Public Libraries of Suffolk County, New York

Cowboy is a verb, notes from a modern-day rancher, Richard Collins

eng

Includes bibliographical references

autobiography

no index present

non fiction

Cowboy is a verb

bibliography

Richard Collins

notes from a modern-day rancher

"Cowboy is a Verb is like the land itself, spreading out from Mount Wrightson on the west to the Mustangs and Whetstones on the east, Sonoita to Patagonia then south to the Mexican border. From the big picture to the smallest details, these pages describe the geology, history, and interdependency of land, water, native and introduced plants and animals. Embedded in the land are the rancher, cowboy, and the local communities. At first glance this book is a rancher's autobiography, a collection of natural history essays, grass management, and southwestern history thrown in as required to tell the complex story of the modern-day lives of cowboys and ranchers that includes much more than wild horse rides and cow chases. But there are also plenty of stories about quirky ranch horses, cranky cow critters, cow dogs, and the people who use and care for them. You will get to know some great people in this book, including T. N. Wegner, a professor of reproductive biology who specialized in getting cows "knocked up." Veterinarian Jim Pickrell, a renowned jokester who never told the same joke twice, and who would sit up all night to save a colicky horse. There are hardworking people: Manuel Murrietta, a cowboy equally at home in a mountain pasture or the rodeo arena; Diane Collins who with her neighbors built a Local History Matters Center at the Sonoita Fairgrounds and raised money for local scholarships; a father/son/family partnership not unusual in this business, but always heartwarming. The battle over the endangered Gila topminnow in Redrock Canyon watershed is a main event, and Cowboy is a Verb is the story of how ranchers got together and formed the Canelo Hills Coalition to defend ourselves against Endangered Species Act administrators who sought to close down grazing. Instead of fighting in the court room, we worked with university range scientists, forest service conservationists, and funding agencies to improve our ranches and the health of the watershed. Using a common sense approach we convinced the Bureau of Reclamation not to build a useless dam across the Canyon. After more than a decade, the watershed recovered and flourished and so did we. Others have noted that cowboys have lots of "Try." In the complex world of the twenty-first century we have to do a lot more. I also pose the most critical question facing conservation today: Do we attempt to preserve a vanishing species in a marginal habitat, or should we continue to manage our watersheds for the ecological health of all living creatures?"--, Provided by publisher