How Can Livestock Create Climate Resilience?
In this session, Cole Bush, of Shepherdess Land and Livestock Co.; Bre Owens, Director of Western Programs with the National Grazing Lands Coalition; and Sarah Wentzel-Fisher, of the renowned Quivira Coalition, will discuss the ways in which enlightened livestock management, particularly shepherding, can actually improve the land and soil, sequester carbon, and strengthen rural communities. They will share their experiences working in the American West, seeking to restore and protect its delicate landscapes through intelligent, cutting-edge grazing practices, as well as cultivating relationships between diverse peoples, cultures, and places. Questions they will explore will include: How can livestock contribute to building climate resilience? How can we think and act differently about the relationship between people, animals, and watersheds? How are unexpected allies critical in changing our food, fiber, and climate systems?
Golden Bear Room, Hotel Shattuck Plaza
March 29th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm
Panelists
Cole Bush
Owner/Operator
Shepherdess Land and Livestock Co.
Brittany Cole Bush (aka “Cole”), an entrepreneur, educator, and consultant in the fields of climate-smart agriculture, land stewardship, and prescribed grazing with sheep and goats, is the owner/operator of Shepherdess Land and Livestock Co. With over a decade of experience, Cole has developed and managed the treatment of thousands of acres on private and public lands, (including the East Bay Regional Parks District) using carefully managed grazing as an ecosystem service for ecological enhancement and fire hazard reduction throughout California. She is also dedicated to training new entrepreneurs and practitioners in the field of land and livestock through a vocational training and workforce development program, the Grazing School of the West.
Sarah Wentzel-Fisher
Executive Director
Quivira Coalition
Sarah Wentzel-Fisher, Executive Director of the Quivira Coalition, a Santa-Fe, NM-based nonprofit seeking to foster resilience on working lands, has been involved in food and agriculture planning for 10+ years with a focus on supporting young and beginning farmers and ranchers. The Editor of Edible Santa Fe from 2011 to 2017 and an organizer for the National Young Farmers Coalition from 2013 to 2015, she currently serves on the boards of the Southwest Grass-fed Livestock Alliance and the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union. A farmer herself, she is a committed champion of resilient and regenerative agriculture.
Bre Owens
