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Chapter 1 Harold Selman Ranches
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ChApter 1 harold selman ranches Every day in rural America, farmers and ranchers get up from their beds and go out to do their work on the land. In twenty-six years working with the Natural Resources Conservation Service, I have never met a landowner who got up in the morning and said, “I am headed out to destroy my land.” Most landowners manage based on what they know. In every resource professional’s life, a few very bright lights shine. Those bright lights are the handful of ranchers and farmers who exemplify the best of the best in terms of their stewardship commitment.These landowners can’t get enough resource knowledge; they think first of conservation because they realize that their stewardship will sustain the operation and its economic viability , not just during their lifetime but for future generations.The Natural Resources Conservation Service is proud to take part in honoring these outstanding landowners through the Leopold Conservation Award in the same way we take pride in a wide array of cost-share programs that assist them in fulfilling their vision for enhancing the natural resources in their care. I have been blessed to work with many of these amazing people. Two of the most outstanding are Fred and Laura Selman.This couple works tirelessly and with amazing enthusiasm, forging partnerships that bring them the knowledge and assistance they need to ensure the health of their land. I have watched them creatively unite environmental and production intereststo protect their land from development.They bring resource professionals with divergent ChApter 1 [ 4 ] interests together to come up with the best ideas for applied management.Both Fred and Laura give generously of their time to transfer information to other landowners through involvement with the Box Elder County Conservation District. They are both very active with the Utah Wool Growers and Utah Cattlemen’s Association education efforts. They are amazing people who add value to the land, their community, and to all who come in contact with them. It has been my privilege to help them in some small way. —sylvia Gillen Utah state conservationist, natural Resources conservation service [35.175.112.61] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 13:01 GMT) [ 5 ] Selman Ranch (photo by Ron Francis) you can never know too much.there’s always something new to learn. that is the guiding philosophy of Harold selman inc., the sheep ranches currently run by Fred selman (Harold’s son) and his family in the Bear River Valley of northern Utah. straddling cache and Box elder counties, this swath of land in the foothills of the Wasatch Mountains is the most ag-intensive part of the state or as Laura selman (Fred’s wife) more eloquently put it, “the last of the good, green space in Utah.” numerous outside pressures have threatened their way of life, including land fragmentation and creeping urbanization, but the selmans aren’t sweating. they’ve practiced exemplary stewardship of the land ChApter 1 [ 6 ] they love and over the years have grown to better understand the power of education and engagement and the differences they can make when dealing with outside interests. even in the rush to prepare for shipping lambs that marked the end of summer and the beginning of autumn, they took time to stop, pause, and listen to what folks had to say. on this particular saturday, a lady from nearby Logan stopped by the house after she’d been to the selmans’ pick-your-own garden, which was ripe with melons,squash,corn,potatoes,peppers,and pumpkins. she informed the selmans that the tomatoes she had just picked from their field were “the plumpest, juiciest, most beautiful tomatoes i’ve seen in years!”—which explains why some of the selmans’ pick-your-own customers drive all the way from Wyoming, idaho, and nevada. Fred and Laura’s son, Bret selman, 41, likes to tell the story of a conversation with an environmentalist as an example of how talking and listening made a difference. the two were serving on a national forest planning committee.the fellow had confronted Bret about the selmans’ grazing sheep in a designated wilderness area.“i have a real problem with that,” he told Bret. “Why don’t you take your sheep and go somewhere else? What do you need to be there for?” over the course of an hour’s worth of civil conversation, Bret laid out the consequences of the gentleman getting his wish. Bret explained the...