Join us for an exclusive double feature film screening and panel discussion about rangeland restoration, collaboration and the need for more flexibility within federal lands grazing permits.

Public lands ranching gets a lot of stick for degrading landscapes in the West, but the experience of a growing number of ranchers is showing that the problem isn’t the cow, it’s the how.

In First Came Collaboration: Ranching for Riparia, we meet the owners of the Cottonwood and Boies ranches, outside of Elko, Nevada. Three decades ago, they came together to form the Shoesole Resource Management Group: a conservation collaboration involving federal, state, local, and private partners dedicated to holistic livestock grazing management. The results of their hard work are astounding, and show a pathway forward for our public lands that needs a brighter spotlight.  

In Against the Herd, we dive deeper into this story with the Cottonwood Ranch and uncover the major barrier to growing this model of management on public lands around the West: regulatory red tape and the threat of lawsuits from radical environmental organizations bent on removing all livestock from public land, no matter the cost.  

Following the films, stay with us to hear from the principals: Agee Smith of Cottonwood Ranch and Robin Boies of Boies Ranch, along with biologist Carol Evans. Ask your questions and join the conversation about grazing on public lands and what the future holds for these precious landscapes.