Acres USA - January 2002, Volume 32, No. 1
Written by Robert Gerard

Excerpt:
"The Quivira Coalition is a group of Southwestern ranchers, environmentalists, public land managers and members of the public at large who are interested in sustainable ranching and the environment. The Quivira Coalition was founded in 1997 on the belief that you can have wildlife, wildlands and livestock on the same parcel of land. All are compatible, and they can help each other. The mission of the coalition is 'to define the core issues of the grazing conflict and to articulate a new position based on common interests and common sense.' The resulting 'position' is called 'The New Ranch.'

"Courtney White, one of the founders of The Quivira Coalition, explains, 'Our aim is to build bridges between all reasonable people involved in the grazing debate. Cooperation, collaboration and new ideas hold the key to the future of ranching and rangelands in the Southwest. Ecological and economic health can exist simultaneously. It is not a theory---it already exists. It is simply a matter of spreading the news.'

"This news is being spread by The Quivira Coalition through its newsletter, workshops, outdoor classrooms, management, demonstration projects, videos, publications, site tours, community meetings and other educational forums. The Quivira Coalition is looking to end the ranching debate in which one group says that the range should be cleared of cattle to protect nature, while the other argues that their grazing creates no problem at all. In between these two extremes is the area that the coalition calls the 'radical center,' where the actual condition of the range becomes the focus. To make the radical center grow, White says, 'the coalition looks to invite reasonable people to listen to new ideas about ranching and ecology....'"

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