning

sheet, the biggest challenge then entails making all the cattle moves

work logistically (both for the cows and the cowboys) while still

honoring those important considerations. Even with the Holistic

Management® Grazing Planning procedure this isn’t easy, but it’s a

whole lot easier than trying to take all these factors into consideration

without this planning procedure.

In fact, by sitting down and consciously considering all of these

factors, each of which is critical to take into account if Dave and his

crew hope to move toward their holistic goal, Dave and Jerry both

said it contributed significantly to their peace of mind. They could see

that it all could work. Only by going through the step-by-step process

did that become clear.

Finally, we reminded ourselves that when dealing with the land, we

always have to assume our decisions are wrong, and then monitor for

the first signs that we’re veering off track. This is especially true with

the first plan, when, even after the input of generous practical wisdom,

unexpected events and unforeseen circumstances are just about

guaranteed. But as Allan Savory says, “that’s why you plan.” If you had

no plan, you’d never know you were veering off course in the first

place. With the plan, we know where we want to go. If we’re proactively

monitoring, we’ll know when we need to adjust the plan to stay on track.

If our initial planning was so off the mark that nothing’s working, we’ll

know we might need to start over and replan. This takes discipline, close

observation, a willingness to adapt, and a can-do attitude. If we can do it,

if we can stay on track, one day we might actually have to change the

name of the Perkins Desert when it no longer looks like a desert.

Measuring the Desert

continued from page 13

Calculating Animal Days (ADs) in a Sample Pasture

Pasture One Acreage Avg. ADA ADs

Vegetation type 1 2,000 7. 5 15,000

Vegetation type 2 3,000 4 .0 12,000

Vegetation type 3 500 2 . 5 1,250

Totals 5,500 28,250

If herd size was 700 dry cows, this pasture could support the herd

for about 40 days (28,250 ADs divided by 700 animals equals 40 days).

In this example, 7.5 ADA equates to a 25-by-25-yard square for one

animal day, 4.0 ADA to a 35-by-35-yard square, and 2 . 5 ADA to a 44-by-

44-yard square. Although this example uses yards and acres, it all

works the same in meters and hectares. Just remember that one hectare

comprises an even 10,000 square meters, and that one meter is just a

little longer than a yard.

Paul Curtis (Dave James’ BLM range conservationist), Jim Ho well,

and Corey Perkins calculating ADA.

soils are also variable. The soil maps have all that information (soil type,

slope, predominant vegetation, etc.) clearly delineated. If we came to an

area that Jerry and Corey couldn’t estimate, or if we were wanting to

verify their estimates, we’d look at the soil maps. We primarily had to do

this in the biggest pastures, a few of which covered 25 sections or more

(one section equals 640 acres, or 260 ha).

We’d drive through a good sample of the pasture to get an idea of

the different vegetation types (which again closely correlated with soil

types). Then we’d stop and step off a few squares that could feed a cow

for a day in one type, and calculate ADA from there. Next, we’d look at

the soil maps and determine how many acres (or sections) of the total

pasture was comprised of that vegetation type. This enabled us to

determine how many total animal days (ADs) we had in that vegetation

type in that pasture. Then we’d do the same thing for the other

vegetation types within that pasture. When we finished doing that in

each pasture, we had the total ADs of forage on hand over the whole

ranch. We knew how many months we needed to keep cattle on both

the Slick Rock and Perkins Desert, so from that total AD estimate, we

could calculate our estimated carrying capacity for the season. This was

a critical piece of information for Dave and Corey, since they were

keenly interested in how many outside cattle they could contract to

increase winter cash flow. (See the sidebar for a numerical explanation

of calculating ADs in a pasture).

In future years, after having accumulated several seasons of ADA

harvest data in each pasture, estimating ADA will be much easier and

more accurate. Dave and his crew will know how the pasture performed

relative to the estimate of forage on hand, and they’ll be able to make

common sense adjustments based on how good the year has been. For

example, when doing the planning for the coming dormant season,

they’ll be able to go back to last year’s planning chart, and see that the

Lime Ridge pasture yielded 5 .0 ADA. If the current year’s growing

season produced about the same amount of forage, they’ll be able to

plan on a yield of 5 .0 ADA again this year. If the year was better,

they might increase the estimate to 7 .0 ADA. As the years go by,

L ow Cost Wi n t e r i n g

After visiting lots of ranchers on other continents, I’ve been

struck by how cheaply they’re able to produce beef and

lamb relative to most North Americans. Usually they have

no choice, since their prices are so much lower, often only a third to

a half of what Americans and Canadians can expect. I know of one

Australian who is producing beef at US$.09/lb. That doesn’t include

his land cost, but even so it’s impressive. He claims the key is to

figure out how you can get away “without doing anything to ‘em,”

while still maintaining acceptable production. In North America,

especially in colder climates, this is a major challenge for most

producers who are locked into the paradigm that they have to baby

their animals through the winter on expensive stored forages. The

variable costs associated with surviving the winter represent the

majority of the annual cost of running a cow. I’ve read of Canadians

wintering their cattle on hay that has been windrowed but then left

in the field and strip grazed. Are there any other examples of low

cost wintering that not only reduce direct expenses but also labor

costs as well?

I am in southwestern Ontario, on the Bruce Peninsula,

which separates Lake Huron from Georgian Bay. We are

an area of traditionally higher snowfall (130 inches/3,300

mm on average) in addition to the usual 30 inches (760 mm) or

so of rain. For the past three winters I’ve been grazing my sheep

outside following a model introduced to me by Janet McNally of

Hinckley, Minnesota. I feed 4.5-foot (1.4-meter) round bales in the

pastures. These bales are placed in the various paddocks once the

grass has gone dormant in the fall. The ewes usually go into these

paddocks in mid-December. Ewe lambs go in a bit earlier.

The round bales provide shelter for the sheep during winter

storms. Any hay that is wasted composts and contributes organic

matter to the pastures. The "hay circles" also make wonderful

insulated lambing beds in the spring with the birth fluids, dung,

urine, and pawing all helping to expedite the composting process.

Typically, by the next fall, you can tell where the hay bales

were placed because the lushest grasses and legumes are

growing there.

Using Janet's model as a guideline, my sheep spend 364 days a

year on pasture. (They come in for one day in May to be shorn).

An added personal bonus is that winter chores are few and far

between and there is no barn and yard cleanup in spring. The first

winter I tried this idea we had 100 inches (2,540 mm) of snow in

24 hours and they had to call in the army. The sheep were fine!

—Doug Beggs, Meaford, Ontario, Canada

We used to cut over 1,200 acres (485 ha) of high elevation

(7,700 feet/2,340 meters) native hay meadows once and

then about half of that again a second time, while most

of our cowherd was summering on our National Forest grazing

lease in nearby mountains. Now we calve in June, keep all the

cows at home through the summer, and send the calves to the

mountain summer range as yearlings.

We graze through our hay meadows once during the growing

season, and again during the winter as standing dormant feed.

Because the grass has been grazed once, the standing dormant

feed is young and tender enough to be palatable, but mature

enough to have had sufficient leaf surface for photosynthesis

and root regeneration.

We still put up two to three hundred acres of hay (80-120 ha),

both baled (which we contract), and cut-and-piled. Cutting and

piling is a process where near-dormant grass is cut and windrowed,

then the rows are raked into piles and remain at that location.

Because the forage is not cut until it is nearly dormant, the

moisture percentage is very low, so it can be immediately raked

and piled. The protein content of the standing dormant grass is

6 . 5%, the cut and piled hay 7 . 5%, and the baled hay 8 .5%.

The cost of production for the standing dormant forage is

negligible. For the cut and piled hay it’s about $5/ton, and $30 per

ton for the baled hay. For the difference in price, the cut and piled

hay provides adequate protein for a cow that is not near calving

or newly lactating. Because we now calve in the late spring/early

summer, our cows have a low nutritional demand through the

winter, and calving coincides with the fresh new grass of spring.

We are often asked, “So what happens during a winter with a

five-foot snow?” Well, we use our loader-tractor to clear a snow-free

swath in the standing dormant grass for the cattle to graze. In

doing so, we’ve still only made one pass across the meadow

with a machine as opposed to several with standard haying and

feeding methods.

The piled hay is fairly easy for cattle to get to, even in deep

snow, especially with a large herd. In addition, snow melts quickly

around the piles, which generate quite a bit of heat and also

absorb sunlight. Most of the skeptics who worry about snow calve

in the middle of winter. We like to point out that it’s probably

much more difficult from a labor standpoint to calve in that much

snow than it is to feed standing dormant and piled hay. The

combination of these approaches to winter feeding and late

spring/early summer calving results in much lower expense and

far less labor investment.

—Mike and Cathy McNeil, Monte Vista, CO

IN PRACTICE • JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2002 LAND & LIVESTOCK 15

Questions & Answe r s

Q:

a :

QUESTIONS?If you’ve got questions, we’d like to help you find answers.

Send your questions to:

Jim Howell, 1661 Sonoma Court, Montrose, CO 81401

970/249-0353, email: howelljd@montrose.net;

or fax in care of the Savory Center: 505/843-7900.

a :

16 HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE #81

Regional Training

Program Coordinator

Mary Child is

working with

the Savory Center

as our Regional

Program

Development

Coordinator. This

work began with

the development

and coordination

of the 2001 Holistic

Management®

Certified Educator Training Program being held

in the Northeast region of the U.S. Mary is

working with individuals and organizations in

the Western, North Central, and Southeastern

U.S. and the State of Alaska because of interest

in Certified Educator Training Programs in

those regions. Mary is also the Program Mentor

for the Northeast Program, a participant in the

1999 Certified Educator Training Program, and

is developing a Savory Center research project

titled “Making the Transition to a Collaborative

Organization.”

Mary was raised on a farm in Southern

Delaware and subsequently lived and worked

in Philadelphia and later in the Potomac

Highlands of West Virginia. There, in 1985, she

cofounded the Lightstone Foundation, a 600-

acre land-based local nonprofit. She helped

develop the organization and design programs

on: (a) local food systems and farmer’s markets;

(b) organic farming; forest, streambank and

wetland restoration; (c) experiential education

curriculum and residential training for teachers,

professors, parents and students; and (d)

sustainable enterprise development. She holds

a Bachelors of Arts from the Institute for Social

Ecology in Plainfield, Vermont.

Mary lives in Moyers, West Virginia, enjoys

gardening and taking care of a small flock of

long-wooled sheep, several laying hens, a

border collie and assorted cats. If you have

suggestions or questions for Mary, please

contact her: maryc@holisticmanagement.org

or 304/249-5999.

Registered Trademark

For several years now, we have worked to

receive a trademark for Holistic

Management as it pertains to the Holistic

Management® model and all the various

under the Public Lands Partnership and the

Bureau of Land Management (BLM), U.S.

Forest Service (USFS), and Department of

Wildlife (DOW).

Initially, this alliance formed in response to

the Colorado Department of Wildlife’s concern

with the decline in mule deer population on

the plateau. In working together, the group

realized the need to take an ecosystem

approach, work beyond agency boundaries

and coordinate efforts to improve and sustain

the overall health of the natural resources of

the plateau. The heart of this effort is public

support and input.

To that end, Daniela will work toward

putting the necessary pieces together to gather

and disseminate relevant information, educate

interested and concerned individuals, and

gain public input and feedback. The Holistic

Management® decision-making framework is

one component of that education.

This project is funded by the agencies

involved and grants, including one from the

Ford Foundation.

Holistic Management in Australia

In Australia, the University of Sydney senate

has just voted to offer Holistic Management

as a core unit of study for a degree level course.

This change means that instead of being an

elective out on its own, which students have to

pay for additionally, Holistic Management is

now part of the core curriculum that is covered

by their yearly fees. The Holistic Management®

curriculum will also be offered through other

campuses of the University of Sydney.

planning processes that are a part of the model.

We recently received word that we have now

been registered both for Educational Services

and Business Management Services.

This registration means that we can

differentiate our product (the Holistic

Management® model) from other management

processes or educational services that have a

holistic approach but are not based on the

model. We hope this will help us maintain

the integrity of Holistic Management and the

services that we offer to others.

We ask all our members to remember that

if you are writing about Holistic Management

that you please capitalize it. You only use the ®

symbol when Holistic Management is followed

by a noun, like model or grazing planning (i.e.

Holistic Management® model). In doing so, you

help educate others that Holistic Management is

a specific process and you help the Savory

Center protect our products and services.

Uncompahgre Plateau Project

Holistic Management® Certified Educator

Daniela Howell has been contracted as

the Public Education coordinator for the

Uncompahgre Plateau Project (UPP) a large

ecosystem restoration project in Colorado

aimed at addressing important economic and

ecological issues and concerns. UPP is a

collective effort between private individuals, the

Delta, Montrose, Ouray and San Miguel county

governments, citizens from the area represented

S a vory Center Bulletin Board

Mary Child

Estate Gift

The Savory Center has recently been made the sole beneficiary

of the David B. West estate in Ozona, Texas.

David was a former Savory Center member who participated in

several Holistic Management courses taught by Center founder

Allan Savory in the mid to late 1980s, but had not been actively

involved with the Center since that time. David passed away at his

ranch in September at the age of 57.

The estate includes an 11,000-acre ranch near Ozona, personal

belongings and stocks and cash. This is the largest single gift the

Center has ever received, and we are overwhelmed by David’s

generosity. We know members of his family and community will

miss his presence.

David’s intent was that the ranch would be used as a Holistic Management training and

research site, and we intend to honor his wish.

It will be some time before the estate is fully administered and actually passes to the

Savory Center. We will keep you posted in IN PRACTICE and on the Savory Center’s

electronic conference as we receive more information.

David West

HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE • JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2002 17

Western U.S. Training

The Savory Center, working with Certified

Educator Don Nelson of Washington State

University, plans to hold a Western Region

Holistic Management® Certified Educator

(HMCE) Training Program and has applied to

the Western Region Sustainable Agriculture

Research and Education (SARE) Professional

Develop Program for funds to support

agricultural professionals in this training.

We are currently seeking qualified applicants

for this training program who may be eligible

for SARE funding or through other avenues.

f you know of anyone, please pass this

information along. We will find out the decision

to award SARE funds in May 2001.

Agencies and organizations supporting the

Ijust received the #79 issue of IN PRACTICE.

I would like to express my sincere thanks

for your work. Every issue contains a new

aspect of our life and work. I was very inspired

by the micro-credit activities. Suddenly it

dawned to me that I can do much more than

I actually do to include Holistic Management

in my work. Thanks again for being so

committed on keeping all of us in touch

with IN PRACTICE.

Dieter Albrecht

Berlin, Germany and Beijing, China

At Colorado’s celebration on Healthy Land,

Healthy People I realized how much I

appreciate Allan Savory for always bringing me

back to the fundamentals. I have a tendency

to get my head in the clouds, get a little cocky

and focus on big ideas while the fundamentals

are crumbling beneath my feet.

Allan’s comments throughout the

conference remind me how important it is to

plan grazing, not to become complacent about

partial rest, continue working on ways to

improve herd effect, and that mantra—replan .

Once again I was reminded that “it is simple,

but not easy” to manage holistically.

Another important fundamental is

vocabulary. Allan reminded me that “We think

in words.” It is important to plan grazing vs.

rotate . It is important to say that Holistic

Management is a process rather than a system.

If we are sloppy with the fundamentals,

decisions are sloppy. It’s all about making

decisions, and crisp fundamentals make crisp

the pie charts and noticed that the Center is

living in the red. I feel, as educators, our

relationship with the Center should be a two-

way street where the Center refers to us as

educators and we give back to support their

efforts to help others effectively manage our

precious resources whilst making better

decisions. In the meantime, the Center survives

mostly on donated funds. It can also close due

to lack of funds. Furthermore, by our gifts and

contributions, the Center has a better chance at

remaining viable. It just makes sense!

These contributions are tax deductible as

you know; so instead of income we get to have

a deduction on our taxes which results in lower

taxes ultimately paid out. Last winter, when I

finally got out of debt due to employment of

the ideas and concepts in Holistic Financial

Planning, I was also able to give a sizable

contribution to the Center. From a tax

standpoint, I needed that deduction since I no

longer have a property payment and interest

that is deductible. The way I see it is, I now get

to support a non-profit of my choice rather

than a financial institution.

I hope you will consider contributing back

to the Savory Center so we may all continue to

move forward with clarity, vision, and purpose!

As I look back on my life, thinking of

the greater whole and how I have benefited

as a result of being involved with Holistic

Management, I realize that I have been

especially blessed!

Kitty Boice

Sonoita, Arizona

decisions. Certified Educators and practitioners

can put a lot more backbone in our efforts by

remembering the fundamentals.

Thank you to the Colorado Branch for a

great time, new ideas, companionship, and most

importantly, remembered fundamentals.

Tony Malmberg

Lander, Wyoming

Last spring I received a call from the Savory

Center referring a consulting/training job to

me. I called the potential client, sent a letter of

what I would do, then arranged a time, place

and fees. Upon completion of the course, my

co-facilitator and I decided to donate 25 percent

of our fee back to the Savory Center.

Later, I called Kelly Pasztor, Director of

Educational Services, to see if the check had

arrived. I was surprised to discover such a

donation is not standard practice. My feeling is

that if a job comes to me by way of the Center,

I am indebted to them. I had assumed that

everyone saw the necessity and importance of

such contributions. What would we do if no

jobs came to us?

Last summer, I brought the idea up at the

Educators Alliance meeting at Chico Basin.

I felt that all of us would be honored to give

back and I worked at getting the idea to others.

There was some discussion, the information

made it to the minutes, but I do not recall a

decision being made. Since the summer

meeting I have heard no further discussion

about this issue.

In the last issue of IN PRACTICE, I looked at

Readers F o r u m

proposal submitted to SARE are: Cooperative

Extension from the Universities of Alaska,

Arizona, Montana State and Washington State;

the California Association of Resource

Conservation Districts; NRCS–California;

NRCS–Maui, Hawaii; Wyoming Resource

Conservation Districts; American Farmland

Trust, CO; and the California Agricultural

Leadership Program.

This first residency for this program is

scheduled to begin in November 2002.

Applications are available on-line at

www.holisticmanagement.org/wwo_certed.cfm.

If you have any suggestions, ideas or questions,

please contact Don Nelson at 509/335-2922 or

nelsond@wsu.edu; Kelly Pasztor at 505/842-5252

or kellyp@holisticmanagement.org; or

Mary Child at 304/249-5999 or

maryc@holisticmanagement.org.

New Branch Efforts

Agroup of Holistic Management® Certified

Educators in California met recently to

see what they could do to promote and

support Holistic Management in their state. If

you are interested in joining them and willing

to commit energy to furthering this purpose,

please email Christopher Peck at

Ctopher@Holistic-Solutions.net or 800/736-7892.

In Arizona, Kelly Mulville is also looking

to revitalize the Arizona Branch. If you are

interested in helping with that effort,

please contact him at: 520/558-2472

or kmulville@hotmail.com.