Guaranteed Land Reclamation Specialists
by Ann Adams
Talking with Tony and Jerrie Tipton is how I would imagine it would have been talking to a combination of Judge Roy Bean and Mahatma Gandhi; they don't mince words, they feel deeply, and they live their convictions. It is those traits that have inspired many people to join them in their sometimes quixotic journey into the idiosyncracies of land reclamation with its cast of thousands.
The enormous task of trying to eke out a living while running livestock on the public lands has daunted many a rancher, but the Tiptons have an even bigger focus than that. While they certainly factor financial health into their decision-making, the task that seems to have grabbed their attention is how to revive a flourishing landscape from a dying desert.
Their road has not been an easy one, but there is no doubt that it has been a rewarding one as they evolved from everyday permittees to contracted range reclamation specialists. In that journey they learned that, either way, they would have to involve many parties with vested interests, and they preferred to take a title that more clearly stated their passion and offered more opportunities to do the work they wanted to do.
The Tiptons latest project, the Marietta/Teal's Marsh Project, will test the strength of their management team because the project is of even greater proportion than their earlier work, which means even more interest groups will be involved. And that's exciting news for the Tiptons who know that as the diversity of the team increases, so do their chances for success.
A Rough Start
The Tiptons used to have their headquarters in Austin, Nevada, at the Carter Ranch where they had a U.S. Forest Service (USFS) grazing allotment for summer use. Their winter country was a 250,000-acre (101,174 hectare) Bureau of Land Management (BLM) allotment in Mina, Nevada, where the average rainfall is four to six inches, (101-152 mm).
To make the most of each allotment, the Tiptons formed management teams at both locations, but it wasn't long before they realized they needed an umbrella organization that could receive funding directly, rather than monies funneled through government agencies like the BLM. Enter "Twenty to One."
Twenty to One is the non-profit the Tiptons formed with other ranchers, academics, and environmentalists to make use of opportunities available in land reclamation. The name came from the group's confidence in their ability to successfully reclaim land; they'll give you 20-to-1 odds that they'll accomplish what they say they will. Because it is an umbrella organization, other people interested in land reclamation projects can use Twenty to One to help them secure funding for appropriate projects. And while the Tiptons had taken Jerrie and Tony Tipton an important step in helping to create Twenty to One, they were still learning how to deal with government agencies in Austin. Despite a strong team, good intent, and a structure that had the potential to create the results everyone wanted, the Tiptons ran up against an unmovable force: a less than helpful USFS District Ranger.
The Tiptons Austin team had identified the need for a five-mile fence. The Forest Supervisor had stalled that project for several years resulting in a direct loss of $60,000 to the Tiptons in such items as increased labor and a willful trespass suit. So where's the good news in this story?
When the rest of the team understood the full ramifications of this ranger's choices, they were the ones to confront their team member (the ranger), rather than the more generic scenario of the wronged permittees standing alone against the impassive bureaucracy. As a result of their moral indignation the ranger requested a transfer. And, as result of financial pressure that had accrued, the Tiptons chose to release themselves from the obligation of the Carter Ranch and focus their efforts on the land near Mina.
The reason I include that piece of the story is not to incite further outrage at the injustice of bureaucracies, but to demonstrate some important principles that the Tiptons learned: 1) Get to know the managers in charge of various resources before you become deeply enmeshed in a project; 2) If you get an answer you don't like from one official, be clear whether it's the manager or the regulations that are prohibitive (many times it will be the manager); 3) Create a team that can either put pressure on the official or engage other officials to create the success desired; and 4) If the project isn't working create another one that will.
While the Tiptons may still have some strong feelings about what happened at Austin, they know dwelling on the past won't help them create the future they want. They also realize that such a situation could have happened anywhere with any bureaucracy. "I don't feel sorry for myself that the land I operate on is public land," says Jerrie. "People in Texas might think that they don't have to worry about bureaucracy the same way people in states like Nevada do since so much of their land is private. But t don't believe it. Bureaucracies are everywhere. You have to face those regulations and bureaucrats at one point or the other."
Reshuffling the Deck
The Tiptons and their Mina team had already achieved impressive results in the desert around Mina. In one section of this allotment, they had a yield of about 50 pounds of perennials per acre when they first started grazing. Three years later they had increased the yield to 150 pounds. During this time the Tiptons had continued to build their relationship with the BLM as well as attracting other key players from other groups and establishing other projects.
In the fall of 1996, Twenty to One and the Mina management team secured a two-year Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grant to feed cattle on the slopes of catchment areas to see what impact it would have on the springs below Humdinger Spring had dried up in the 1940s and the creek only flowed when there was sufficient snow melt. After only one treatment of animal impact (herd effect), Humdinger Spring is now flowing at a rate of 48 gallons per minute in the wet season and 20 during the dry.
Besides securing money from agencies such as the EPA, the Tiptons began focusing reclamation efforts on mining sites as a way to demonstrate the success of their work on severely disturbed ground. They created a contract with Kinross Mining Company to reclaim a mine dump within the company's Candelaria Mine. This dump (dirt that came from 1800 feet underground) was 600 feet high, and after one season of feeding 500 head of cattle on it, they were able to clip 1200 pounds of dry matter per acre on land that previously could only support minimal plant life. That's more of a harvest than some people get from cultivated fields and certainly exceeded the expectations of Kinross officials who agreed to the contract because of the Tiptons' guarantee.
"Kinross knew we guaranteed our work," says Tony. "No one else is willing to do that. They (Kinross) need to secure that bond release (money put aside by the company to the EPA to assure that the company reclaims the area before they 'abandon' it), and the reclamation of the land has to be 100% in the surrounding area. Their choices were to do it themselves, get someone else to do it with no guarantee, or us. They could do it mechanically, but they wouldn't get all the added benefits that the cattle bring, such as helping to break down the litter and fertilize the ground."
With such projects under their belts, no one is likely to challenge the Tiptons title of land reclamation specialists. But just because you are a reclamation specialist doesn't mean that you'll get the funding or the go-ahead for a project. While the Tiptons found new opportunities as reclamation specialists, it is not a job that offers a steady paycheck for the uninspired. In that position you must find someone (government agency, foundation, business or individual) willing to pay for your services. That means you have to spend a great deal of time gathering information for proposals, writing proposals and other documents, following through on leads, and networking. And then, of course, there is all the people time you need to invest once you have a contract. That is why the Tiptons spend as much time, if not more, engaged with the people involved or impacted by their projects as they do on the actual day-to-day reclamation activities.
Currently the Mina team has grown to a core of 30 people with as many as 100 "floaters" and a mailing list of 250. At least half the team is from a state or federal agency, including the USFS, the BLM, the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), the Cooperative Extension Service, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The Tiptons estimate that it took them at least two to three years to establish the diversity within their team and a functioning level of trust (where each member views the others as one of us, not one of them).
Marietta/Teal's Marsh Project
The lure of the Marietta/Teal's Marsh Project is simple on one level: it's the perfect place to pull off an extraordinary feat. In an area of the country that typically receives four inches (101 mm) of rain a year there once had been a marsh. It is now a salt flat, but some of the local old-timers can still remember when migratory birds would partake of the marsh's accommodations.
The only animals using the flats today are wild burros, which adds another interesting little twist to the story The Wild Horses of America (WHOA) organization now has also expressed concerns for how the project will impact the burro population. Statistics already show an increase in the average age of the wild burro population as well as a decrease in the average weight. In other words, the population is dying out. Local wisdom gives them another 20 to 30 years before the herd is gone, which certainly makes WHOA's concern legitimate.
So if you were running this team, how would you set up a project where an environmentalist wanted a certain amount of land fenced to monitor the results of complete rest, the WHOA representative wanted no fencing so the burros could get to food and water easily; the academics wanted clearly measurable results (read reductionist research), the agency people wanted tangible proof to show their supervisors they were doing the right thing, and you wanted to make sure you were getting some reclamation work done? You'd better have more than your fair share of creativity, and, luckily, the Tiptons do.
With the curiosity of a two-year-old, the Tiptons continually encourage this type of input at every stage of the game. They also expect the team to come up with the answers. If they hear an "I don't like it," then they make sure the person knows he or she needs to be at the next meeting with some ideas to discuss. So whether they are fencing areas for rest and reminding the WHOA representative that the burros will eat and drink along with the cattle, or seeding experimental patches at one pound or three pounds per acre, they have a strong belief in what the team can accomplish.
That belief is evident in the project proposal in which they list their anticipated results including:
- An increase in the density and diversity of native perennial plant species in the watershed area surrounding the "marsh," especially of the native grasses.
- A decrease of bare ground and soil erosion due to wind and water.
An increase in water retention due to an increase of native perennial plant cover and root structures on the watershed-improved water cycle. - An increase in marsh vegetation.
- Functioning wetlands in the marsh area. An increase in diversity and density of wildlife and migratory birds, associated with improved habitat.
- New insights regarding wild horse and burro management.
Sustainable habitat for the burro refuge. . Groups and individuals with diverse management philosophies working together to achieve a common goal. - Management philosophies that are ecologically, socially and financially sustainable and can be used in other locations.
An "Outdoor Classroom" and other learning opportunities for the resource management professions.
While some of these results might seem hard to measure, the Tiptons propose to have identifiable results by the third year of the project. Their plan is to feed a herd of 2500 cattle on this 100,000-acre (40,047 hectare) area. The cost for cattle, feed, hauling water (or creating a pipeline), and labor is estimated at $2 million, but here's the beauty of it. Because they are feeding the cattle as they move them, the Tiptons reclaim the land while they operate what could be seen as a humane feedlot.
Instead of standing in their own excrement, which is unhealthy for the cattle and anyone or anything around them, the cattle are free to graze in the area where the Tiptons have placed feed and water for them. Because this paddock is moved according to a grazing plan that the team develops from their holistic goal, any movement should aid not only the health and growth of the cattle, but all of the reclamation efforts listed above. And at the end of the project, the cattle will be sold for $2,080,000 which gives the Tiptons $80,000 to reinvest in the project.
The Tiptons still have to secure the funding for this project but they've already brought their team together to brainstorm possible sources. The depth and diversity of that team, their alliance and previous work with the BLM, and the Tiptons persistency, creativity, and sense of humor stack the deck in their favor this time. When they do get their funding, you can be sure that the odds will be twenty to one that there will be one less salt flat in Nevada and one more refuge for migratory birds.
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