The Art of Range Podcast

AoR 185: Rod Heitschmidt on a Lifetime of Integrating Rangeland Science and Application

From fighter pilot instructor to rangeland science legend, Rod Heitschmidt has done it all. In this Sages of Rangelands conversation, Tip Hudson sits down with Rod at his home to trace his path from flying supersonic T-38s to studying livestock grazing at the Texas Experimental Ranch and USDA's Fort Keogh lab. Rod recounts his spirited clashes with Allan Savory over rotational grazing and stocking rates, the research on drought management, early weaning, prairie dogs, and mesquite that shaped his career, and the story behind his enduring textbook Grazing Management: An Ecological Perspective. Rod shares hard-won wisdom on economics as "a measure of one's beliefs," the real progress rangeland stewardship has made, and why anyone entering natural resources has to genuinely care about the land. Rodney Heitschmidt received the Society for Range Management's Outstanding Achievement Award in 1991 and the SRM Fellow Award in 2004. He was honored with the Frederic G. Renner Award in 2013, which is the Society's premier award for sustained accomplishments in range management. Rod served as the SRM President in 2002. Visit the episode page at artofrange.com for the transcript of this interview and links to resources mentioned on the show. Music by Lewis Roise.

AoR 184: Tom Bartlett on Valuing Cows, Grass, and Everything Else

Dr. Tom Bartlett has spent a lifetime proving that rangeland is worth a lot more than meets the eye. Tip sits down with this Colorado State University rangeland economist to discuss career that shifted from mathematical modeling to applied on-the-ground economics — and why Bartlett thinks the real value of public grazing lands is almost always misunderstood by policymakers. Along the way, they reflect on 60 years of Society for Range Management membership, the people who shaped the profession. Visit the episode page at artofrange.com for a transcript of the interview and links to resources mentioned in this episode. Support for The Art of Range comes from the Western Extension Risk Management Education Center and RanchBot. Music by Lewis Roise.

AoR 183: Rangelands on Display - Using Public Art to Reach Beyond the Choir, with Stephen Bramwell

What if the key to making people care about rangelands wasn't a fact sheet, a policy brief, or even a podcast — but interactive art that people can view, hear, touch, and smell? WSU Extension's Stephen Bramwell joins the show to talk about a first-of-its-kind public art project that's deploying multisensory exhibits across 18 states to reach audiences who've never thought twice about grasslands or the people who steward them. From tactile fiber samples and scent jars to life-size 3D sheep cutouts, this is rangeland outreach like you've never heard of — and you can host an exhibit or submit your own art at grasslandsproject.org. Music by Lewis Roise. Support for The Art of Range comes from RanchBot and the Western Extension Risk Management Education Center. The transcript of this episode and links to resources mentioned in the interview are available at artofrange.com.

AoR 182: Allen Miller on Fire, Fence, and Family - 140 Years of Stewardship at Tower Rock Ranch

Allen Miller of Tower Rock Ranch in Mansfield, Washington was the 2023 NCBA Environmental Stewardship Award regional winner. His family has run cattle on the same Douglas County ground since 1883. Allen joins Tip to talk about blending the art and science of range management on a 15,000-acre operation reshaped by five major wildfires in just 14 years. Allen shares hard-earned lessons on rotational grazing, post-fire rest and deferment, the payoff of 125 miles of new fence, and how Sage Grouse Initiative water infrastructure and remote tank monitors have transformed cattle distribution across rocky, water-scarce country. The conversation closes with candid thoughts on riparian fencing, CRP's unintended consequences, the promise of virtual fence and GPS ear tags, and Allen's advice to the next generation of agency professionals: come in humbly, listen first, and learn alongside the ranchers you're trying to help. Music by Lewis Roise. Support for The Art of Range comes from RanchBot and the Western Extension Risk Management Education Center. Visit the episode page at artofrange.com for the transcript and links to resources mentioned in this interview.

AoR 181: Jim Strickland, Keeping Florida Ranches Ahead of the Bulldozer

Jim Strickland is managing partner at Blackbeard's Ranch in southwest Florida, co-founder of the Florida Conservation Group, and vice chair of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association Environmental Stewardship Award Program. Over a seventy-year career in cattle, Jim watched nearly 100,000 acres of leased pasture disappear to development around Sarasota, and in response he helped build a coalition of ranchers, scientists, and conservation groups that has now facilitated roughly 160,000 acres of easements and pushed the Florida legislature toward a $300 million appropriation for easement funding. In this conversation, Jim and Tip discuss the mechanics and politics of conservation easements, the emerging market for paying ranchers for ecosystem services like Florida Panther habitat and aquifer recharge, prescribed fire on pyrogenic Florida rangelands, and Jim's experience as reportedly the first rancher to deploy virtual fence at scale east of the Mississippi — now covering 7,000 acres. Florida's ranchers are only one-half of one percent of the state's population, but they steward the water, wildlife corridors, and working open space that 22 million Floridians depend on, and Jim makes a compelling case for why telling that story well may be the most important conservation work of all. Music by Lewis Roise. Go to https://artofrange.extension.wsu.edu/ for the transcript and links to resources mentioned in this episode.