book of the week
Healing the land: 'Pitchfork Ranch' chronicles how one New Mexico ranch's habitat was restored
Published
Modified
By David Steinberg
A. Thomas Cole, an Arizona trial lawyer, and his wife Lucinda retired from their workaday worlds in 2003.
They bought an 11,393-acre cattle ranch with the not-so-modest idea of returning its land to pre-European settlement conditions. The ranch is located about an hour south of Silver City.
Now 21 years after their move to New Mexico, the Coles have collaborated on another project 鈥� a book about the rehabilitation of the ranch鈥檚 land they spearheaded. He is the author, his wife the editor. The book is titled 鈥淩estoring the Pitchfork Ranch.鈥�
Healing the land: 'Pitchfork Ranch' chronicles how one New Mexico ranch's habitat was restored
Habitat restoration is half the story of the book. The subtitle links it to the other half of the story, which views restoration on a global scale 鈥� 鈥淗ow Healing a Southwest Oasis Holds Promise for Our Endangered Planet.鈥�
The book is filled with environmental warnings from its first pages on.
The book鈥檚 preface contains a poem by a son of the ranch鈥檚 pioneer-settler. The poem, 鈥淭he Drouth and Me,鈥� Cole writes, 鈥渃aptures a cowman and his family鈥檚 life, forecasting the planet handed down to their children and the rest of us 鈥� hotter, dryer, damaged and dependent on prompt solutions.鈥�
鈥淧rompt solutions鈥� is what Cole seeks, though promptness may not be soon enough.
Solutions are centered on five core elements 鈥� that the contentions of global warming, species extinction and soil loss are planetary emergencies; that we humans have failed to take these emergencies seriously; that a key solution is to change our inherited, convenient way of living; that an important response is natural climate solutions and restore habitat; and we must take part in what he terms 鈥渢he Voice of the Streets鈥� to foment 鈥減olitical agitation to transform our destructive way of living 鈥︹��
In the book鈥檚 introduction, Cole notes that the Pitchfork Ranch, in cattle production for more than a century, has changed its tune. There鈥檚 a very small cattle herd now, but Cole explains the ranch is 鈥渁n enterprise for habitat restoration, introduction of at-risk species, carbon sequestration 鈥� research, a place for wildlife to breed, birth and raise their young 鈥︹��
Cole notes that the ranch鈥檚 arid landscape has a unique hydrology, a rare source of water called a ci茅naga, Spanish for a swamp, bog or marsh. The goal for the Pitchfork鈥檚 Burro Ci茅naga, he said, was to 鈥渟hallow the landscape, to slow the water down so the sediment will drop.鈥�
The book suggests that properties of various sizes on the planet 鈥� from a small city lot to a huge ranch 鈥� can benefit from restoration practices.
The smallest lot Cole refers to is 鈥淛ohn Doe鈥檚 0.02-acre rental residence in Silver City.鈥� It benefits from curb cuts to divert rainwater from the street onto the property, and berms and plants for water retention.
The book intertwines fresh, well-thought-out perspectives on a multitude of familiar and unfamiliar history 鈥� the history (and prehistory) of the Pitchfork, of the region, of the West. It provides a whole chapter on cattle, and commentaries on varied humans using the land 鈥� the developer and the land speculator, the lawman, the outlaw, the banker, the lawyer and, yes, the cowboy.
Cole writes that the best book that he鈥檚 read on the cowboy is Jack Watson鈥檚 鈥淭he Real American Cowboy.鈥� Cole quotes Watson鈥檚 book: 鈥淢ost cowboys on ranches worked for very rich capitalists. In the (1870s) they typically worked for a partnership of a Western owner-manager and an Eastern financier or two.鈥�
Cole鈥檚 writing sometimes is dense because he tackles so many related subjects so intently. But his explanations of topics are straightforward and readable. Given the wealth of information on climate science the book discusses, the reader would do well to reread portions to better digest them. The book contains plentiful photographs of changes in the Pitchfork鈥檚 habitat restoration.
