Of Land and Culture:
Environmental Justice and Public Lands Ranching in Northern New Mexico
by Ernest Atencio
A Report by The Quivira Coalition and the Northern New Mexico Group of the Sierra Club
Second Printing ~ December 2004
Excerpt from About this Report:
"This report is not intended as an apology or excuse for those who abuse public lands or pad their profit's at the public's expense. There is no arguing the fact that irresponsible livestock grazing can have a negative impact, especially in this arid region, on important ecological processes, on erosion, on natural vegetational succession, on watershed health and productivity. There is no arguing the fact that some ranchers have not demonstrated much success with sustainable management in the past. Serious problems exist and we have to deal with them. On the other hand, it's important to recognize the fact that ranchers clearly have a vested interest in conservation and sustainability, and many take their stewardship very seriously. There is strong and growing evidence that conscientious grazing practices and new approaches to holistic range managment, in the right places, at the right times, can be genuinely sustainable and even enhance natural habitat and biodiversity.
"But that is not the intent of this report. I will sidestep those issues, not because they are irrelevant or unimportant, but because they are already being very successfully addressed through several other avenues. The Conservation Fund's Valle Grande Grass Bank, a cooperative watershed restoration project on the Santa Barbara Allotment, innovative range management practices at Ghost Ranch, remarkably successful restoration at Sid Goodloe's Carrizo Valley Ranch, reviving herding on the Valle Vidal and elsewhere, the very fruitful collaborative efforts of The Quivira Coalition, are a few examples of progressive grazing and range management initiatives in this region that are making a difference.
"This report is specific to unique circumstances and history in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado, but the general information and arguments are just as relevant to any other context where traditional-use access to ancestral lands is at issue. In particular, the same tough questions certainly surface anywhere that Native Americans graze livestock on federal lands, or other areas of the Southwest where Hispano populations have similarly lost community lands. Ending or curtailing public lands grazing might in fact make good sense in some places where they system and the land are blatantly abused for private or corporated profiteering, but not in situations like that described in this report."
Contents:
by Ernest Atencio
A Report by The Quivira Coalition and the Northern New Mexico Group of the Sierra Club
Second Printing ~ December 2004
Excerpt from About this Report:
"This report is not intended as an apology or excuse for those who abuse public lands or pad their profit's at the public's expense. There is no arguing the fact that irresponsible livestock grazing can have a negative impact, especially in this arid region, on important ecological processes, on erosion, on natural vegetational succession, on watershed health and productivity. There is no arguing the fact that some ranchers have not demonstrated much success with sustainable management in the past. Serious problems exist and we have to deal with them. On the other hand, it's important to recognize the fact that ranchers clearly have a vested interest in conservation and sustainability, and many take their stewardship very seriously. There is strong and growing evidence that conscientious grazing practices and new approaches to holistic range managment, in the right places, at the right times, can be genuinely sustainable and even enhance natural habitat and biodiversity.
"But that is not the intent of this report. I will sidestep those issues, not because they are irrelevant or unimportant, but because they are already being very successfully addressed through several other avenues. The Conservation Fund's Valle Grande Grass Bank, a cooperative watershed restoration project on the Santa Barbara Allotment, innovative range management practices at Ghost Ranch, remarkably successful restoration at Sid Goodloe's Carrizo Valley Ranch, reviving herding on the Valle Vidal and elsewhere, the very fruitful collaborative efforts of The Quivira Coalition, are a few examples of progressive grazing and range management initiatives in this region that are making a difference.
"This report is specific to unique circumstances and history in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado, but the general information and arguments are just as relevant to any other context where traditional-use access to ancestral lands is at issue. In particular, the same tough questions certainly surface anywhere that Native Americans graze livestock on federal lands, or other areas of the Southwest where Hispano populations have similarly lost community lands. Ending or curtailing public lands grazing might in fact make good sense in some places where they system and the land are blatantly abused for private or corporated profiteering, but not in situations like that described in this report."
Contents:
- Maps and Tables
- Preface by Courtney White
- Environmental Justice in Northern New Mexico
- Toward a Broader Environmental Justice
- In Their Own Words
- About this Report
- Poverty and Subsistence Ranching
- Economic Struggles
- A Legacy of Injustice
- Small-Scale Ranching
- Consequences of Ending Public Lands Ranching
- Beyond the Bottom Line
- Ranching and Continuity
- Culture, Ecology, Belonging
- Querencia
- Homeland and Alienation
- Grazing Practice and Policy
- Local Knowledge
- Setting Things Right
- Toward a Sustainable Future
- Turning to the Past
- Collaborative Stewardship
- "It Gives Us Life"
- Footnotes
- Bibliography
Of Land and Culture pdf size: 9.78mb