While livestock production remains an important component of many ranching programs, today’s ranches have diversified their operations significantly to allow for more stable economic profitability and enhanced environmental sustainability for generations to come. The courses offered through our program in the Department of Forest and Rangeland Stewardship are designed to provide students the skills and tools necessary to formulate adaptive management strategies on working lands. Anchored in experiential learning and engagement within the ranching community, our courses offer extensive opportunities to interact with ranch managers, ranch owners and natural resource managers as part of the program’s curricula. From the start, students learn the fundamental principles of forest and rangeland ecosystems, the roles that plants and wildlife play in these systems, and the natural processes that support water and soil nutrient cycling in the Rocky Mountain West. Students also learn about the operational side of ranching, including business and accounting, employee management, equipment, and policies that influence day to day activities. Throughout the program, students are exposed to innovative and often novel land-use strategies that are increasingly being integrated into modern ranching. These range from conservation easements and trophy hunting to ecotourism and carbon credits. Through the courses offered, students visit and stay at a variety of working ranches seeing first-hand how operations are tailored to support ecosystem processes, foster lasting protection of the land, and achieve economic profitability.

Offered for the first time in fall 2019, this course is designed to offer applied learning opportunities to students that attended the summer field course. At the beginning of the fall term, students visited a ranch on Colorado's western slope. Students had the opportunity to ask the ranch owners about their long-term vision for the property, review the existing conservation easement and other documents, and see first-hand the issues related to degraded rangelands, mitigation of invasive species, improved wildlife habitat, erosion control, and forests and wildland fire. Throughout the term, students develop strategies and recommendations for addressing these issues using techniques and approaches that were demonstrated in the summer field course and through additional research. These will then be written up as a management plan and presented to the ranch owners at the end of the semester.

In this course, students learn to:

• Identify issues that may impact rangeland and forest ecosystem processes and productivity.
• Evaluate management priorities, opportunities, and challenges for ranch owners, and recommend management strategies that align with their long-term vision while demonstrating good stewardship of the land.
• Identify best practice management for a given social and ecological context from course readings and independent research.
• Apply foundational principles in range, forestry, water, wildlife, and conservation to justify recommended management strategies and planning.
• Write and present a ranch management plan highlighting challenges, recommendations and desired long-term outcomes.