The Quivira Coalition prophesies a new era of peace and prosperity on the West's rangelands, but is the group bold enough to make that vision real?

High Country News, September 5, 2005
Written by Tony Davis

Excerpt:
"On a winter's day in 2002, Courtney White stands before a gathering in a downtown Albuquerque meeting room. Two hundred people are packed in here for one reason: They want to save the West's battered livestock industry.

"The crowd is more than just a sea of cowboy hats; there are bare-headed scientists, moderate environmentalists, and professional land managers, too. And White doesn't look much like the savior of ranching; with his neatly groomed mustache and beard, the head of The Quivira Coalition could pass for a professor.

"Nonetheless, White's talk this frosty January morning rings out like a sermon, filled with stories of redemption. He describes a once-threadbare creek in southwestern New Mexico, where grass and trees have returned even as the cattle continue to graze. He talks about the 'Poop and Stomp' operation in northern New Mexico, where a contractor used cows to coax grass into growing on a bleak abandoned mine site. He tells the story of the western New Mexico rancher who allowed environmentalists to build structures, including baffles and rock dams, along a creek on his property, to help slow down the water so that more grass could flourish...."

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