This website will be updated soon! We had a really good meeting on June 19. At the meeting, we heard about day herding techniques from Will Holder (he went to a workshop) and Kirt Espenson, and we also began forming an Eagle Creek watershed team. More to come....
| Holistic
Resource Management Vegetation Monitoring Bird Inventories Mexican Wolf Eagle Creek, Arizona Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests |
Index
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IntroductionUsing Holistic Resource Management and other principles, our
team manages a ranch in eastern Arizona for the land's maximum
benefit. We care about the vegetation and wildlife
found on the ranch, as well as about the livestock and our
rural lifestyle.
Ranchers and environmentalists working together? Yes.
The main problem with resource issues is that people on all sides
are primarily yelling at each other and no one is listening. All
this fighting is a big waste of energy, energy that could better
be spent protecting both our natural resources and our
western values.
Holistic Resource Management requires a three-part goal. The three parts are: Landscape, Production and Quality of Life. Our three-part goal will soon be included in this space.
Our Members link includes a list of
those members with email addresses. If you would like to
get ahold of any of us, this is the place to find us.
You cannot tell if you are succeeding or failing if you don't measure your success. We could ramble on and on for hours about what great land stewards we are, and our critics can bore us to death about how devastating cattle are to the land, but no one will know the truth if there is no data.
At this point, our team has been good at gathering data, but we haven't done much in the way of analysis. Richard Hufford is working at graphing the data in a way that we can interpret it.
These kinds of data currently exist:
Development of a bird inventory along Eagle Creek is currently
under way by Tom Stephens and Jennifer Zoerner.
[Meeting Notes for the 998 Spring Meeting were provided by the Holder family in May. Words enclosed in brackets were added by Richard Hufford.]
Thanks to everyone who attended. We had a larger-than-normal turnout with a wonderful cross-section of people, which made for a very interesting, enlightening and productive meeting. A special thanks to the new folks who came. We always appreciate new input. And thanks to Fred Sindel, our moderator.
Subject: New Dates
Action:
Subject: Long-Range Watershed Plan
Action:
Subject: Discovery Park
Action: Our nterest in helping with the ecological
habitat park at Discovery Park is being taken to their next board
meeting.
Subject: NEPA Document Approval
Action: Since the meeting, our NEPA was approved.
APPROVED!!!
Subject: Water Protection Fund Grant
Action: With NEPA approved, we can finally start putting
in the new system.
Subject: Ranch Diversificaton
Action:
Subject: Grants
Action: Clarice Holder is researching potential
grant opportunities and will report her findings in October.
Subject: Computer Monitoring Program and Web Site
Action: Due to time constraints, Richard Hufford
needs some more time to finalize monitoring data. He is
establishing a web site for the team and told me all about it,
but, to be honest, I don't have any idea what it means. We
will have him clarify things for us (or at least me) in October.
[This is the web site. I'll be working on the monitoring
data for the rest of my life - monitoring is never done and
computer programmers never finish a project.]
Subject: Wolf Kill
Action: Bobbie Holaday [of Preserve Arizona's Wolves] gave
us a report on the wolf kill [in which a Mexican Gray Wolf was
killed by a camper in April]. There were a lot of diverse
opinions about the subject and it says a lot for the group that
we could talk about it without strangling each other.
Subject: Ervin's Natural Beef
Action: Jan and Will Holder will continue their
efforts to get ENB into stores in Phoenix and Tucson.
Subject: Antelope Transplant
Action: Juan Romero of [Arizona] Game and Fish reported
the original antelope transplant had been nixed due to concerns
of the Apache tribes. However, they are looking at
relocating other antelope displaced by development near Prescott.
Subject: Ranch Economics
Action: Karen Riggs gave a great talk on the
economics she learned at a Stan Parson class. It was agreed
that we would try to get Stan to teach a special course here in
Arizona about applied economics.
Subject: Internship Program
Acton: Todd Homan gave a report of his experience as an
intern at Anchor Ranch [the ranch managed by our team]. Good
things: time well spent, learned a lot, wants to
return, worked hard but had a good time, would like to see the
program continue. Bad things: would like to
see more time spent explaining things, more structured study and
not trial by fire.
Subject: Bird Survey
Action: Tom and Jennifer put together a wonderful
notebook specifically for our team. It contains everythng
we need to start our bird surveys. And just for good
measure they talked us through it. Due to our inexperience,
we will treat this year (for statistical purposes) as a practice
year. But if you're a birder, start marking off time for
next year from May-July to participate. Fantastic job!
The next meeting is scheduled for October 3, 1998. Anyone is welcome to attend. We are not a confrontational bunch, and if you'd like to join us, you are welcome. The meeting usually occurs on a Saturday, and most people who attend camp on Friday or Saturday night.
Generally, the Holder family provides food on the day of the meeting, so if you choose to show up, please contact the Holders through email (see Members) or by calling 520-428-0033. Please bring your own food and supplies if you plan to be around on the days before and after the meeting.
By the way, don't hurry coming up to a meeting. The roads to the ranch are narrow and winding and much more enjoyable if you relax and take in the experience. See Where's the Ranch, below, for more on how to get here.
Note: The meetings don't always follow the agenda's schedule, but the topics should give you a pretty good idea of what we will be doing. The meeting begins at 9:00 a.m.
| 9:00 | Introductions and volunteer dates. Muffins, fruit, coffee and juice will be served. |
| 9:30 | Break for vegetation monitoring. |
| 10:00 | Vegetation monitoring: BL-2, on first mesa east of house. |
| 11:45 | Lunch (provided) |
| Noon | Jan Holder: Update on Ervin's Natural Beef |
| 12:15 | Forest Service: Update on various lawsuits and any happy things |
| 12:30 | Jim Holder: Update on monitoring data for this year |
| 12:45 | Jim Holder: Update on Water Protection Fund |
| 1:00 | Break for next monitoring plot |
| 1:30 | Vegetation monitoring: BL-4, north of Bear Canyon |
| 3:30 | Load up to drive back to headquarters |
| 4:00 | Break. Drinks and appetizers will be served |
| 4:15 | Updates and reports 1. Game and Fish report 2. Richard Hufford - report on monitoring sheets and web page 3. Misc. updates and reports |
| 5:00 | Dinner (provided) |
Seems like a lot has happened since the last newsletter. Ervin’s Natural Beef is getting a lot of unsolicited press: We have been in the Arizona Republic, the Tucson Citizen, NPR Marketplace, the LA Times, and also a TBS special by the World Wildlife Federation which will air December 23. (Darrel Hannah was supposed to host the TBS deal but cancelled because of a movie -- can you imagine Darrel Hannah at Eagle Creek? “Hi Darrel, want to come see my dung beetles?”) The Sonoran Institute is also using our operation as a model they will include in a book they publish about sustainable agriculture alternatives. There has also been a lot of great things happening around the state. The Diablo Trust is doing some incredible things -- one of which is that they are in a dialog with the indians. We will one day be in this same spot with the Apaches, so if you can please try to attend some of their meetings and learn from their experience. The Orme Ranch is also doing some amazing work -- again, try to attend a meeting or two and bring what you’ve learned to our group.
Richard Hufford is pretty much done with the web pages. He has done a great job. Thanks Richard. Obviously, we paid for the Ervin’s Natural Beef page, but are still looking for funding sources for our Horsesprings Management Team page. Any ideas? Visit our web pages: Horsesprings Management Team -- www.geocities.com/rainforest/canopy/3389 Ervin’s Natural Beef -- www.ervins.com
QUALITY OF LIFE • Jim and Clarice’s house is still doing well. We hope to have it dryed in and stuccoed in the next two months. Keven Winkle is doing most of the work. And he does great work. He and his brother, Twig, (yes, that’s his real name) fled the city this last spring to join their parents south of us at the old Tule ranch.(now known as Winkle’s Famous Apple ranch). They are a great addition to the watershed and we really enjoy them as neighbors. • As we expected, Ervin’s Natural Beef is taking an extraordinary amount of time. We’ve had to put the ranch on autopilot because Jan and I are in town about three days a week right now. Fortunately, we worked out a vegetables-for-meat arrangement with the Winkles, while our garden lies fallow from neglect. But we’re about over the initial hump and hope things will be getting better around October.
LANDSCAPE • The NEPA document is finished. That felt so good to say that I’ll say it again -- The NEPA document is finished! • With NEPA done we have started work on the Water Protection Fund grant. Jim Holder will update us at the October meeting. • My work on the board of the Nature Conservancy started out as simple curiosity -- what are they about? are they sincere? what’s their agenda? But after two years with them, I have learned a great deal, and not what I thought I’d learn. They are about saving habitat, they are sincere, and their agenda truly is: what can we do that will be best for the land. Not to say they are perfect. They’ve made some mistakes and are learning -- and willing to learn. More importantly, what I’ve learned is that Arizona land is being developed at an alarming rate. As rich and as powerful as the Nature Conservancy is, they still cannot buy or secure land faster than it’s being developed. Every meeting I go to, there are two or three ranches in peril of being sold for development. To bring my point closer to home, the reason the Game and Fish is transplanting antelope to Eagle Creek is that their habitat near Prescott just got sold out to a housing developer. Once again we find that our “watershed” is a little bigger than we thought. I’m not sure what we can do, perhaps a brain-storming session at our next meeting will point us toward a tangible direction.
• I’m not sure how closely you’ve been following the wolf reintroduction, but it’s going fairly well I guess. I think only 6 of the original 11 are still alive (but that seems pretty good, given they were from Ted Turner’s place. I’ll bet if you released 11 people into the wild from Ted’s there’d be quite a bit fewer than 6 still making a go of it.) On the positive side, the Game & Fish and Fish & Wildlife have been very free and open with information and advice. Basically, we are all learning as we go. And they have been very understanding of our concerns and have given folks every opportunity to learn and apply their knowlege to their particular circumstances. • Sorry I haven’t sent out the new monitoring schedule yet. It’s fairly substantial (like we needed more work). The good news is, it is done, but I still need to meet with Nancy Walls to figure out what plots have and haven’t been done. • We are also ready to gear up for our Coordinated Watershed Management Plan. We have been talking about this for years, and think it is time we started working towards our vision. It is a horrendously large and complicated task -- my best guess is 10 years to completion. But a few things are starting to fall into place and we feel now is the time to start. More at our meeting in Oct. Bring your ideas!
PRODUCTION • Ervin’s Natural Beef is going great guns. People are paying a premium for healthy, sustainably raised beef. This is especially timely given some drought problems in Texas and the Plains have driven cattle low -- Ervin’s pays its ranchers more Currently, ENB can be found in the New Life Health Centers in Tucson, Green Vally Health Foods in Green Valley, and Nature’s Health Shop in Chandler. We also expect to start up with The Phoenix Zoo and Tucson Cooperative Warehouse at the end of September, and the Biosphere this fall. It has been a long road, but when you read a quote by the Tucson Cooperative Warehouse in the Tucson Citizen saying, “Ervin’s Natural Beef is the only beef product we would ever consider” it makes it seem all worthwile -- and customers who call you up to see how sales are going! Do you think customers want Microsoft products so bad they call Bill Gates and are concerned about how sales are going so they will be able to continue? It’s a nice feeling to do something right. • As I mentioned earlier, drought in parts of the US and Mexico have caused cattle prices to fall dramatically. Which offers folks in the stocker business (read Anchor Ranch) an excellent opportunity in the next 8 months. We plan to take full advange of this opportunity if we have the forage and water to do so. Jim and Clarice Holder will be helping us day-move the cattle and experimenting with electric fencing on the open range. By the way, there is an great article in the August issue of Stockman Grass Farmer by Steve Cote out of Idaho about teaching cattle to stay in a herd and doing away with fencing. If you spend as much time as I do repairing fence, it doesn’t take much to see the value in this -- not to mention the asthetics. • We haven’t added sheep to our operation yet, but are getting closer. Research still continues on what is the route to go. Details in Oct. • Todd Homan, our appentice, has been doing a wonderful job in our absence. He has also gotten an unexpected learning opportunity with Keven Winkle building Jim and Clarice’s house. Currently, he is thinking of attending grad school in architecture.
Maps will be put here eventually. The Anchor Ranch is located in the Clifton Ranger District of Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests on the Baseline and Horse Springs grazing allotments.
The Holders' ranch house is located by the Eagle Creek school, about 50 miles North of Clifton, Arizona. Don't let the maps fool you - This is a two-hour drive.
Highway 191, the Coronado Trail, was built in the 1930s and has no guard rails. You can drive as fast as you can and have a miserable time, or you can relax and appreciate the scenery - it's up to you.
From Clifton, head north for about 40 miles. Turn left at the Upper Eagle Creek turnoff, which is a few miles past a Highway Department maintenance station. If you reach the turnoff to Juan Miller campground, you have gone too far.
Once you've turned onto the Upper Eagle Creek turnoff,
continue along the gravel road for about 10 miles. Turn
left at the Eagle Creek school turnoff, ford Eagle Creek (which
may be dry), climb the hill going to the school and continue
south once you've passed the school. As long as you don't
go back down the hill, you'll arrive at the ranch house.
Richard Hufford maintains this website from richardhufford@geocities.com . Other members can be emailed from the Members section.
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