The Nature Conservancy demonstrates that grazing can help achieve environmental goals. In 1993, Bob Budd made an interesting career move. He left his post as executive director of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association to manage the Red Canyon Ranchin the shadow of Wyoming's Wind River Range. Giving up a desk job for the opportunity to manage a herd of 800 cattle on a 35,000-acre sagebrush steppe might not seem that strange. Budd's new employer, however, was The Nature Conservancy (TNC). A million-member group dedicated to "saving the last great places," TNC is the kind of neighbor many ranchers fear. Highly publicized, multi-million-dollar land deals put landowners on edge. And, an army of interns and hydrologists, range scientists and ecologistscan look like trouble. The organization's conservationist leaning and large staff, however, could make it an important ally in the grazing debate. TNC still believes cattle should be excluded from areas it deems susceptible to damage from grazing, but cattlemen like Budd are demon-strating the importance of livestock, even on sensitive land - or, in some cases, especially on sensitive land.
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