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

In remote Eagle Creek, Ariz., beleaguered ranchers soon realized they could join forces to care for the land or go under on their own.

Excerpt:
"It is a sign of the times that a recent meeting in a one-room schoolhouse in a remote valley in the Blue Mountains of eastern Arizona featured a PowerPoint presentation.

"Less emblematic, but more important, perhaps, was who did the presenting: members of the local grazing community. This fact didn't go unnoticed by the new forest supervisor of the Apache-Sitgreaves, who was visibly impressed not only by the presence of the technology in so remote a location, but also by the show itself.

"She wasn't the only one impressed that day. As the show unfolded, detailing the group's ambitious goals and plans, it became clear that the eight families of the 220,000-acre upper Eagle Creek watershed have embarked on an unusual strategy to maintain livestock production on public and private lands in the area...."