| When Todd Graham
took over as manager of the Sun Ranch he didn't realize
that camping with cattle was part of the job description.
But that's exactly where Graham found
himself less than a month after starting work –
sleeping in a tent in a pasture amidst a herd of yearling
cattle. And he was there for a good reason.
He had a den of gray wolves as neighbors.
He decided to place himself between the
den and the cattle. If the wolves came for the livestock,
they would encounter him first.
"Since the den was only half a mile
away, the chances of action were high," recalled
Graham. "I crawled into my sleeping bag and inventoried
my gear: bear spray, 12-gauge shotgun loaded with rubber
bullets, two monster flashlights capable of lighting
up the mountain, hunting knife, and running shoes for
sprinting."
For three years Graham had been consultant
to the owners of the Sun Ranch, which is located
in
Montana's
wildlife-rich Madison Valley, northwest of Yellowstone
National Park, so he knew that wolves were a potential
part of the equation.
Graham also knew that the owners of the
Sun Ranch didn't view wolves as the enemy, but
as an important part of the ecosystem. In fact, they
had tasked him with the challenge of running livestock
in the presence of wolves. But so soon?
"After zipping up the bag,
– Todd Graham,
Madison Valley ranch manager
"After zipping up the bag, turning
off the headlamp, and settling in, two thoughts raced
through my mind," he said. "First, I have
no idea what I'm doing. Second, there's
no way I can pull this off alone.
"The next day I asked for help and
began learning the power of collaboration," he
continued, "not only in dealing with wolves, but
in managing a landscape."
Mission
The upper Madison Valley is justly famous for its wildlife.
Wolves, grizzlies and mountain lions inhabit
the surrounding ranges, 2,000 to 3,000 elk
winter on the ranch, and world-class fishing draws
thousands of fishermen
to the Madison River during the summer.
It is also spectacularly beautiful country, which,
combined with the wildlife appeal, is why so much of
the upper valley has been purchased by wealthy, out-of-state
admirers, including the owners of the Sun Ranch.
Boasting one of the oldest brands in Montana,
the property was called the "Rising Sun Ranch"
until World War II. Its previous owner was a Hollywood
star who damaged the land by overgrazing it with livestock
in an effort to maximize profits. When the ranch changed
hands in 1998, the new owners had a different mission
in mind: to integrate wildlife and livestock ecologically
and economically so that both are sustainable over
the
long term.
"We think livestock should not be
the centerpiece of the operation. Wildlife should,"
said Graham. "Usually it's vice versa. That's
a very interesting challenge, and one of the reasons
I took the job, to see how to make it work."
When Graham took over, nearly one-third of the 25,000-acre
ranch had been dedicated as an "elk reserve"
– where cattle were off-limits. However, the elk
had stopped using the pasture as well. The grass was
old and rank, recalled Graham, and the elk didn't
like it.
He decided to "freshen up" the
forage with cattle.
Employing a single-strand polywire electric
fence, Graham and his staff created four pastures
of 500
acres each and then turned out 240 pairs of cattle
for six to eight days in each pasture early in the
grazing season.
"Our goal was to increase the quality
and quantity of forage for the elk by making the cattle
disturb the old, unused forage," said Graham. "We
can make cattle trample the old stuff by bunching them
up with electric fencing for a few days. The results
were outstanding. We grew a great deal of new grass
and the elk returned in big numbers."
Graham noted that a temporary polywire fence
can be installed at a rate of 1 1/2 mph by two employees.
Best of all, when the grazing rotation is completed,
the fence can be rolled up and removed – leaving
not a trace.
"Polywire is an amazing tool,"
said Graham. "In addition to being just right for
planned grazing, elk can see it easily and will jump
over it, deer too. Antelope go under it."
Bunching cattle together with electric
fencing and moving them frequently has another advantage:
It is
a good defense mechanism against predators.
"Our death loss is one-half percent
in my two years here," said Graham. "And wildlife
are as abundant as ever. In addition, we're seeing strong
regeneration of aspen that had been severely browsed
by livestock and wildlife."
Economics
From an early age, Graham has enjoyed a
challenge. Born and raised in Big Piney, Wyo., where
his parents
were schoolteachers, Graham worked on a nearby ranch
that employed progressive ranching methods. Intrigued,
he pursued these ideas at the University of Wyoming,
where he studied range science. He also enrolled in
a Holistic Resource Management class taught by Kirk
Gadzia.
"All of a sudden a door came open –
it was like four years of college in three days,"
he recalled.
After graduation he took a job as the assistant
manager of The Nature Conservancy's Red Canyon Ranch
near Lander, Wyo. Afterward, sensing a business
opportunity, he launched a consulting and monitoring
firm in partnership with Tony Malmberg, a neighboring
progressive rancher.
Between 1996 and 2003, he worked as a feed
salesman as he built his consulting business. Today
he has five businesses going concurrently, including
a company that manages two ranches in Wyoming. It
all
came together on the Sun Ranch where Graham saw an
opportunity
"to put all my skills into play."
"I want to manage livestock to improve
wildlife habitat and document it," he said. "If
you can ranch to improve wildlife habitat, your chances
of coexisting with wolves dramatically improves."
Financially, the cattle operation is entirely
self-sustaining, partly due to the ranch's decision
to custom-graze neighboring cattle, and partly due
to his ability to lower costs dramatically. He has
1,300
head of cattle on the ranch and only one other full-time
employee.
In June 2003, he joined the board of directors
of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, a 21-year old
conservation
organization with 13,000 members and a lengthy history
of confrontation and litigation. Graham hopes to help
the organization learn the importance of collaborative
approaches to conservation.
"GYC is developing a dual role in its
conservation practices. On one hand, the organization
devotes resources and skilled staff to helping ranchers
and communities adapt to changing times and challenges.
On the other, GYC gets aggressive where ranchers and
the agencies are demonstrably doing a poor job of managing
the public's lands. I like both approaches."
Future
The question still remains: Can wolves
exist in an agricultural valley such as the Madison?
Graham thinks
they can, but the key is communication and collaboration,
as well as innovative management. To that end, Graham
has been assigned the task of writing a grazing plan
for the entire valley for a
local collaborative
group.
It will be no small task.
"Valley residents hold diverse opinions
on wolves, livestock, ranchers and hunters. Such diversity
makes management a challenge. But it's also an opportunity.
If we can coordinate public and private ranges for
the
benefit of all, everybody wins."
"It is one of my dreams to create an
economy based on wildlife and conservation," he
said. "We've got to find a way to capitalize on
the intense interest out there. A great deal of research
is being done on wildlife and ranching here in the Madison
Valley. One idea I have is to get people to assist with
wildlife research, something I call 'vocation vacations.'
Will people pay to be part of actual wildlife research?
I hope so."
In the meantime, there's plenty of work
to do. For one thing, there's another den of wolves
on the ranch.
"Wolves are yet another challenge facing
ranchers today," said Graham. "Succeeding
in their presence will require us to work together.
We must learn as much as we can about their behavior
and adapt our practices with new knowledge. Today, our
teachers may be predator lovers and wildlife biologists,
rather than other ranchers and universities. Welcome
to the New Ranch."
| 
Courtney White writes