For the Land’s Sake : Rancher Is at Forefront of Movement Known as Holistic Resource Management

On the surface, there is nothing out of the ordinary about George Work’s ranch.

Sprawled along the hills of the southern tip of Monterey County, at the end of an old oil road, the 12,000-acre property could be any of the cattle-grazing, oak tree-growing, grain-producing lands common to the area.

Except, that is, for the corral made of truck tires, or the barn wall constructed of bales of straw and adobe.

Or the wild pigs that, by rooting up the less desirable annual grasses, help the oaks and other native plants flourish.

And then there are the cattle that trample the dead grass back into the ground, thereby helping to rejuvenate the soil.

These are some of the characteristics of Holistic Resource Management (HRM), a philosophy of environmentally minded land management that is slowly gaining adherents here and in other states. Work and his ranch are at the forefront of this quiet movement in California.

HRM was developed about 30 years ago by wildlife biologist Allan Savory of Zimbabwe as a way to halt the degradation of the range caused by traditional ranching and agricultural methods. Practitioners aim to restore the balance of nature, revitalize soils and grasses, and strengthen communities worldwide.

This approach, Work said, results in “more ecologically sound, economically viable and socially just” decision-making than traditional ranching methods.

Jody Butterfield, Savory’s wife, estimates that about 600 Californians have had some HRM training through Savory’s 10-year-old Center for Holistic Management in Albuquerque, N.M. In all, about 7,000 people from all 50 states and 28 countries have gone through the center’s training programs.

HRM is taking some time to catch on in large numbers. And Work is hardly surprised.

“It seems that we have a nucleus here attempting to practice it. But it’s kind of slow,” he said. “. . . The ranching community here is overloaded. We can’t deal with all the regulations, let alone a change in our management program. Most people are afraid to change, because they can’t take the risk. They’ve taken a lot of risks and they are afraid this is the one that will break the camel’s back.”

A third-generation rancher, Work, 57, planted his first crop in 1959. He said his recent land-use decisions have little in common with those made before his exposure to HRM nine years ago.

“What we do now is, before we say, ‘Chop five acres of trees down,’ there are five or six guidelines we have to follow,” he said, such as “how is it going to affect the ecosystem?”

Work was introduced to HRM when a friend told him of a talk Savory was giving up in Redding. “He had attended Savory’s school and was very excited about this new concept,” said Work. “I had a lot of respect for this person--he was a very progressive rancher--and I thought I may as well go see what it’s all about.”

Work was impressed with what he saw.

“Savory said if you don’t manage your finances, along with your family, along with the environment, you’re going down the tubes,” said Work. “It was common sense. . . .”

Work soon attended a full workshop at Savory’s New Mexico center, and has been immersed in HRM practices since.

“If we practice HRM as it is intended to be practiced, we can grow the perennial grasses to feed the cows, and improve the water use and the soil, have oak trees--and make more profit to stay in business,” Work said. “When it all begins to work, one doesn’t have to suffer because of the other.”

Kurt Kupper, executive director of the Environmental Center of San Luis Obispo, likes what he sees in HRM, but wonders if it’s too late.

Part of the HRM philosophy calls for topsoil to be left untilled. Tilling, say HRM practitioners, kills off organisms and increases the chance of soil erosion.

“It’s heartening that (HRM) is catching on,” Kupper said. “But I don’t know if we have time for it to catch on. We’ve lost half of all the topsoil in the world over the last 100 years.”

Yet Work said HRM gives him hope for the future of agriculture, and he is trying to share that with others. In May, he led a workshop at his ranch for about 120 ranchers, environmentalists, conservationists and others interested in HRM.

One of those who attended was Jack Varian, owner of a 20,000-acre ranch in Parkfield, 10 miles north of Work’s spread. Varian’s particular interest lies in the HRM rotational cattle-grazing techniques.

“I’ve been a rancher 35 years on my own and I’ve just recently begun to understand grazing,” said Varian, who considers Work an HRM guru of sorts. “Previously, I had done it like everybody else. I purposely spread the cattle out” throughout the fields. What resulted, he said, was a decline in the highly nutritional “good” grasses.

“Cows are like people. They are gourmets. They like to eat the best and leave the worst,” Varian said. “They will selectively graze the best and keep going back and back and back.”

Now Varian rotates the cattle in and out of grazing areas. After the cattle have eaten the better grasses, they are moved to another area, allowing the grasses to grow back. It costs more, Varian said, because he has had to set up more water wells and storage tanks, and provide larger supplies of water. But he has come up with ways to offset the cost.

“This year for the first time I’ve opened the ranch to the public for a fee,” he said, explaining how he leads cattle drives for city slickers. “It’s necessary for us to survive. HRM makes you ask questions of yourself. If I’m going to stay on this land and make a living, what am I going to have to do here?”