For the love of the land

The old and rounded mountains of northeastern Washington cradle tough little communities that sometimes seem to survive on willpower alone.  Making a living here has traditionally been inextricably tied to the land: loggers out in the fresh, thick forests, or miners deep underground.  Yet the most iconic symbol of the pioneering lifestyle is probably the rancher: a solitary fellow on horseback, moving a steady stream of cattle down out of the high country on a crisp autumn day.

As part of my work for our Columbia Highlands Initiative, I have been reaching out to the ranchers who graze on the Colville National Forest, hearing their concerns about how wilderness could affect grazing.  Aside from the practical issues of access and motorized use, I have so often heard a common thread that runs through each conversation: these men and women have a great deal of knowledge about the land they run their cows on, and they pride themselves on having earned a living off that land for generations.  In short, they really do love the land they use.  We may not agree on all the practices involved in public lands grazing, but sitting at a table together, a conservationist and a rancher can agree that we do not want the landscape to change as development creeps farther into the wilder places.

In an ongoing process, I explain there is a way this can work. There is a way to have wilderness and ranching coexist on this same, vast forest.  Conservation Northwest wants to keep working ranches part of this landscape, and ranchers want to keep the land protected “like it has always been” and to continue to earn a living from the land they love. After the initial reserve from both sides has given way to story-telling and discussion of trails and peaks, each meeting with ranchers reveals that we have common ground. I think they begin to see that, rather than an opponent, Conservation Northwest could in time become an ally, linked in our desire to keep people connected to the land.