Many excellent comments made by Dr. Sayer and Dr. Huntsing on how roles of graizng and ranching have change over the deacades, especially in relation to conservaiton, climate, and wildfire.

Farmer and rancher mental health has been in the news the past few years, with farmer suicide rates alarmingly high. Farmers and ranchers are often seen as the embodiment of the American ideal -- the rugged individualist who is self-sufficient, doesn't need help, lives on the land, doesn't have problems . . . but the stresses of modern farming, especially financial stresses, leave many feeling hopeless and helpless. Don McMoran and Kristen Hinton-Vanvalkenburg discuss programs to help farmers and their families deal productively with the stressors and with mental health challenges unique to farming. 

There are several signs or symptoms to look for when stress has begun to take an effect on you or someone you know. If you see something, say something!
Thoughts of hurting oneself
Care of Livestock Declines
Increase in Agriculture-Related Accidents
Appearance of Farmstead Declines
Children Show Signs of Stress
Lack of energy/motivation to do usual tasks
Loss of interest in favorite activities
Alcohol and/or substance abuse/addiction
Withdrawal from others
Relational tension

RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE 
WSU Extension Suicide Prevention. https://extension.wsu.edu/skagit/suicide-prevention/. WSU and the Agricultural Suicide Prevention Program is not a crisis center. IF YOU ARE IN NEED OF IMMEDIATE ASSISTANCE, reach out to the National Suicide Prevention line, 1(800) 273-TALK (8255).

Western Regional Agricultural Stress Assistance Center. https://farmstress.us/

National AgrAbility Project. http://www.agrability.org/

Hanna Ranch, the movie: https://www.amdoc.org/watch/hanna-ranch/
and here: https://www.amazon.com/Hanna-Ranch-Mitch-Dickman/dp/B00KIGQLEK

TRANSCRIPT: https://bit.ly/3qTwZ9x

AoR 59: Don McMoran and Kristen Vanvalkenburg, Total Farmer Health

Americans often refer to electric fence as "New Zealand" fence, and many other grazing innovations seem to have origins in this relative small island in the southern hemisphere. Thomas Maxwell, a pasture scholar from Lincoln University in NZ, provides an overview of the history of indigenous land use, European settlement, and domesticated grazing animal use in New Zealand.

RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
Recent article "Functional diversity vs monotony: The effect of a multi-forage diet as opposed to a single forage diet on animal intake, performance, welfare, and urinary nitrogen excretion". https://academic.oup.com/jas/advance-article/doi/10.1093/jas/skab058/6148868

TRANSCRIPT: https://bit.ly/30ZzjkM

AoR 58: Thomas Maxwell, New Zealand Grazing Geography in Brief

Climate influences vegetation, and a variable climate challenges land management. Cliff Mass, University of Washington atmospheric scientist, discusses climate drivers in the Pacific Northwest, how topography affects weather, whether 2020 wildfires can be attributed to global warming, and state-of-the-science approaches to modeling future climate. This tight episode finishes with Dr. Mass's recent analysis of climate out to 2050.

RESOURCES MENTIONED 
Cliff Mass's popular blog is at cliffmass.blogspot.com.
And his book "The Weather of the Pacific Northwest" is available at https://www.amazon.com/Weather-Pacific-Northwest-Cliff-Mass/dp/0295988479.

TRANSCRIPT
The full transcript of this episode is available at: https://bit.ly/35ezhII

AoR 50: Cliff Mass, 2050 Climate in the Northwest

To fertilize or not to fertilize? That is NOT the question. Nitrogen is a driver of plant growth but its complex relationship with soil carbon and soil microorganisms makes fertilizing rangelands a complicated subject. Simple solutions often miss the mark, and adding nitrogen to natural plant communities as opposed to agricultural monocultures is usually not a good way to boost forage production. Tip and Matt Germino probe the depths of this fertile question.

RESOURCES MENTIONED ON THE SHOW
Nutrient Network (NUTNET) -- https://nutnet.org/home 

The textbook Matt referred to is "Exotic Brome-Grasses in Arid and Semiarid Ecosystems of the Western US: Causes, Consequences, and Management Implications (Springer Series on Environmental Management)". Some chapters are available for download without a fee at https://greatbasinfirescience.org/research-publications/exotic-brome-grasses-arid-semiarid-ecosystems-western-us-available-chapters-causes-consequences-management-implications/. See Chapter 3 for impacts of exotic invaders on range ecosystems.

Hard copies are available for purchase here https://www.springer.com/us/book/9783319249285 or here https://www.amazon.com/Exotic-Brome-Grasses-Semiarid-Ecosystems-Western/dp/3319249282.

TRANSCRIPT: https://bit.ly/2Kkn1yC

AoR 51: Matt Germino, Nitrogen and Carbon Cycling on Rangelands

The relationship between grazing and fire is complex. And the national conversation about using livestock grazing as a control measure is sometimes controversial. Wildfire in general is a difficult topic because of the higher fire potential of many altered plant communities, the recognition that periodic fire is probably necessary in fire-adapted plant communities, and the economic consequences of catastrophic wildfire in suppression costs and direct property damage. Using fire to fight fire and to create fire-resistant or fire-resilient plant communities, is important because it reduces the likelihood of megafires. But grazing is a more controllable tool than even prescribed fire but accomplishes different results than fire. And it's much cheaper than chemical or mechanical treatments on acreage of any size. Join Tip's conversation with  Devii Rao (Univ. of California Davis Extension Livestock and Natural Resources Advisor), Felix Ratcliff (LD Ford Consultants in Rangeland Conservation Science), and Sheila Barry (UC-Davis Extension Advisor) about recent fire and grazing research and the idea of maximum residual dry matter as a management tool.

RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
Blog article on results of grazing and fire research. https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=43618 
For more information, contact Devii Rao, http://cemonterey.ucanr.edu/about/contact/?facultyid=28070. 

TRANSCRIPT: https://bit.ly/3fpCGrW

AoR 52: Fire Risk Reduction Through Grazing -- UC-Davis Research Roundtable

Decisions about how and whether to suppress fire on semi-arid rangelands are full of "if, then" statements. Altered plant communities, the absence of historic fire regimes, costs of restoration, and risks of human property or life are just the beginning of considerations necessary for sound wildfire management. Tip and Matt Germino discuss the big picture of how to think about fire on rangelands and fill in a few of the questions that are always answered with "It depends . . . " 

For more on wildland fire management, listen to episodes 34, 39, 44, 52.
For more on invasive grass management, listen to episodes 5, 11, 31, 24, 52.

TRANSCRIPT: https://bit.ly/2LJZeZr

AoR 53: Matt Germino, Rangeland Fire Ecological Risks & Benefits

Some people are called to work at the intersection of theory and practice and to challenge unchallenged ideas about what we do and why we do what we do. Clay Conry is one of those people. His Working Cows podcast is occupying a niche in livestock agriculture. As both a practicing rancher and a thinker, Clay is influencing sustainable agriculture for the good, for healthy land and animals as well as human flourishing. Join Clay and Tip for a discussion about what Clay has learned through three years of recording a weekly podcast on cows. 

Subscribe today to the Working Cows podcast. Go to https://workingcows.net/podcasts/ and click on your favorite podcasting app. 

TRANSCRIPT:  https://bit.ly/2M74aYT

AoR 55: Clay Conry, Regenerative Agriculture and the Working Cows podcast

The Society for Range Management's annual meeting will be held virtually Feb 15-18, and the keynote speakers for the plenary sessions will address three 'wicked problems' in range. Drs. Lynn Huntsinger and Nathan Sayre, who are moderating two of the plenary sessions, discuss the outline of these wicked problems to introduce the important subject matter for this year's conference. 

SHOW NOTES
Register for the conference at http://annualmeeting2021.rangelands.org/. 
Establish a membership for reduced registration at https://rangelands.org/. 

TRANSCRIPT: https://bit.ly/2Y0Mcd5

AoR 54: Conservation Ranching, Wildland Fire, & Climate Change--The Wicked Problem SRM Plenaries

Maurice and Beth are a father-daughter team who raise and sell farm-finished beef in Eastern Washington and are perhaps the first two-generation pair trained in holistic management. They have experienced the highs and lows of making a family ranch run well: for people, for land, for animals, for consumers. They reflect in this interview on decades of practice and adaptive learning and offer entrepreneurial lessons for others interested in doing direct meat sales and identifying other profit centers connected to a truly sustainable ranching operation.
Beth operates a Cowgirl Camp (http://pnchm.org/educational-opportunities/new-cowgirl-camp/) for women in ranching, and the ranch website offers a good example for others working to promote their meat sales: https://www.lazyrbeef.com/. 

WEBSITES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
https://www.lazyrbeef.com/
http://pnchm.org/educational-opportunities/new-cowgirl-camp/
https://csanr.wsu.edu/case-studies/

TRANSCRIPT: https://bit.ly/2OTpYbI

AoR 56: Beth & Maurice Robinette, Practicing and Promoting Holistic Management

Americans are vaguely aware of pastoralism as a term connoting a lifestyle that revolves around animal raising, but most of us don't have much more understanding than a loose attempt at a definition. Fiona Flintan has spent much of her career with the International Livestock Research Institute working with pastoralist cultures in Africa, helping secure rights to land and address conflicts, and communicating this way of life to the outside world. Listen in on her conversation with Tip about livestock as a way of life rather than a means of obtaining money, about unique features of pastoralist peoples, of the nature of conflicts over abundance rather than shortage.

RESOURCES MENTIONED:
https://www.ilri.org/
Guidelines for participatory rangeland management: https://www.ilri.org/publications/mapping-guidelines-participatory-rangeland-management-pastoral-and-agro-pastoral-0

TRANSCRIPT: https://bit.ly/37BWYvB

AoR 57: Fiona Flintan, Pastoralism and People of African Rangelands

The Art of Range is a podcast about rangelands for people who manage rangelands.  Our goal is education and conservation through conversation.  Find us online at www.artofrange.com.

AoR 54: Conservation Ranching, Wildland Fire, & Climate Change--The Wicked Problem SRM Plenaries

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