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Quivira Conference 2017

 

Ranching and Farming at the Radical Center

It’s all about soil, water, and neighbors

NOVEMBER 15 – 17, 2017

ALBUQUERQUE, NM

SurveySlideshow

Ranching and Farming at the Radical Center

November 15 – 17, 2017

The annual Quivira Conference is internationally renowned for bringing together leaders, innovators, and stewards of the land for three days of provocative plenary presentations, roundtable discussions, and networking with diverse attendees from across the southwest, the country, and globe. The conference creates a unique environment where ideas are sown, exchanged, and grown. Quivira’s outstanding speakers and attendees contribute expertise in ranching, farming, conservation, community, and all things soil, which is the key to it all. Every attendee brings something unique to the table, and each departs with inspiration, new connections, broader perspectives, and the tools necessary to effect change.

Quivira celebrates 20 years in 2017!

 

In two decades of collaboration, we have grown a web of knowledge and a network of human relationships focused on soil, water, and neighbors. Our original tagline—working to achieve harmony between humans and nature—has changed and our methods have evolved, but the essence of our work has not. We continue to cultivate innovation, education, collaboration, and hope as the nexus from which soil is restored and relationships are grown. This year our gathering will take a particularly people-oriented approach, bringing the community together in conversations about how to focus on what really matters… ranching and farming at the Radical Center.

Working in the Radical Center allows us to concentrate on land health and community building. It blocks noise and distraction and keeps us focused on action in the places where we make the biggest difference. In the past two decades, we’ve developed a deeper understanding of ecosystem complexity and a growing toolkit for healing land, restoring watersheds, and strengthening community. The 2017 Quivira Conference will focus on how to foster the human relationships that allow us get this work done.

Together at this year’s conference we’ll explore the myriad work and social relationships that make for healthy people and a resilient planet, with particular attention to the role that ranchers and farmers play in cultivating them. From watershed restoration and rangeland monitoring that bring ranchers and conservationists together—to growing crops that encourage balance between bacteria and fungus for carbon sequestration—to matching aspiring and retiring ranchers working together on meaningful land succession—Quivira’s success and the ability for lasting and meaningful impact is rooted in a deep commitment to relationship building.

 

We invite you to join us.

About this year’s conference

Connect

Hear from experts. Make lasting connections. Take home new skills and ideas. Begin partnerships for change. For 15 years, the Quivira Conference has been a hub for individuals and groups coming together around the concepts of fostering ecological, economic, and social health through education, innovation, collaboration, and progressive public and private land stewardship.

Come together

The Quivira Conference is renowned for bringing together a broad community as diverse as the lands they manage. Our attendees come from across the southwest, the country, and the globe and bring their expertise as farmers and ranchers, scientists, government agencies, conservationists and innovators in managing healthy land. Whether you are a young farmer preparing to dig your hands into the soil for the first time or a professional interested in new ideas and opportunities for collaboration, our conference has something for you.

Participate

Sponsorship is the fundamental soil that allows us to make the Quivira Conference happen each year. We offer attractive benefits for sponsors at a variety of levels. Please click here to view the benefits available to sponsors. If you have any questions, contact Nick Mendoza at nick@quiviracoalition.org.

Stay

The conference will be held at the Embassy Suites by Hilton Albuquerque Hotel & Spa, an all-suites hotel. It is centrally located in downtown Albuquerque, three miles from Albuquerque International Airport. Free parking, complimentary indoor pool, fitness & business centers, and free made-to-order breakfast are available to guests. Book at a special Quivira Conference rate of $129/night. Rooms are limited and conference block rates close October 16th.

Attend

You can find a breakdown of pricing for the conference, special events, dinners, and workshops on our Conference Registration page.
Special rates are available for Early Bird registrants, Quivira Members, and Young Farmers/Ranchers and Students attending their first Quivira Conference. Additionally, some scholarships are available. Interested in sponsoring scholarships? Please click here.

Partner

Sponsorship is the fundamental soil that allows us to make the Quivira Conference happen each year. We offer attractive benefits for sponsors at a variety of levels. Please click here to view the sponsorship levels. For more information, contact Arielle Quintana at arielle@quiviracoalition.org.

CONFERENCE ATTENDEES

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Community

Water

Animal

Plant

Seed

Soil

Partners

Media Partners

SPEAKERS

Allen Williams

Principal, Soil Health Consultants, LLC

Dr. Ann Adams

Executive Director, Holistic Management International

Larry Littlebird

Pueblo Elder & Founding Director, Hamaatsa

Wendell Gilgert

Director, Rangeland Watershed Initiative

[et_pb_popup_builder popup_source=”content_editor” trigger_condition=”button” trigger_button_text=”View Profile” trigger_button_align=”center” trigger_button_text_colour=”#65942f” modal_style=”1″ admin_label=”Allen Williams BUTTON” module_class=”speakerbox group1″ _builder_version=”3.0.84″ text_text_color=”#1c1c1c” text_font_size=”15px” trigger_text_font=”|on|||” trigger_text_text_color=”#ffffff” trigger_text_font_size=”15px” background_color_gradient_direction=”1px”]Allen Williams is a 6th generation family farmer and founding partner of Grass Fed Insights, LLC, and a partner in Joyce Farms, Inc. He consults with farmers and ranchers in North and South America on operations ranging from a few acres to over 1 million acres. He pioneered many of the early adaptive grazing protocols and forage finishing techniques and has spent the last 15 years refining those.

Allen is a “recovering academic,” having authored more than 400 scientific and popular press articles, and is an invited speaker at national and international conferences. His major areas of research and business focus include soil health, cover crop/livestock integration, adaptive forage & grazing management, high attribute pasture-based meat production, and alternative marketing systems.

Plenary Talk Topic: Restore Soil Health & Ecosystem Health Through Adaptive Grazing

Everything we do in agriculture results in either negative or positive compounding effects on the soil, plants, animals, and us. The question is not whether this is the case, but whether we are going to respond with appropriate management practices. Adaptive grazing can produce significant positive compounding effects that can alter soil health parameters, plant species complexity & diversity, insect and pollinator species, birds & wildlife, livestock performance & health, and eventually human health & vitality. Even weather patterns are impacted by our agricultural practices. With adaptive management practices, we can have a positive influence on local and regional weather impacts, producer greater drought resilience, and reduce flooding potential. Beyond these compounding benefits, the practitioner will also realize improvement in net profits per acre, reduced reliance on external inputs, and better quality of life

Roundtable Discussion Topic: Adaptive Grazing: Practical Steps and Problem Solving

Picking up on the three principles of adaptive grazing presented in his plenary talk, Allen Williams will lead a discussion focused on strategies that producers and interested parties can use to practically implement these on their land. Everyone faces unique challenges in their particular contexts. This is an opportunity to discuss adaptive management practices and how they can produce a positive influence on your local and regional weather, greater drought resilience, and reduce flooding potential, while improving net profits per acre and quality of life.

 

Joyce Farms
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[et_pb_popup_builder popup_source=”content_editor” trigger_condition=”button” trigger_button_text=”View Profile” trigger_button_align=”center” trigger_button_text_colour=”#65942f” modal_style=”1″ admin_label=”Dr. Ann Adams BUTTON” module_class=”group1″ _builder_version=”3.0.79″ text_text_color=”#1c1c1c” text_font_size=”15px” trigger_text_font=”|on|||” trigger_text_text_color=”#ffffff” trigger_text_font_size=”15px” background_color_gradient_direction=”1px”]Ann has worked in the nonprofit world for almost 20 years, creating and directing national programs, collaborating with over 100 non-profit and government entities to create positive impact among producers and land stewards. Ann has been a Holistic Management Certified Educator since 1998 and has practiced and taught Holistic Management® in multiple capacities for 20 years. She has written countless articles, helped develop agriculture-based software for financial and grazing planning and written a training handbook, At Home with Holistic Management: Creating a Life of Meaning. Ann raises goats and chickens on a homestead in the Manzano Mountains southeast of Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Roundtable Topic: Holistic Management for the Radical Center

What are the human, financial, and natural resource issues you face? What tools and techniques have you found to be helpful in addressing these issues? Holistic Management is a systems approach for effective adaptive management of all resources. Using a value-based decision-making process you can create common ground even in high conflict situations and determine appropriate action plans for key stakeholders. This roundtable will include Holistic Management practitioners and educators sharing the results they have seen using this process. Come share your challenges and successes to deepen our learning of effective tools for the radical center.

Holistic Management International
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[et_pb_popup_builder popup_source=”content_editor” trigger_condition=”button” trigger_button_text=”View Profile” trigger_button_align=”center” trigger_button_text_colour=”#65942f” modal_style=”1″ admin_label=”Larry Littlebird BUTTON” module_class=”speakerbox” _builder_version=”3.0.79″ text_text_color=”#1c1c1c” text_font_size=”15px” trigger_text_font=”|on|||” trigger_text_text_color=”#ffffff” trigger_text_font_size=”15px” background_color_gradient_direction=”1px”]Larry Littlebird (Laguna/ Santo Domingo Pueblo) is the Founding Director of Hamaatsa where he celebrates an indigenous holistic way of life. A master storyteller, Native filmmaker/artist and author of Hunting Sacred, Everything Listens, Larry shares spiritual roots of sustainability and ways of blessing for inspiring transformative leadership and social action. His signature experiential land based programs have had a profound impact on people’s lives, globally, nationally and locally. Learning to Listen© is a provocative spoken word experience that Larry presents as a keynote speaker and custom tailors for group retreats, conferences and story camps. His legacy continues on the lands of Hamaatsa, an indigenous continuum – story gathering place and sustainable living farm he co-founded with his wife Deborah, where he celebrates an indigenous holistic way of life.

Plenary Talk Topic: Bringing Back the Sacred in the Way We Eat, Grow and Share Our Food

Through regenerative farming practices, permaculture and indigenous land wisdom, we are committed to growing and eating healthy food, and sharing knowledge, seeds and building relationships within our local communities.

HAMAATSA
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[et_pb_popup_builder popup_source=”content_editor” trigger_condition=”button” trigger_button_text=”View Profile” trigger_button_align=”center” trigger_button_text_colour=”#65942f” modal_style=”1″ admin_label=”Wendell Gilgert BUTTON” module_class=”speakerbox group1″ _builder_version=”3.0.79″ text_text_color=”#1c1c1c” text_font_size=”15px” trigger_text_font=”|on|||” trigger_text_text_color=”#ffffff” trigger_text_font_size=”15px” background_color_gradient_direction=”1px”]Wendell was born and raised in Northern California on a fourth generation family farm in San Joaquin County. He worked as a Soil Conservationist, District Conservationist, and Area Conservationist in Northwestern Nevada and Northern California. He served as Wildlife Biologist for the Wildlife Habitat Management Institute at Colorado State University. For the final six years of his NRCS career he served as the West Region Wildlife Biologist for the National Technical Support Center in Portland.

In June 2011, he retired from NRCS and transitioned to work with the Point Blue Conservation Science to direct their Rangeland Watershed Initiative which is an effort to place, train, and manage partner biologists to help plan, implement and monitor USDA Farm Bill Programs on private land.

Plenary Talk/Roundtable Topic: Point Blue’s Rangeland Watershed Initiative-ReWatering California One Ranch at a Time

Point Blue Conservation Science is collaborating with the USDA-NRCS, cooperating ranchers, RCD’s and conservation partners to improve rangelands in California. Point Blue Partner Biologists are teaming up with NRCS Field Conservationists and RCD’s to working closely with ranchers, land trusts, and some public lands to plan, and apply prescribed rangeland grazing and management practices. With support from NRCS and Farm Bill programs, cooperating ranchers are utilizing technical assistance to increase soil water retention in foothill watersheds, increase livestock forage, improve water supply reliability both on-site and downstream, enhance ranching productivity, expand riparian corridors and wetland habitat for migratory birds and enhance upland wildlife habitats.
Our companion effort, the Rangeland Monitoring Network (RMN) measures soil carbon, vegetative trends, and wildlife habitat benefits of prescriptive grazing and associated grazing practices.

Point Blue Conservation Science
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Michael Phillips

Orchardist, Herbalist & Author, Heartsong Farm Healing Herbs

Laura Paine

Program Director, Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship

Calla Rose Ostrander

Independent Communications & Climate Policy Consultant

 

Harrison Topp

Membership Director, Rocky Mountain Farmers Union & Manager, Topp Fruits

[et_pb_popup_builder popup_source=”content_editor” trigger_condition=”button” trigger_button_text=”View Profile” trigger_button_align=”center” trigger_button_text_colour=”#65942f” modal_style=”1″ admin_label=”Michael Phillips BUTTON” module_class=”speakerbox” _builder_version=”3.0.79″ text_text_color=”#1c1c1c” text_font_size=”15px” trigger_text_font=”|on|||” trigger_text_text_color=”#ffffff” trigger_text_font_size=”15px” background_color_gradient_direction=”1px”]Michael Phillips is renowned for helping people grow healthy fruit using herbal protocols. The “community orchard movement” that he helped found at www.GrowOrganicApples.com provides a full immersion into the holistic approach to orcharding. His Lost Nation Orchard is part of a medicinal herb farm in northern New Hampshire. He is the author of, The Apple Grower, and The Holistic Orchard, which recently received Garden Book of the Year honors from the American Horticultural Society. His work has been compared with Sir Albert Howard and J.I. Rodale’s classic books on organic gardening. Michael’s latest, Mycorrhizal Planet: How Fungi and Plants Work Together to Create Dynamic Soils, will rock you!

Plenary Talk Topic: Soil Redemption Song

This lively exploration of soil biology and healthy plant metabolism will rouse every gardener, farmer, rancher, and fruit grower to think deeper. How mycorrhizal fungi enhance plant health is absolutely stunning. Nutrients are delivered by means of “fungus-root” synergy. A boost to green immune function helps keep disease at bay. Expansive fungal networks bring resiliency to ecosystems. Soil aggregate formation addresses carbon flow. Yet for the longest time, we have ignored basic soil biology and instead disturbed ecosystems at our own peril. Time to change all that, and fast!

Roundtable Discussion Topic: Mycorrhizal Stewardship

How do we as growers best carry fungal futures forward? Which scenarios call for mycorrhizal inoculum? And which are good to go? What does “southwest fungal diversity” look like? How do mycorrhizae correlate with good grazing practice? How can we as growers do even better as regards the Nondisturbance Principle? Time to delve into fungal consciousness as a primary driver of sustainable land stewardship.

www.HerbsAndApples.com
www.GrowOrganicApples.com
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[et_pb_popup_builder popup_source=”content_editor” trigger_condition=”button” trigger_button_text=”View Profile” trigger_button_align=”center” trigger_button_text_colour=”#65942f” modal_style=”1″ admin_label=”Laura Paine BUTTON” _builder_version=”3.0.79″ text_text_color=”#1c1c1c” text_font_size=”15px” trigger_text_font=”|on|||” trigger_text_text_color=”#ffffff” trigger_text_font_size=”15px” background_color_gradient_direction=”1px”]Laura Paine is Program Director for Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship, a national two-year formal Apprenticeship registered with the federal Department of Labor. A Holistic Management Certified Educator, she has been involved in managed grazing and beginning farmer education in a variety of roles for more than 25 years. She conducted on-farm research on managed grazing at the University of Wisconsin College of Agriculture and served seven years as an Extension Agriculture Agent. From 2006 to 2014, she served as Grazing & Organic Agriculture Specialist for the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, conducting research and education for farmers on producing and marketing organic and grass-fed products. Laura and her husband raise and market grass-fed beef on their farm near Columbus, Wisconsin.

Plenary Talk Topic: Training the Next Generation of Land Stewards

For centuries, apprenticeship has been the means of passing on the skills of many trades, from engravers and silversmiths in the middle ages to electricians and carpenters today. Using work-based learning alongside experienced artisans is a means of ensuring that the basic skills needed for a functional society are maintained across generations. Why not in agriculture? There is no societal function more basic than producing the food that sustains us and stewarding the natural resources on which we depend. This session will focus on how we can create a tradition and culture around passing on the best practices of our craft to future generations, as well as why it is critical that we do.

Roundtable Topic: Building a culture of mentorship in Agriculture

Join current and prospective ranching and farming mentors for a discussion of agricultural apprenticeship. What are the keys to a successful mentoring relationship? What common challenges do producers face in training the next generation? This session will cover the nuts and bolts, from hiring to setting expectations, giving feedback to structuring productive learning. Moderated by Laura Paine with Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship, and Monica Pless with Quivira’s New Agrarian Program, the roundtable will encourage sharing lessons, concerns, and successes in passing on the skills, goal setting, and holistic mindset needed for aspiring agrarians to manage operations and steward land.

Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship
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[et_pb_popup_builder popup_source=”content_editor” trigger_condition=”button” trigger_button_text=”View Profile” trigger_button_align=”center” trigger_button_text_colour=”#65942f” modal_style=”1″ admin_label=”Calla Rose BUTTON” module_class=”speakerbox” _builder_version=”3.0.79″ text_text_color=”#1c1c1c” text_font_size=”15px” trigger_text_font=”|on|||” trigger_text_text_color=”#ffffff” trigger_text_font_size=”15px” background_color_gradient_direction=”1px”]Calla Rose Ostrander is a climate change innovations advisor to individuals and organizations dedicated to stabilizing Earth’s climate. From 2008-2016 she was the climate change projects manager for the City and County of San Francisco, where she created and managed the city’s internal agency sustainability reporting and local offset program, and led community-wide climate planning under mayors Gavin Newsome and Edwin Lee. Calla Rose grew up in Colorado and before moving to California in 2008 was a communications fellow at Rocky Mountain Institute and co-authored the City of Aspen’s first climate action and adaptation plans. She studied ecological economics with David Batker of Earth Economics and holds a degree in International Political Economy from the University of Puget Sound.

Panel Topic: Carbon Farming, A Replicable Model from California

This panel led by Calla Rose will present an overview of carbon farming in California, including updates on the state’s Healthy Soils Initiative, building out the supply of compost for ranchers and farmers, and collaborative regional development to support carbon farming in southern California.
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[et_pb_popup_builder popup_source=”content_editor” trigger_condition=”button” trigger_button_text=”View Profile” trigger_button_align=”center” trigger_button_text_colour=”#65942f” modal_style=”1″ admin_label=”Harrison Topp BUTTON” _builder_version=”3.0.83″ text_text_color=”#1c1c1c” text_font_size=”15px” trigger_text_font=”|on|||” trigger_text_text_color=”#ffffff” trigger_text_font_size=”15px” background_color_gradient_direction=”1px”]Personal Bio:

Harrison Topp is the Membership Director for the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union and the manager of Topp Fruits in Paonia, CO. He works with a diverse spectrum of farmers and ranchers in Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico, to build community driven chapters and organize around local, state, and federal issues that impact agriculture. Topp is passionate about two things – soil and helping develop grassroots leaders. He is a first generation farmer, who began farming after college on a sugar farm in North Carolina and is now developing a commercial orchard business in his home state of Colorado. Topp graduated from New York University in 2009 with a double major in Film and Television Production and Anthropology.

Plenary Talk Topic: The Radical Re-centering of a Wiseacre Young Farmer

To understand the radical center, it helps to respect farmers from all the far-flung sides of the agricultural system. Even better, one can strive to be a better farmer in adopting qualities and lessons from all those unlikely mentors. This plenary session will explore the training and experiences of a young peach farmer and community organizer, whose livelihood depends on expanding his network’s boundaries. In the field, in his community, and industry, he’s confronted the multitude of linkages that keep our food system aloft. Like many farmers and organizers before him, his story explores the intersectional forces that shape the radical center and our role in the future of agriculture.

Rocky Mountain Farmers Union

Facebook: Rockymountainfarmersunion

Twitter: @harrisontopp, @rmfunion

IG: harrisontopp
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Michelle Otero

Writer, Community-based Artist, and Coach

Monica Pless

New Agrarian Program, The Quivira Coalition 

Cathryn Wild

Founder and Executive Director, Seventh Generation Institute

 

Katherine Yuhas

Albuquerque Water Resources Division Manager, Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority

[et_pb_popup_builder popup_source=”content_editor” trigger_condition=”button” trigger_button_text=”View Profile” trigger_button_align=”center” trigger_button_text_colour=”#65942f” modal_style=”1″ admin_label=”Michelle Otero BUTTON” module_class=”speakerbox” _builder_version=”3.0.86″ text_text_color=”#1c1c1c” text_font_size=”15px” trigger_text_font=”|on|||” trigger_text_text_color=”#ffffff” trigger_text_font_size=”15px” background_color_gradient_direction=”1px”]Michelle Otero is a writer, community-based artist, and coach, who utilizes creative expression and storytelling as the basis for organizational development and positive social change. Her process of engaging individuals and communities through the expression of shared story has found a wide range of applications, from helping environmental organizations understand the priorities of traditional land-based communities to helping people heal from trauma.

She is the author of Malinche’s Daughter, an essay collection based on her work with women survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault in Oaxaca, Mexico as a Fulbright Fellow. She lives in Albuquerque where she works with fellow artists and local farmers to implement the Community Table project, which combines art, local agriculture, and economic development as a platform for neighborhood revitalization. Michelle holds a B.A. in History from Harvard University and an MFA in Creative Writing from Vermont College.

Michelle will be delivering the Final Conference Plenary on Friday, November 17th, A Stand of Aspens: Reflections on Standing Together.

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[et_pb_popup_builder popup_source=”content_editor” trigger_condition=”button” trigger_button_text=”View Profile” trigger_button_align=”center” trigger_button_text_colour=”#65942f” modal_style=”1″ admin_label=”Monica Pless BUTTON” _builder_version=”3.0.79″ text_text_color=”#1c1c1c” text_font_size=”15px” trigger_text_font=”|on|||” trigger_text_text_color=”#ffffff” trigger_text_font_size=”15px” background_color_gradient_direction=”1px”]Monica Pless leads Quivira’s New Agrarian Program. She has worked on farms since 2004, and apprenticed on a CSA in rural Massachusetts, raising produce, tree fruit, beef, pork, and eggs. Since then, she has worked on dairies, orchards, produce operations, and for the last three years managed the farm at EarthDance Organic Farm School near St. Louis, Missouri. There she taught apprentices about vegetable CSA production, pastured poultry, keyline swales, pawpaws and persimmons, installing greenhouses and buildings, and cover cropping. She brings a background in ecology, youth development in with her experience as both an apprentice and mentor to her work at Quivira coordinating apprenticeships for the New Agrarian Program.

Roundtable Topic: Building a culture of mentorship in Agriculture

Join current and prospective ranching and farming mentors for a discussion of agricultural apprenticeship. What are the keys to a successful mentoring relationship? What common challenges do producers face in training the next generation? This session will cover the nuts and bolts, from hiring to setting expectations, giving feedback to structuring productive learning. Moderated by Laura Paine with Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship, and Monica Pless with Quivira’s New Agrarian Program, the roundtable will encourage sharing lessons, concerns, and successes in passing on the skills, goal setting, and holistic mindset needed for aspiring agrarians to manage operations and steward land.

Laura Paine and Monica Pless will lead a roundtable focused on agrarian programs across the country, including the key ingredients for successful mentorship

Keynote: Film Discussion
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[et_pb_popup_builder popup_source=”content_editor” trigger_condition=”button” trigger_button_text=”View Profile” trigger_button_align=”center” trigger_button_text_colour=”#65942f” modal_style=”1″ admin_label=”Cathryn Wild BUTTON” module_class=”speakerbox” _builder_version=”3.0.83″ text_text_color=”#1c1c1c” text_font_size=”15px” trigger_text_font=”|on|||” trigger_text_text_color=”#ffffff” trigger_text_font_size=”15px” background_color_gradient_direction=”1px”]Cathryn Wild founded Seventh Generation Institute in 2007 based on an approach of “New School” conservation. She leads Seventh Generation Institute as both a board member and as Executive Director.

Cathryn holds an M.S. in environmental management, with emphasis in conservation biology, from the University of California at Santa Barbara and a B.S. in Agricultural Education in addition to teaching credentials in Life Science and Vocational Agriculture from the University of California at Davis. She expanded those early skills and knowledge through the “School of Life” working on projects from marine protected area management to ecotourism planning, endangered species conservation, stream restoration, and climate change adaptation. Locations included Honduras, Colombia, St. Kitts and Nevis, Bonaire and the western US. In addition to her work with the Institute, Cathryn is a member of the IUCN Commission on Ecosystem Management and contributes to their work. “Everything I’ve learned in life is wrapped up in the Institute’s new school approach to conservation,” she says.

Cathryn will facilitate the screening of her film, Rethinking Beaver: Old Nuisance or New Partner, and will moderate the panel discussion following the film.

Seventh Generation Institute

Seventh Generation Institute is not interested in the “old school environmentalism” characterized by litigation, arguing, and fighting. Where are the results after so many years? The Institute’s approach to achieving our mission is based in three concepts: entrepreneurial-applied science, collaboration and impact. This is what we mean by “new school conservation.” Throw in a dash of common sense, and you have fresh ideas and strategies for conservation.  As we work throughout the West and beyond, we are finding common ground with people everywhere.

www.seventh-generation.org

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[et_pb_popup_builder popup_source=”content_editor” trigger_condition=”button” trigger_button_text=”View Profile” trigger_button_align=”center” trigger_button_text_colour=”#65942f” modal_style=”1″ admin_label=”Katherine Yuhas BUTTON” module_class=”speakerbox” _builder_version=”3.0.79″ text_text_color=”#1c1c1c” text_font_size=”15px” trigger_text_font=”|on|||” trigger_text_text_color=”#ffffff” trigger_text_font_size=”15px” background_color_gradient_direction=”1″]Katherine is the Water Resources Division Manager at the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority in charge of aquifer storage and recovery, reuse and recycling, resiliency planning, water conservation, source water protection and environmental restoration. Prior to managing the Water Resources Division she served as the Authority’s Water Conservation Officer from 2002 -2016. During that time water usage was reduced from 205 gallons per person per day to 127 gallons per person per day. Prior to joining the Water Authority she worked as the Santa Fe County Hydrologist and at the New Mexico Environment Department in ground water protection and remediation.

Panel Topic: The Groundbreaking Rio Grande Water Fund

This panel of experts will discuss the Rio Grande Water Fund, an innovative project created to invest in the long term restoration of Northern New Mexico’s forested lands and watersheds, with the goal of creating sustainable funding for the work needed to protect clean water for local communities and larger cities downstream. The Rio Grande Water Fund will generate sustainable funding for a 20-year program of large-scale forest and watershed restoration treatments targeting 600,000 acres north of Albuquerque—including thinning overgrown forests, restoring streams and rehabilitating areas that flood after wildfires.

Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority
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Sandra Postel

Director, Global Water Policy Project

 

Russell Chamberlin

Co-Manager, Ted Chamberlin Ranch

Mike Callicrate

Farmer-rancher, Entrepreneur, Family Farm Advocate

Dr. Keri Brandt

Professor of Sociology & Gender Studies, Fort Lewis College

[et_pb_popup_builder popup_source=”content_editor” trigger_condition=”button” trigger_button_text=”View Profile” trigger_button_align=”center” trigger_button_text_colour=”#65942f” modal_style=”1″ admin_label=”Sandra Postel BUTTON” module_class=”speakerbox” _builder_version=”3.0.86″ text_text_color=”#1c1c1c” text_font_size=”15px” trigger_text_font=”|on|||” trigger_text_text_color=”#ffffff” trigger_text_font_size=”15px” background_color_gradient_direction=”1px”]Sandra Postel directs the Global Water Policy Project, and lectures, writes and consults on global water issues. In 2009, she was appointed Freshwater Fellow of the National Geographic Society, where she spearheaded the creation of Change the Course, a freshwater initiative that has restored billions of gallons of water to depleted rivers and wetlands in North America. Sandra has authored several acclaimed books, including the award-winning Last Oasis, which was the basis for a PBS documentary. The recipient of several honorary degrees, Sandra works to bridge science, policy, and practice to promote innovative ways of securing water to meet both human and ecosystem needs. Her latest book, released last month, is Replenish: The Virtuous Cycle of Water and Prosperity.

Global Water Policy Project 

Panel Topic: The Groundbreaking Rio Grande Water Fund

Sandra will moderate a panel of experts in discussing the Rio Grande Water Fund, an innovative project created to invest in the long term restoration of Northern New Mexico’s forested lands and watersheds, with the goal of creating sustainable funding for the work needed to protect clean water for local communities and larger cities downstream. The Rio Grande Water Fund will generate sustainable funding for a 20-year program of large-scale forest and watershed restoration treatments targeting 600,000 acres north of Albuquerque—including thinning overgrown forests, restoring streams and rehabilitating areas that flood after wildfires.
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[et_pb_popup_builder popup_source=”content_editor” trigger_condition=”button” trigger_button_text=”View Profile” trigger_button_align=”center” trigger_button_text_colour=”#65942f” modal_style=”1″ admin_label=”Russell Chamberlin BUTTON” _builder_version=”3.0.79″ text_text_color=”#1c1c1c” text_font_size=”15px” trigger_text_font=”|on|||” trigger_text_text_color=”#ffffff” trigger_text_font_size=”15px” background_color_gradient_direction=”1px”]Russell Chamberlin is a third generation California cattle rancher from the Santa Ynez Valley committed to improving range land through sequestering carbon and improving the soil water holding capacity with planned grazing and applying compost. His family’s ranch has a Carbon Farm Plan and is working with many agencies including the CRCD, NRCD, CEC, SB Foundation and CCI. Russell has dedicated the last 7 years to Holistic Ranch Management continually working to improve the sustainability of our environment.

Panel Topic: Carbon Farming, A Replicable Model from California

Russell will be a member of the California Carbon Project panel. The panel will present an overview of carbon farming in California, including updates on the state’s Healthy Soils Initiative, building out the supply of compost for ranchers and farmers, and collaborative regional development to support carbon farming in California.
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[et_pb_popup_builder popup_source=”content_editor” trigger_condition=”button” trigger_button_text=”View Profile” trigger_button_align=”center” trigger_button_text_colour=”#65942f” modal_style=”1″ admin_label=”Dr. Keri Brandt BUTTON” module_class=”speakerbox group1″ _builder_version=”3.0.79″ text_text_color=”#1c1c1c” text_font_size=”15px” trigger_text_font=”|on|||” trigger_text_text_color=”#ffffff” trigger_text_font_size=”15px” background_color_gradient_direction=”1px”]Keri Brandt, PhD is a Professor of Sociology and Gender Studies at Fort Lewis College. Her research is primarily in the field of Human Animal Studies where she is endlessly fascinated with how humans and animals craft shared worlds together. She lives on the Off Family Ranch in the San Luis Valley with her husband David, a 4th generation cattle rancher, and their son Ryder.

Plenary Talk/Roundtable Topic: Zombie Agriculture and the Denial of Death

Industrial agriculture has resulted in dead soils and animals living in torturous conditions. We call this process “zombie agriculture” in reference to constant supply of synthetic inputs required to reanimate the dead. This process hurts farmers and ranchers relationships with their land and animals and allows consumers to eat without having to confront death. The imperative is to engage in eating and producing food as a sacred activity and being in relationship with all living beings. It is also about understanding that part of the human legacy is to be aware of the complexity of eating and its sacred relationship to death. This, we hold, brings us back to the radical center.

Off Family Ranch

Fort Lewis College
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Lesli Allison

Executive Director, Western Landowners Alliance

Lance Bernal

Wildlife Biologist, Vermejo Park Ranch

Laura McCarthy

Associate State Director, The Nature Conservancy

Rick Danvir

Western Landowners Alliance

 

[et_pb_popup_builder popup_source=”content_editor” trigger_condition=”button” trigger_button_text=”View Profile” trigger_button_align=”center” trigger_button_text_colour=”#65942f” modal_style=”1″ admin_label=”Lesli Allison BUTTON” module_class=”speakerbox” _builder_version=”3.0.84″ text_text_color=”#1c1c1c” text_font_size=”15px” trigger_text_font=”|on|||” trigger_text_text_color=”#ffffff” trigger_text_font_size=”15px” background_color_gradient_direction=”1px”]Lesli Allison is a founding member and executive director of the Western Landowners Alliance. She was also a founding member of the Chama Peak Land Alliance. Prior to her work with these organizations, Lesli managed a large ranch the southern San Juan Mountains of Colorado. During her 16-year tenure, Lesli implemented award-winning programs in restoration forestry, prescribed fire, grazing, stream restoration, hunting and wildlife management, and scientific research and monitoring. Throughout her career, Lesli has worked extensively with private landowners and multiple stakeholders to advance conservation, sustain working lands and support rural communities. Lesli holds a B.A. from Columbia University and an M.A. from St. John’s College, Santa Fe.

Roundtable Topic: Leading from the Land: Finding Common Ground in Public Policy

Increasingly few policy makers today have experience in land and natural resource management. As a result, public policies impacting western lands and agriculture are often driven by competing special interest groups, DC-based think tanks and political rhetoric. If we want public policies that make sense on the ground, unite rather than divide, and provide for future generations, it’s time to exert unified leadership from the land. The place-based collaborative movement that has emerged in the West over the past two decades has the potential to better inform public policy and help bring a perilously divided nation back onto common ground. This roundtable will consider current efforts and opportunities to bring this movement to scale.

Western Landowners Alliance

Facebook: Westernlandownersalliance

Linked In

@VoiceofWLA
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[et_pb_popup_builder popup_source=”content_editor” trigger_condition=”button” trigger_button_text=”View Profile” trigger_button_align=”center” trigger_button_text_colour=”#65942f” modal_style=”1″ admin_label=”Lance Bernal BUTTON” _builder_version=”3.0.79″ text_text_color=”#1c1c1c” text_font_size=”15px” trigger_text_font=”|on|||” trigger_text_text_color=”#ffffff” trigger_text_font_size=”15px” background_color_gradient_direction=”1px”]Lance Bernal is from Sandia Pueblo, New Mexico. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Wildlife Biology from Colorado State University in 2007 before returning to New Mexico to work as a biological science technician at the Valles Caldera National Preserve. Lance then attended Texas Tech University, receiving a Master’s degree in Wildlife Science. After several years working for a Native American owned environmental consulting company in Albuquerque, NM, Lance took the position of Wildlife Biologist at Vermejo Park Ranch in 2015. His professional interests are big game management, predator/prey dynamics and habitat management.

Plenary Talk Topic: Big Game Management and Predator/Prey Dynamics on
Working Landscapes
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[et_pb_popup_builder popup_source=”content_editor” trigger_condition=”button” trigger_button_text=”View Profile” trigger_button_align=”center” trigger_button_text_colour=”#65942f” modal_style=”1″ admin_label=”Laura McCarthy BUTTON” _builder_version=”3.0.79″ text_text_color=”#1c1c1c” text_font_size=”15px” trigger_text_font=”|on|||” trigger_text_text_color=”#ffffff” trigger_text_font_size=”15px” background_color_gradient_direction=”1px”]Laura McCarthy is Associate State Director for the Nature Conservancy in New Mexico. She manages the Conservancy’s programs in the Rio Grande, Gila and San Juan basins, and leads the Rio Grande Water Fund. She has been with the Conservancy since 2005, including seven years as the Conservancy’s National Policy Advisor for fire management and forest restoration.

Laura’s prior work includes more than a decade with the USDA Forest Service as a firefighter and planner. She has also worked for a State Forester and the Santa Fe-based Forest Guild.

Laura’s professional life was significantly altered by the Cerro Grande Fire in 2000, which she watched from across the valley and that fostered her interest in better policy and management of forested watersheds. Las Conchas Fire in 2011, with its massive post-fire debris flows, deepened her concerns and sharpened the point on water source protection.

Laura is enjoying her role building bridges that connect people to nature, including land and water managers, and urban and rural communities. She has earned several awards for her work, most recently, Governor Martinez’s Environmental Leader in 2015 and the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2017.

Panel Topic: The Groundbreaking Rio Grande Water Fund

This panel of experts will discuss the Rio Grande Water Fund, an innovative project created to invest in the long term restoration of Northern New Mexico’s forested lands and watersheds, with the goal of creating sustainable funding for the work needed to protect clean water for local communities and larger cities downstream. The Rio Grande Water Fund will generate sustainable funding for a 20-year program of large-scale forest and watershed restoration treatments targeting 600,000 acres north of Albuquerque—including thinning overgrown forests, restoring streams and rehabilitating areas that flood after wildfires.
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For over thirty years Rick has managed wildlife and land with Deseret Ranches and as a private consultant throughout the Intermountain West, the Great Plains, and other random locales. A member of the Wildlife Society and Society for Range Management, Rick has served on many local, state and federal boards and committees. He focuses on collaborative and holistic resource management solutions. He is the Wildlife and Range Advisor to Western Landowners Alliance and as the owner of Basin Wildlife Consulting, LLC.

Plenary Topic: TBA

Using Earth Sense technology, we compared percent upland bare ground and riparian vegetation between lands managed using time-controlled grazing principles and more traditional grazing practices. intensively managed ranches significantly less bare ground and more riparian vegetation.

Western Landowners Alliance
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Kevin Watt

Policy & Strategy Manager, TomKat Ranch

Kevin Muno

Co-Founder, Ecology Artisans

Janine Fitzgerald

Professor of Sociology & Environmental Studies, Fort Lewis College

Jan-Willem Jansens

Landscape Planner, Ecotone Landscape Planning

[et_pb_popup_builder popup_source=”content_editor” trigger_condition=”button” trigger_button_text=”View Profile” trigger_button_align=”center” trigger_button_text_colour=”#65942f” modal_style=”1″ admin_label=”Kevin Watt BUTTON” module_class=”speakerbox” _builder_version=”3.0.79″ text_text_color=”#1c1c1c” text_font_size=”15px” trigger_text_font=”|on|||” trigger_text_text_color=”#ffffff” trigger_text_font_size=”15px” background_color_gradient_direction=”1px”]Kevin Watt serves as the Policy and Strategy Manager at TomKat Ranch in Pescadero, California and as a board member for the California Association of Resource Conservation Districts. His work focuses on discovering and sharing the demonstrable benefits of regenerative rangeland management and the creation of tools and technologies that empower land stewards to efficiently and effectively work with complex natural systems.

Panel Topic: Carbon Farming, A Replicable Model from California

Kevin will be a member of the California Carbon Project panel. The panel will present an overview of carbon farming in California, including updates on the state’s Healthy Soils Initiative, building out the supply of compost for ranchers and farmers, and collaborative regional development to support carbon farming in California.

www.tomkatranch.org
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[et_pb_popup_builder popup_source=”content_editor” trigger_condition=”button” trigger_button_text=”View Profile” trigger_button_align=”center” trigger_button_text_colour=”#65942f” modal_style=”1″ admin_label=”Kevin Muno BUTTON” _builder_version=”3.0.79″ text_text_color=”#1c1c1c” text_font_size=”15px” trigger_text_font=”|on|||” trigger_text_text_color=”#ffffff” trigger_text_font_size=”15px” background_color_gradient_direction=”1px”]Roundtable Topic: Carbon Farming, A Replicable Model from California

Kevin Muno will be a member of the California Carbon Project Panel. The panel will present an overview of carbon farming in California, including updates on the state’s Healthy Soils Initiative, building out the supply of compost for ranchers and farmers, and collaborative regional development to support carbon farming in California.
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[et_pb_popup_builder popup_source=”content_editor” trigger_condition=”button” trigger_button_text=”View Profile” trigger_button_align=”center” trigger_button_text_colour=”#65942f” modal_style=”1″ admin_label=”Janine Fitzgerald BUTTON” module_class=”speakerbox” _builder_versi