Stacy Davies - Rural-Urban Interdependence and Finding New Ground in the Great Basin

Stacy Davies is a thoughtful steward committed to using natural systems or what he calls “biologically driven management” at the Roaring Springs Ranch in Oregon. Stacy credits his time under Doc and Connie Hatfield as well as a Holistic Management workshop in the late 80s as the beginning of his journey in holistic thinking and using natural systems to manage a ranch.

Stacy knows you must be flexible enough to adapt to nature’s complexity in order to take advantage of the symbiotic relationship between the cattle and the grasslands ecosystem that supports them. Conditions are constantly changing so Stacy and his team try to stay on top of things by using a suite of technology to monitor the plants and animals on the Roaring Springs Ranch. They are committed to science-based decision making and partner with a host of conservation scientists and researchers to increase our scientific knowledge of range management.

Beyond his holistic philosophy on range management, Stacy is focused on long-term sustainability, not only for his operation or his community, but for rural communities all across the US to prosper economically, socially and ecologically. Our conversation hits on the interdependence between rural and urban communities, the importance of valuing the environmental benefits provided by our working lands, and how consumers can help influence the way ranches are managed. I hope you enjoy!

--- FULL EPISODE NOTES WITH LINKS @ https://truestewards.com/stacy-davies ---

--- TOPICS DISCUSSED ---

1:40 – Getting to know Stacy Davies and the Roaring Springs Ranch in Oregon

3:49 – Managing for biological and ecosystem health

6:00 – Candidate Conservation Agreement with USFWS for the Great Basin redband trout

8:35 – Using natural systems to manage the ranch

10:35 – Implementing management strategies that benefit the environment and soil health

11:35 – Fire effects on vegetation and succession, and the importance of edge effect

15:03 – Science-based decision making and increasing our scientific knowledge 

17:48 – Stacy’s goal on the ranch and the value of private land stewardship

19:42 – How consumers can influence the way ranches are managed

21:50 – Rural-Urban interdependence

23:02 – How valuing the environmental benefits provided by our working lands can better reward good management

26:16 – Consolidation of ranches, its impact on rural economies, and why folks in cities should care

30:11 – Discussing how to appropriately incentivize lessees to improve their management practices

35:45 – Fear of unknown, perceived complications deter some folks from taking advantage of conservation programs

39:32 – Keeping an open dialogue between ranchers and consumers, and recognizing the dependency on one another

41:15 – The things that motivate Stacy and other ranchers, and Stacy’s challenge to podcast listeners