To encourage efforts to conserve working landscapes we present the experience of the California Rangeland Conservation Coalition in building common goals for natural resources through the collaboration of ranchers, scientists, agencies, and environmental consultancies. California is the 4th largest producer of cattle and calves, and the 2nd largest producer of sheep and lambs in the U.S. About half of the 100 ma state is private land, including some 35 ma of rangelands, mostly annual grasslands, shrublands, and woodlands rich in forage, biodiversity, watershed, carbon, and beauty. Land acquisition by public agencies and land trusts, expansion of development and irrigated agriculture, and the numerous species of special concern on ranch land means that many ranchers rely on range that is monitored, leased, in shared tenure with, or in other ways entangled with public range managers, consultants, NGOs, regulators, and/or researchers. Polarization and misunderstandings between the environmental community and the historic grazing industry threaten not only the well-being of ranching families, but the ecosystem services supported by them and their private ranch lands. How does the Coalition create understanding and build research and management partnerships that hold this valuable landscape together, despite the factors that threaten to tear it apart?
Results/Conclusions
In 2005, environmentalists, ranchers, resource professionals from public agencies, and researchers met on a Bay Area ranch to kick off the California Rangeland Conservation Coalition and The California Rangeland Resolution. More than 125 signatories to the Resolution, including agricultural organizations, academics, environmental groups, and state and federal agencies, have pledged to work together to preserve and enhance rangelands to sustain multiple resources while supporting the long-term viability of the ranching industry (http://www.carangeland.org/). The Coalition’s strategic plan lays the foundation for signatories to work together to acquire additional federal funding for conservation programs, coordinate permitting processes, garner support for cooperative conservation projects, fill research gaps, conduct outreach on the positive role of managed grazing and provide incentives for ecosystem services. At annual Summits, ranchers, scientists, and the other groups present. Scientists present on research showing how grazing and ranch practices can support conservation. Ranchers relate rangeland management and conservation experiences and share their knowledge. Key rancher concerns are the loss and fragmentation of forage and autonomy to continue their enterprises when decisions are made without respect for and understanding of ranching economics and systems. The environmental community can be skeptical of grazing benefits. Thus mutual learning is critical.