Trader’s Dispatch, July 2018 — Page A14
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Can ‘grassbanking’ help keep young ranchers on the land?
By Laura Nowlin, Prairie Populist To help young ranchers establish themrate. These ranchers earn reduced grazing selves, and to give current ranchers a bit fees by implementing conservation pracmore security, a group of central Montanans tices on their own private land. By managare looking into creating a grassbank — a ing for both conservation and community, piece of land where livestock from several a grassbank benefits wildlife and natural producers, who commit to conservation resources while also increasing economic practices, could graze. opportunities in ranching communities. “There are several younger couples in Unlike preserves that set aside land to Petroleum County or Fergus County that conserve wildlife, the grassbank model are trying to do both – trying to find grass to works to conserve a much larger landscape lease and work day jobs,” one Winnett-area than a single property on its own — it works rancher said in a recent survey by ACES, the effectively on a scale that is both ecologiWinnett community group investigating the cally and socially relevant. idea. “They want to expand but don’t have “It’s all about ranching, conservation, the opportunity because there’s no grass and community,” Leo Barthelmess, a board available or it’s priced too high out of their member of the Ranchers Stewardship Alliprice range to make it work.” ance (RSA), told a group of Winnett ACES The issues most prevalent here mirror last winter. those of the rest of the Northern Great Because the model is based on keeping Plains: aging population of ranchers, sucworking lands in agriculture, the Winnett cessful ranch transition, and high land ACES think that a grassbank will achieve prices. Prices for grazing land increase both conservation and community resilunpredictably as area ranches are purchased ience. by investors or as recreational retreats. Collaboration with New Groups “Mostly when the ranches come up for Is this an idea that can work? Can a group sale, out-of-staters buy it and … they use from a small, rural community, pull off it for recreational purposes mostly, like creating its own grassbank? hunting,” another rancher said in the surNot without help. And in the last year, vey. “Those people don’t volunteer in the the ACES Land Committee has worked community. … They don’t buy groceries in more than 1,500 hours examining this idea the store year-round or use the post office and its benefits for the Central Montana year-round and don’t have kids in school. community. It’s a loss of population that [could have Ranching, Conservation, Community helped] keep the community going.” There is a movement that encompasses What is a Grassbank? people from all backgrounds who are workA grassbank is a piece of land where grass ing together on community and conservais leased to multiple ranchers for a reduced CONTINUED ON PAGE A15