Meet our Guests: Bonnie and Billy Pat McKinney

Billy Pat and Bonnie McKinney

Manager and Wildlife Coordinator, El Carmen Land and Conservation Co.

Terlingua, TX

10/29/2021

     Nestled in the heart of the Chihuahuan desert along the Rio Grande lies the old Adams Ranch, a 27,000-acre property that rests on the border of the United States and Mexico. Under the name El Carmen Land and Conservation Company, the ranch is owned by CEMEX USA, a branch of the Mexican multinational concrete and cement manufacturing company, and conservation philanthropist Josiah Austin. The property is managed by Billy Pat and Bonnie McKinney, two Texans passionate about land conservation. Billy Pat, the manager of the ranch, and Bonnie, the wildlife coordinator, work towards restoring this formerly overgrazed land and rebuilding sustainable wildlife populations.

     The ranch was purchased to bridge the gap between Big Bend National Park and Black Gap National Wildlife Area. Bonnie emphasizes the importance of the ranch as a connecting link between contiguous properties and two countries. This piece of unassuming desert brimming with thorny ocotillo and prickly pear cacti on the edge of the Mexican highlands is a known bird migration corridor and habitat for big mammals such as desert bighorn sheep, mule deer, and black bear.

     Bonnie and Billy Pat have worked tirelessly since moving to the ranch in 2007 to conserve the land because, as Bonnie highlights, “we need our wildlife, we need our waters, and we need our landscape.” The two desert dwellers know that the limiting factor for wildlife populations in this area is lack of water availability. To help remedy this issue they have initiated the installation of dozens of water guzzlers—tanks that collect and store rainwater to create a supplemental water source for wildlife. These water guzzlers serve as a lifeline for a multitude of species as the climate gets increasingly warmer and drier.  

Billy Pat conveys his and Bonnie’s conservation philosophy simply, saying “We don’t wear angel wings, we just try to dirty our hands and make something happen.”

By Claire Warncke

Meet our Guests: Matt Ellis

Matt Ellis

Fire Management Officer, Methow Valley Ranger District, U.S. Forest Service

Methow Valley, WA

08/30/2021

Standing amongst an old-growth forest stand in the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, Matt Ellis, Fire Management Officer for the Forest Service’s Methow Valley Ranger District, speaks to the dilemmas in managing National Forest land from a wildfire management perspective. When looking at this dense, multi-layered old-growth forest, Matt sees a continuous availability of fuel and the potential for high-severity fire. However, Matt’s Forest Service colleague, wildlife biologist John Rohrer sees an ideal habitat for the northern spotted owl, an animal that was listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) due to loss of habitat. The spotted owl’s status under the ESA means that the Forest Service has to prioritize preserving its habitat. Nevertheless, Matt knows that without thinning the vegetation in old growth stands, fire will blacken the landscape on a large scale.

Dilemmas such as this often don’t have easily defined answers. Matt emphasizes that there’s not one person or agency that fully gets their way in the management of forest lands. In the old growth stand Semester in the West visited only small diameter trees were thinned to reduce fire risk, while the large ponderosa pines that provide habitat for the spotted owl still stand tall.

Despite the demanding nature of reconciling fire safety with the variety of uses on forest lands, Matt continues to believe “one of the coolest things about the Forest Service is we offer opportunities for all these different users.”

By Claire Warncke

Meet our Guests: Liza Jane McAlister

Liza Jane McAlister

Rancher, The 6 Ranch

Wallowa County

8/21/2021 

Liza Jane McAlister defies most stereotypes of cattle ranchers. She is the fourth generation to raise cattle on her family ranch, The 6 Ranch, a legacy she secured after buying the land from her family. Wearing denim and a radiant smile, Liza Jane shared with Semester in the West her passion for the land and her aim to preserve Western traditions while ranching. It’s clear as she speaks that she has a deep connection to the animals she cares for, “I make their life super good; my cows are happy cows.”

In addition to the full-time job of maintaining the ranch, Liza Jane has worked to add stream meanders and complexity back to the section of the Wallowa River that runs through her property in partnership with the Grande Ronde Model Watershed and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW). Inspired by her neighbor Doug McDaniel’s re-meandering work upstream of her property, Liza Jane completed two separate projects on the river to recreate side channels and deep pools for fish habitat. She chose to graze her cattle along the riparian area of the second project, a controversial decision due to cows’ tendency to degrade stream habitat. According to Liza Jane, without using grazing as a management technique invasive reed canary grass crowds the stream bank and becomes “a nasty-ass monoculture that’s ten feet tall”. ODFW did not initially allow her to graze here due to the grass’s ability to stabilize stream banks, but Liza Jane insisted grazing rights be included for the re-meandering project to continue. ODFW agreed to Liza Jane’s terms and her hard work came to fruition. These days, she keeps her eyes peeled for salmon returning to her stretch of the Wallowa.

By: Claire Warncke

 Photo credit: Elio Van Gorden