Ranchland Use in Transition

Our current research focuses on the effects of ownership change on actual land use. We have expanded our study region to include ranch landscapes in southeast Arizona and the northern Sierra Nevada, and we continue to assess patterns of change in the Rockies, especially the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. We recently completed a series of in-depth interviews (including a survey) with a representative sample of new and long-time ranch owners and their managers in southwest Montana and southeast Arizona. We are currently analyzing quantitative and qualitative results.

Click here to view a map of the Montana and southeast Arizona study areas.

Our first focus here is on water resources. Initial results suggest that amenity owners do, indeed, invest in conservation, and make changes in water use that meet their amenity goals as well as serve some ecological goals: Ranch Ownership Change and New Approaches to Water Resource Management in Southwestern Montana: Implications for Fisheries.

In the Sierra Nevada we interviewed recent ranch buyers about their backgrounds, perceptions of natural systems, goals for their ranch, and knowledge sources, as well as the changes in ranch management they have instituted. Here we also found a commitment to improving the land, associated with a strong commitment to continued cattle production. Selected results are discussed in Coming Into The Country: New Owners of Ranches in the Sierra Valley, California.

Our early work on new owner goals and actual land use changes suggests that new owners may or may not continue to stress cattle production, but that some do indeed seek additional goals, like fish, wildlife, and stream habitat. Some new owners also take on some of the long-term goals of traditional ranchers, often with renewed energy and resources, such as fighting invasive weeds, and improving irrigation efficiency. One clear problem arising from the ranchland ownership transition in the West is: Where will new owners get information to guide their land use decisions? Neighboring traditional ranchers, and outside technical experts, are the most common sources; some new owners also learn from journals, workshops, and books, and from ranch realtors, a few of whom specialize in conservation properties. Yet, no consistent, reliable outlet for management information exists for new owners, indicating a gap in our ability to encourage sound land use from a cohort than seems predisposed to invest in ecological goals.

 

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A Center of the American West project with funding from The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Yellowstone Heritage, and The Nature Conservancy