Profiles written by Courtney White, originally published in Headwaters News.
Headwaters News Website

A California woman whose family was forced to quit ranching now uses conservation easements to help ranchers hold on to their way of life.

Excerpt:
"Nita Vail's story, like any good Western narrative, is part fairy tale, part tragedy, with a moral and a happy ending to boot.

"The fairy tale part of her story involved the joys and challenges of ranching on a large, scenic, family-owned island off the coast of southern California. The tale turns tragic, however, when this idyll came to an unexpected, and angry, end.

"Her tale is also emblematic of a larger story about the West. About what has not worked well in the past, and what is now beginning to, which is where the moral, and happy ending, come in...."