- \n
- In the northern Rockies, rancher Dusty Crary has wrangled an improbable band of longtime enemies \u2013 cattlemen, fisherman, federal land managers, outfitters, hikers, hunters and \u201cgreenies\u201d \u2013 to protect the sprawling ranches, untamed wilderness and iconic wildlife they all love.<\/li>\n
- On the Kansas prairie, \u201cindustrial-scale\u201d farmer Justin Knopf is using cover crops<\/a> and no-till practices<\/a> to restore depleted soils and increase his wheat and soybean yields. In the process, he\u2019s decreasing harmful fertilizer losses<\/a> to the air and water, and making his crops more resilient to climate change.<\/li>\n
- On the Mississippi, Canal Barge Chief Executive Merritt Lane has joined an unprecedented effort to restore<\/a> the river\u2019s natural land-building functions in the Delta. It will help protect his mariners and the country\u2019s most important shipping artery, which facilitates 60 percent of America\u2019s grain exports.<\/li>\n
- On the Louisiana bayou, Sandy Nguyen is fighting to keep alive the estuaries that harbor the shrimp and oysters her immigrant community relies on, and which help to protect Louisiana\u2019s coastal residents from rising sea levels<\/a>.<\/li>\n
- And on the deep waters of the Gulf, commercial fisherman Wayne Werner is tangling with federal regulators to bring back red snapper<\/a>, which will help supply local restaurants with a favorite dish and keep his buddies\u2019 businesses afloat.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Busting myths<\/strong><\/p>\n
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In telling their stories, Horn challenges pervasive myths about Americans and environmental values. These myths hold that in these traditional and deep-red states, heartland Americans \u2013 people who run tractors, barges and fishing boats; and who attend church and town meetings \u2013 are hostile to environmental values.<\/p>\nAccording to this belief, Big Ag is inherently destructive of nature, local organic is the only solution, and America is trapped in ever-more-hostile warring political camps.<\/p>\n
The truth is, the people in Miriam\u2019s book are like the hundreds of ranchers, farmers and fishermen Environmental Defense Fund has partnered with over the years. They are conservationists because their professions and communities live or die by the natural resources they ply.<\/p>\n
They understand that if we\u2019re going to meet growing needs for food, water and shelter in a changing climate, they\u2019ll need to employ practices that improve, rather than harm, the ecosystems that sustain us.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe foundation of democracy\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n
As a group, they\u2019re also more aware than most of us of their connection to their neighbors and the larger world, Miriam says.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe water from Justin\u2019s Kansas farm winds up in the Gulf where Wayne fishes. The ducks Dusty hunts on the lakes near his Montana ranch spend their winter in Louisiana\u2019s estuaries,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
That interdependency has required all of them to learn how to work things out with people very different from themselves, even sometimes with long-time adversaries \u2013 which is, of course, the foundation of a democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n
We cannot win the fight to preserve our natural heritage and our food supply without the people in Miriam\u2019s book.<\/p>\n
My hope is that Rancher Farmer Fisherman<\/em> will help change the national conversation about what it means to be an environmentalist and re-establish conservation as a core American value.<\/p>\n
Related:<\/em><\/p>\n
How coastal restoration in Louisiana is helping rural communities in the Midwest >><\/a><\/p>\n
Meet the farmer who helped make no-till the norm in north central Montana >><\/a><\/p>\n
- On the Mississippi, Canal Barge Chief Executive Merritt Lane has joined an unprecedented effort to restore<\/a> the river\u2019s natural land-building functions in the Delta. It will help protect his mariners and the country\u2019s most important shipping artery, which facilitates 60 percent of America\u2019s grain exports.<\/li>\n