A West that works -Pioneer burns back time

A New Mexico rancher uses fire and rotational grazing to erase decades of abuse and to restore the native landscape on his land

If land management is more art than science, as many, including many researchers, say it is, then Sid Goodloe will enter the history books as one of the West’s great artists and his Carrizo Valley ranch would be considered a masterpiece.

This thought came to me a few years ago while standing a hill overlooking his property. Surveying the lush savanna expanses, broken only occasionally by narrow strips of dense woodland that rose to the west and segued into a park-like ponderosa pine forest, I suddenly realized that I was looking at a work of art, fifty years in the making. It had all the hallmarks of a great piece of sculpture: beauty, proportion, vitality, skill, design and effect.

That the chosen medium was land, not marble, made no difference – the result was the same: awe and inspiration.

Only don’t call Sid Goodloe an artist. He’s a rancher first and last, with work to do – as we did that day. In fact, my momentary reflection happened only because Goodloe had walked off, gas can in hand, to inspect a pile of juniper trees that had recently been cut and pushed into a heap.

"It’s a good day to burn," he had announced at sunrise. And true to his word, a few minutes after leaving the truck the pile erupted into flames.

As I watched the fire grow, thinking about art again, Goodloe returned to the truck, limping slightly – at 70 his only concession to age being hearing aids and a bum knee. He had no reason to be impressed by the conflagration he had just created; he had lit similar fires a thousand times by now. He tossed the gas can into the back and climbed into the front seat without a backwards glance.

"Let’s go," he said in his Texas drawl. And we went.

By Courtney White
for Headwaters News

Full Story: http://www.headwatersnews.org/WhiteGoodloe111505.html