Case Study: Flying Diamond Ranch

By guest contributor Kevin Alexander Watt, TomKat Ranch.

This year, TomKat Ranch began a project to gather and share the stories of ranchers around the country seeing economic benefits from regenerative practices. As part of this work, I visited Flying Diamond Ranch in Kit Carson, Colorado for a stewardship tour hosted by the Western Landowners Alliance. The event brought together a diverse group of landowners, conservationists and technical advisors to tour the ranch and discuss challenges and opportunities ranchers face.

Flying Diamond Ranch, owned and operated by the Johnson Family since 1907, proved to be a powerful example of how working lands can provide both economic opportunities to families that steward their lands and ecological benefits to the plant and animal communities that rely on them. The Johnsons have a clearly articulated holistic goal that includes growing their business to provide opportunities for their children and ensuring that both the land and animals get healthier each year. With those goals in mind, they maintain an open-mind and willingness to test, try and keep the best ideas they come across, whatever the source. As a result, Flying Diamond Ranch showcases an effective blend of ideas, new and old, from across the conservation and production realms, which support the Johnsons’ business, family and land.

Read the Flying Diamond Ranch case study here.

This is the first in a series of articles highlighting case studies showing the benefits of regenerative practices on working lands by guest contributor Kevin Watt.  Kevin served as the TomKat Ranch Land & Livestock Manager until 2017 and now works on research, outreach and special projects for the ranch.

*The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s). Publishing this content does not constitute an endorsement by the Western Landowners Alliance or any employee thereof either of the specific content itself or of other opinions or affiliations that the author(s) may have.*