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Thanks to the silver screen and TV Westerns, there’s long been a
mental image that portrays ranching in the Western United States
as a romantic utopia filled with scenic vistas and hardworking
cowboys raising hearty, wholesome beef.
While that picture may be a vast generalization, it is the
perception of ranching that has stuck with most of today’s
America’s public.
“Ranching as an activity is really in a general, abstract-sense
appreciated,” says Mark Brunson, a professor in the Department
of Environment and Society at Utah State University. “Ranchers
talk about heritage and that’s ingrained in most people. So when
we survey the public about their perceptions of Western ranchers
we tend to get positive responses,” explains Brunson, who earned
a PhD in forestry, and today works as a social scientist
specializing in the human dimensions of ecosystem science and
management.
Brunson points out, “A lot of things related to land management
are social science – not natural science – issues.”
He has been interested in public perceptions of Western lands
since the late 1980’s when he was a doctoral student finishing
his degree at Oregon State University. At that same time, the
spotted owl issue was coming to the forefront. Brunson recalls,
“Scientists there were starting to make changes in the way they
were doing things on public forests. I questioned the public’s
perceptions at that time, and somewhat by accident, I’m now the
guy monitoring public perceptions.”
After graduate school Brunson worked for six years as a
journalist in Kalispell, MT, covering natural resource issues
for the daily newspaper there. That further connected him to the
public and how they perceive land management issues. “That
pointed me down this path as much as anything,” he says of his
present day career in which he primarily focuses on attitudes
toward rangeland management issues.
A culmination of Brunson’s observations are featured in the
chapter “Public Perceptions of Ranching” which he coauthored
with George Wallace of Colorado State University in the book
Ranching West of the 100th Meridian: Culture, Ecology and
Economics.
Positive Perceptions
Of today’s attitudes toward ranching, Brunson says, “Most people
support agriculture, so long as it provides an environmental
benefit.” He cites highlights from a 2006 Colorado study that
found:
- Three-fourths (74%) of those
surveyed felt that agriculture was important to the quality of
life in their state.
-
A
majority of respondents (83%) felt it was important to
maintain land and water in agricultural production.
-
78%
of respondents agreed that ranchers with permits to graze on
public lands treat the land appropriately.
-
87%
agreed that public funds should be used to help farmers and
ranchers improve wildlife habitat and conserve soil and water
resources.
-
73%
of those surveyed felt that purchasing developing rights to
prevent the loss of agricultural lands was acceptable.
But, with today’s generation – and future generations – growing
up with less of a direct connection to production ag, will they
still maintain a positive view of American ranching? Utah
State’s Mark Brunson says an affinity for America’s ranch
heritage seems to be pretty persistent – no matter what
generation.
Negative Notations
While Brunson says the vast majority of the public – over
two-thirds – view ranching with a positive connotation, there
are always dissenters. And, though they may be in the minority,
they tend to have the loudest voices.
He explains, “You do get vocal people who think differently.
It’s easy for the ranching community to get discouraged and
assume the public doesn’t appreciate them.”
But Brunson believes much of this stems from misunderstandings.
For example, he has found most people’s beliefs about rangelands
are not rooted in specific knowledge, but are usually tied to
generalizations that they’ve heard or read.
He says, “The general public doesn’t know what the process is to
get cattle from the hoof to the meatcase. They don’t understand
how one needs to move cattle; what it takes to market cattle;
and how to have productive rangeland. And because of that, the
ranching industry can start to run into a problem, because
people who are concerned about the human environment
relationship have a negative perception that tends to get
heard.” Over time, those negative messages can influence
people’s vague generalizations and replace them with differing
information.
In short, Brunson says, “If people hear a negative example that
tends to stick.” He cites social psychology research which
suggests negative and emotional messages tend to catch people’s
attention more than facts.
Further compounding the misunderstandings, Brunson says often
the public has difficulty discerning between large-scale
corporations or poor managers and individual private ranchers.
“Sometimes the message the public hears is that there has been
environmental degredation, but they don’t recognize that just
because there is a problem with one doesn’t necessarily reflect
on everyone in that industry,” Brunson says.
He does caution that there are specific things that can change
people’s perceptions – such as odor issues, dust, or something
like cattle in their favorite campground. And that is where
taking time to educate and communicate with the public can be
critical to helping them understand and support agriculture.
Despite all that, Brunson says the bottomline is still pretty
positive for American ranchers. He concludes, “Ultimately,
people like ranches and the romance of western livestock
production – and that isn’t going to lessen overnight.”
Focus on the Future
In fact, America’s affinity for the ranching lifestyle has led
to one of the current challenges on Western lands – subdivision.
When asked if today’s public recognizes what subdivision and
fragmentation is doing to the landscape, Brunson admits that is
an area that needs more study.
He is initiating a new survey in January of landowners with 2 to
50 acres to learn more about their knowledge of land management
issues. Likewise, colleague Lynn Huntsinger at Berkley in
California is also initiating research to learn more about
programs that can effectively bring large and small scale
landowners together for the greater good of natural resource
issues.
Brunson’s hypothesis is that small tract owners have similar
attitudes to ranchers regarding land issues like overgrazing,
control of invasive species, fire and fuels management, etc. But
he says the challenge is getting these traditional and
non-traditional landowners to communicate with one another and
work together.
“Ranchers are not inclined to interact with these new, small
landowners, so there is no dialogue to solve issues,” says
Brunson.
He cites a University of California-Davis study that followed
ranchers in their control efforts of yellow star thistle. The
findings indicated that ranchers were more likely to stop
controlling the invasive species if there were several small
landowners surrounding their property. The researchers concluded
this was likely because there was no coordinated effort to work
together on invasive species control.
“I’m afraid the barriers are partly the fault of traditional
livestock owners. They don’t have time to get to know their new
neighboring landowners and that reinforces stereotypes,” says
Brunson.
But he emphasizes that taking time to meet new landowners and
discuss natural resource issues is an important part of the
future.
“The only way we are going to get ranches to be the conservation
tool they can be [in the future] is to pay attention to the
non-traditional ranchers. If we want to prevent subdivision and
fragmentation of ranch landscapes, we need to be more inclusive.
Universities need to train ranch managers who are able to work
with absentee landowners; programs must be developed on how to
work together; and all of this requires working with a variety
of partners – industry organizations, NCBA the ranchette
community, the Quivira coalition, etc.,” says Brunson.
He and Huntsinger also propose that embracing non-traditional
ranch owners will be essential to ranch succession and the
likelihood that there will be enough people out there interested
in ranching to be able to meet the potential need for ranches to
serve as conservation buffers against subdivision in the West.
Looking ahead, Brunson says the issues of concern will continue
to be weed management, fire issues, and open space. He
underscores the importance of communication, education and
involvement bringing ranchers and non-ranchers together for a
common goal.
As an example of the miscommunication that occurs, he cites the
different perceptions that exist over the fire issue in the
West. “People like to attach blame to things. One survey that
was conducted revealed that urban people blame human impacts
like overgrazing and mining. Meanwhile ranchers say the problem
is fuel loads and that more grazing is needed. So you’ve got two
different voices not understanding each other,” says Brunson.
He continues, “Our challenge is to make people understand that
things are inter-related. Rather than focusing on our
differences, we need to sometimes recognize how we are alike.”
Attitudes on Animal-Welfare
The American Farm Bureau Federation and Oklahoma State
University recently surveyed more than 1,000 individuals across
the United States to measure their opinions about farm-animal
welfare. Their survey found:
The public ranked human welfare and farmers above farm animals.
Respondents rated the financial well-being of U.S. farmers as
twice as important as the well-being of farm animals, and
poverty, health care and food safety as five times more
important.
In addition, consumers understand animal welfare is a result of
their shopping decisions in addition to farmer decisions. They
realize they have a choice of purchasing meat from traditional
production or, if they prefer, paying for meat from alternative
production systems.
Additionally, the majority of respondents said they believe
producers should be compensated if forced to comply with higher
farm-animal welfare standards.
Results like these show that while activist groups make
headlines, most mainstream consumers still understand and
appreciate the role of animal agriculture in food production.
Montana’s efforts to bridge the gap between landowners
A new DVD from the Rural Landscape Institute has been developed
to assist new landowners in transitioning into Montana’s rural
way of life. Titled the “Path to Eden,” the DVD features
long-time Montana ranchers sharing their ideals. The DVD is
designed to help new landowners be better able to make informed
decisions central to Montana’s communities, wildlife, natural
resources and ranching heritage.
The DVD was created to address the many new and absentee
landowners who have relocated to Montana in the past decade –
and to help them understand the responsibility and challenges
that accompany owning property in rural Montana. Pertinent
topics such as community relations, wildlife management, noxious
weeds, water rights, historic preservation, and responsible
construction are all addressed by Path To Eden.
Developers of the DVD, which was created with donations from 19
organizations including the Montana GLCI, say their hope is that
through working together the ‘Eden’ that is Montana can be
maintained for generations to come.
The 26-minute film includes introductory and closing comments by
Tom Brokaw, himself a Montana landowner, who donated his time to
the project. To request your copy of the Path to Eden DVD visit
www.pathtoeden.org or call 406-522-7654. A suggested donation of
$10 is requested to order the DVD. A resource booklet titled
“Living Eden” is also available and offers a 10-step guide to
help communities engage with new landowners and encourage them
to become good neighbors and land stewards. |
