Sand County Foundation Hires Grazing Specialists for Grassland Initiative

Sand County Foundation has added five rangeland and grazing management professionals as part of an initiative to help cattle ranchers conserve the nation’s imperiled grasslands. 

The new staff join Sand County Foundation to help carry out a multi-year effort to accelerate regenerative grazing practices, habitat restoration, and conservation of wildlife and water on working ranches in 15 states. 

This landscape scale conservation program is funded through the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s (NFWF) Grassland Resilience and Conservation Initiative. 

“We built out Sand County Foundation’s team with staff who bring unique, niche specialties so collectively we can fill a technical assistance gap for ranch managers looking to improve ecological and economic resilience across their grazed land,” said Dr. Heidi Peterson, Sand County Foundation’s Vice President of Agricultural Conservation and Research.

The new staff members include:

Mitchell King, Montana: Mitchell was raised on the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation where he worked as its Tribal Range Conservationist. He is a rancher and U.S. Army Infantry veteran who previously worked with the Burean of Indian Affairs as a range technician. 

Pete Lannan, Montana: Pete is a fourth-generation rancher in Montana's Paradise Valley and worked for 30 years in U.S. Forest Service fire management. He and his wife own Barney Creek Livestock which received Sand County Foundation’s Leopold Conservation Award in Montana.

CJ Mucklow, Colorado: CJ worked for more than 30 years with Colorado State University Extension. In retirement, he founded a weed control and agricultural consulting business. CJ and his wife ranch in Routt County, Colorado. 

Al Rischette, Colorado: Al served as a mitigation biologist with Ducks Unlimited, where he developed conservation banking and habitat mitigation projects across the Great Plains, and as a wildlife and range research specialist at North Dakota State University. 

Cristela Sanders, Texas: Cristela has 17 years of combined conservation experience as a Biological Science Specialist for the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, and as a Rangeland Management Specialist and District Conservationist for the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service in Texas. 

Sand County Foundation is currently enrolling cattle ranchers in the Grassland Resilience and Conservation Initiative in the following states: California, Colorado, Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Nevada, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Wisconsin and Wyoming. 

Healthy grasslands are critical to supporting people, wildlife, and rural economies. This initiative advances voluntary conservation practices that can support grasslands and strengthen the resilience of working ranchland. 

Read more about the Grassland Resilience and Conservation Initiative in this announcement from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.