A View from 'Out of the Box'

Rangelands - December 2003
Written by Courtney White

Excerpt:
"Seven years ago, a rancher and two conservationists had what we thought was a good idea: create a place where ranchers, environmentalists, scientists, state and federal land managers could explore our common interests instead of argue our differences.

"It wasn't a terribly novel idea at the time. In pockets across the West groups of ranchers, federal managers and environmentalists, such as the 'Six-on-six' effort in Arizona, had been attempting to find common ground for a while. Nor was it a terribly radical idea. Collaboration and cooperation, afterall, were hallmarks of the Old West - much more so than the romanticized solitary desperado or high plains drifter.

"It was novel and radical enough, however, to kick us 'out of the box.' First off, there wasn't much talk going on between ranchers and environmentalists in New Mexico, a state known in recent years more for confrontation than collaboration. Second, what talk there was, wasn't producing much in the way of improvement on the ground ecologically or economically. And third, time seemed to be running backward on ranching, if not running out altogether...."

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