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It’s no surprise that without careful management, cattle can wreak havoc on landscapes, grazing the land literally to death. What might surprise you is that many cattle ranchers are reversing this trend, turning their ranches into working landscapes where cattle, people and nature benefit.
A working landscape allows the bulls and the bears to get along—it’s a happy coexistence of agriculture and nature, of cattle ranches and wildlife. Private landowners, who are increasingly viewed as the key to protecting open lands and wildlife corridors, can create a working landscape through a conservation easement, a voluntary, legally binding agreement. Conservation easements limit certain types of uses and can prevent development from taking place on a piece of property now and in the future, while protecting the property’s ecological and open-space values.
Working landscapes prove that with careful planning and ongoing management everyone can be good stewards of the land.
What is The Nature Conservancy doing?
The Nature Conservancy is working with ranchers and farmers all over the world to help preserve lands without compromising their livelihoods.
In Brazil, for example, The Nature Conservancy has been working to ensure the integrity of the Pantanal region, the largest freshwater wetland in the world. The Pantanal, the floodplain of the Upper Paraguay River, is nearly 10 times the size of the Florida Everglades. Some of the biggest threats to the Pantanal include unsustainable ranching and agricultural practice in the nearby Cerrado uplands, an area that has been largely converted to ranching and large-scale agriculture based on unsustainable practices. This leads to problems like nutrients and sediment overloading rivers that feed into the Pantanal.
Since 2005, The Nature Conservancy has worked with the Brazilian government to enforce laws that require farmers to set aside between 20 and 35 percent of their lands. Using global positioning devices, the Conservancy is able to determine whether enough land is being preserved, and if not, help farmers increase protection without incurring government fines.
In Illinois, the Mackinaw River demonstration farm stands as another example of a working landscape. The Nature Conservancy signed a 10-year cooperative agreement with the Franklin family, the farm’s owners, to test conservation methods that will benefit both the farm and nature.
Action starts when people talk.
As cattle ranchers work to be better stewards of the earth, so can you. First, start a conversation about the issue with friends, family and colleagues. Take a look at our Conversation Starters related to habitat preservation for relevant and compelling facts.
