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Close to 90,000 acres of Montana rangeland added to certified "Undaunted Land Stewards"Participation, interest in Montana's Undaunted Stewardship Program continues to grow Almost 90,000 acres of Montana rangeland, from six different ranches around the state, have now been added to the "certified" category of involvement in the nationally unique Undaunted Stewardship program. The owners and managers of these lands can call themselves "Undaunted Land Stewards"--participants in the program that is preserving historic sites along the Lewis and Clark Trail and helping ranch families improve both the stewardship and the economic performance of their ranches. The six newly certified ranches collectively contain 85,237 acres and are located all over Montana, from Carter to Ekalaka. Managed jointly by Montana State University, the federal Bureau of Land Management and the Montana Stockgrowers Association, Undaunted Stewardship has earned national recognition for its unique approach to stewardship and historic site preservation. A guidance council representing various conservation, agricultural, and other Montana groups helps oversee the multi-faceted program. To participate as "Undaunted Land Stewards," ranches have to meet a series of grazing and other land management standards that ensure the long-term sustainability and productivity of their ranch lands. Before a ranch can become certified as an "Undaunted Land Steward," it must use a grazing management approach that is documented and monitored, with a written prescription for land management that protects the natural resources. These ranchers are demonstrating how ranching can maintain natural productivity, and sustain it for generations to come. Carl Wambolt directs the Undaunted Stewardship land use program and coordinates a team of range scientists at Montana State University-Bozeman. The team visits, inventories the ranch, and helps the ranchers develop written grazing plans. They also help each rancher establish a range monitoring program to collect baseline data that ranchers can use to judge, refine, and continually improve their land management. "Through the Undaunted Stewardship program, we're assisting ranchers all over Montana to continue being superior undaunted land stewards," said Carl Wambolt. "There's no other voluntary, incentive-based, private-land stewardship program like this in the nation." The ranches that have recently completed the certification process are: --Bonsell Ranch, Ekalaka; --Cottonwood Farms Inc., Wolf Point; --Eagle Butte Farms, Fort Benton; --Holzer Ranch, Moccasin; --Powell Ranch, Chinook; --R&R Bronec Grain and Cattle, Carter. 4/14/08 Date: 4/9/08
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