Education, Innovation, Restoration
one acre at a time
At Quivira Coalition, we strive for a world where regenerative agriculture is recognized as a vital solution for the future of our food systems and the health of our planet. Our work is centered on transforming the extractive patterns of the past into regenerative practices that enhance the land, water, and air we depend on. We are committed to advancing this shift — one that embraces land stewardship as the foundation for both ecological and economic resilience.
We are working to build a movement where regenerative agriculture is embraced; through education, research, and hands-on collaboration, we bring together the people and practices that make this vision possible. Whether it’s through training, community engagement, or direct action on the land, Quivira is proud to lead the charge toward a more just, equitable, and sustainable future.
New Agrarian Program apprentice alumni
years at the radical center
acres stewarded by REGENERATE community
What We Do
Our Mission
Through education, innovation, and collaboration, Quivira works in coalition with ranchers, farmers, government agencies, and land stewards to foster resilience on working lands.
We strive to achieve
Our Vision
We envision a world where agriculture provides for the health of rural economies and communities, heals social injustice, and regenerates climate, land, water, and ecosystems. We work to support the community and implementation of regenerative agriculture until it is embraced as a crucial piece of our food systems, our land stewardship, and our solutions to climate change. Quivira’s work, at its foundation, advances the current shift from extractive to regenerative culture and economy.
Our Team
Quivira Coalition consists of a small staff, a dedicated board, dozens of volunteers, numerous family ranchers and farmers, conservationists, scientists and public land managers, hundreds of members, and thousands of others impacted by our work. What we all have in common is a dedication to building economic and ecological resilience on working landscapes.
Amy Larsen was raised in Taos, New Mexico and has lived near both coasts — Massachusetts for school and Oregon for work. In 2011, Amy returned to northern NM where she and her family now tend a homestead with goats, chickens and parakeets, guard dogs, a small orchard, a garden, and a huge compost pile. Geology is the foundation of Amy’s background in soils, complemented by training in landscape planning and design; commercial compost, compost tea and vermicompost production; and chemical and biological field and laboratory analyses. Composting led Amy to explore the intricate world of microbes, and ultimately to the question of how we think about soil health in arid environments. With the Carbon Ranch Initiative at Quivira, Amy contributes to program management, workshop facilitation, soil monitoring, and whole ranch planning. Amy hopes to better understand the diversity of soils across NM, as well as how we tend the land equitably, with consideration for future generations. When not looking down at the ground, Amy might be gazing up at the stars or galaxies, while serving on the board of a local astronomy club. Inspired by both her mother and grandmother’s passion for education, Amy served as Board Chair of a local public charter school for several years, and strives to be a lifelong educator and learner.
Anica comes to Quivira with a storyteller’s eye and a family history tied to the land. Her great grandfather and grandfather were part of a long line of vaqueros in northern New Mexico and her dad spent his entire career in the Forest Service working to help all people access the outdoors. Anica is a journalist by training and has more than a decade of communications and marketing experience, most of it with non-profits. She is always looking for ways to tell the stories of those who are doing the “heart work” of caring for the land and feeding our communities.
She and her partner own an urban farm in the Denver-metro area and are committed to utilizing regenerative agriculture practices. They also focus on finding beauty in farm work and the connections formed through fresh produce. Their weekly farm stand gives people the opportunity to meet neighbors and get an inside look at the importance of local agriculture.
When not farming, Anica enjoys reading, running and laughing at the shenanigans of their three dogs.
Carrie has worked for mission driven organizations for almost 30 years with a passionate focus on environmental and climate change areas. She brings this experience to Quivira Coalition where she oversees operations and systems that support Quivira staff in their work, brings thought leadership at an organizational level and works closely with the Executive Director.
Her formative years began on an 80 acre family farm that used organic practices in the western mountains of Maine and later moved to the coast of Maine. Her connection to the earth continued to grow as she did. After receiving a degree in psychology, she worked overseas and on the ocean where she began to see the connection between culture and the environment. She explored this more deeply through graduate studies in physical oceanography and marine policy where her research explored the effect of climate change through science, social and communication perspectives. Before joining Quivira Coalition, Carrie worked as the Operations and Finance Director for Acadia Center, a non-profit organization working towards a clean energy future, for almost 9 years.
Carrie is inspired in life and in work by the sacredness of the earth and our relationship with her. The joy and laughter in Carrie’s life comes from being in nature, fiber arts, gardening, music and her friends and family. She is excited to fulfill her long term dream of living in New Mexico.
Elicia comes to Quivira with a curiosity about the promise of personal, social and ecological healing through agriculture. Elicia began her farming journey at Green Gulch Farm Zen Center in California over a dozen years ago, and worked for Fort Lewis College running a farmer training program before coming to Quivira. Elicia holds a bachelor’s in Environmental Analysis from Pomona College and a master’s in Geography from the University of Minnesota. As part of the Education and Outreach team, she is excited to connect with farmers, ranchers, and land stewards across New Mexico and Colorado to foster community and share knowledge and information. She lives in Mancos, Colorado with her husband and daughter, and their small yard is filled with apple trees, herbs, and flowers.
Emily Hotovec is a 5th generation New Mexican who was born and raised in Albuquerque. Emily’s professional background is in health care. She worked in patient care roles from the moment she graduated high school all the way up until beginning work with Quivira Coalition.
Most recently, she spent six years as a Physical Therapy Aide, providing hands-on assistance in physical, occupational, and speech therapy treatments. She is also a CPR & First Aid instructor, and led her facility’s resuscitation team in responding to episodes of cardiac arrest and other life-threatening medical emergencies.
Though new to the worlds of both nonprofit and sustainable agriculture, she is excited to bring a healthcare worker’s empathy, dedication, and level-headedness to her position as Operations Coordinator.
Outside of work, Emily’s favorite hobby is the gradual restoration of her 1968 Chevy pickup truck.
Ernie Atencio is a cultural anthropologist, conservationist, and writer with deep Indo-Hispano roots in northern New Mexico. He previously spent nine years as executive director of the Taos Land Trust, where he developed innovative community partnerships, permanently protected thousands of acres of land, and returned a sacred site to the legal ownership of the Taos Pueblo Tribe. Ernie has also been executive director of a national association of cabin owners, coordinated the Valles Caldera Coalition, worked with a number of other conservation organizations, and is currently the Southwest Regional Director for National Parks Conservation Association. Growing up in inner-city Denver, he discovered the larger world—and the land—through an Outward Bound “hoods-in-the-woods” program and has worked throughout the West ever since as a wilderness instructor, national park ranger, environmental educator, and journalist.
Eva is a dryland microbial ecologist with interests in how plant-microbe interactions in soil affect biogeochemical cycling such as carbon and nitrogen. She has a background in curriculum development for learners of all ages and backgrounds, for example through a science communication fellowship with the Explora Museum and a teaching assistantship that built ecology and evolution labs for the University of New Mexico Department of Biology. She has also trained in active listening and mediation as a way of better engaging with collaborators across all backgrounds. Eva was born and raised in New Mexico (weekends spent on a horse on her dad’s property in La Puebla), explored the coasts for college and her masters, and came back to New Mexico for her PhD working with the Sevilleta Long Term Ecological Research Station. At Quivira Coalition, she enjoys conducting field work around organic amendment research, developing curriculum, organizing, facilitating, and presenting outreach events such as in-field workshops and academic conferences, and overseeing and conducting technical support such as grant-writing and assisting others with grant-writing. In her free time, she enjoys vintage fashion, dance, music, and watching F1 car racing.
Evanne Caviness is a rancher, mother, and agricultural policy expert who runs a cow/calf and hay operation in Bayfield, CO with her husband and three children. Evanne serves her state as the Director of the Conservation Services Division with the Colorado Department of Agriculture. Evanne is passionate about farmland preservation for the next generation and serves on various leadership boards and councils across her state. In her free time, she trains Quarter Horses and gardens.
Hayden comes to the NAP team from Central Montana where she resides on her husband’s family ranch, learning alongside them both the joys and struggles of ranching. She was born and raised in rural Montana having both an understanding of the agriculture world and a passion for conservation. She received a B.S. in Rangeland Management from Montana State University. She has spent the start of her career working for the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) as a Range Management Specialist. It was here where she found her greatest joy was working directly with agriculture producers and learning from them on their operation. That is what excites her most about her new role here at the Quivira Coalition. She serves the Quivira Coalition as the New Agrarian Program Northern Plains Coordinator and is excited to work with mentors and apprentices alike and continue learning on the ground how to better the environment around her. In her free time Hayden enjoys spending her days on a horse, gardening, and spending time outdoors around the ranch with her two wild cowdogs and son Jack.
Holly was raised in the mountains outside of Durango, CO. She was fortunate that her family ran an outdoor education business. She actively participated in backpacking tours, bike tours through the western United States and Canada, and Habitat for Humanity work trips in Mexico. She earned her undergraduate degree at Northern Arizona University and worked with children’s outdoor educational camps that explored native cultures and the landscape of Northern Arizona. She holds an M.Agr. in Agriculture Sciences–Integrated Resource Management and a Graduate Certificate in Applied Global Stability in Agriculture from Colorado State University. Her professional experience includes running a diversified farm that produced pastured broiler chickens, eggs, lamb, and goat meat. She worked as the office and production manager at her local USDA-inspected meat processing facility, where she enjoyed working with local livestock producers and helping to provide healthy, locally raised food for her community. Currently, she lives on a farm in southwestern Colorado with chickens, goats, sheep, guard dogs, cats, and many family members. She is thankful to be working with Quivira and excited to support mentors and apprentices in Southern Colorado and New Mexico.
Jane works at the intersection of climate science and policy. These days, her work focuses on advancing the science of carbon removal and she is currently the executive director of the Soil Carbon Solutions Center at Colorado State University, where Jane works with leading scientists to build the tools and approaches needed to accelerate the deployment of credible soil-based climate solutions, measure their impacts, and bring them to scale. In addition to Jane’s scientific and policy expertise, she is also the cofounder of 500 Women Scientists, a global grassroots nonprofit organization with the mission to serve society by making science open, inclusive and accessible and fighting racism, patriarchy and oppressive societal norms. Jane filled the role of volunteer executive director for the first 4 years and is now the board president. Jane is originally from Ukraine and her connection to land comes from childhood running around in Ukrainian forests, hiking with her dad, and working with her mom on the Soviet communal farms.
Julie Sullivan was born and raised in California. After working as an actor, arts administrator, and starting a private progressive preschool in Seattle, she earned her Master’s in Environmental Education and subsequently taught interdisciplinary environmental education at both undergraduate and graduate levels for the Audubon Expedition Institute at Lesley University. She spent those years challenging students to look beyond surface conflicts between environmentalism and agriculture, and to see the common values and goals shared by both points of view. After over a decade living outside teaching for the Expedition, Julie met and joined George Whitten at the ranch in 2001 on his certified organic, grass-finished cattle ranch. The ranch is committed to restorative practices that result in soil health, functioning grassland ecosystems, and viable small scale ranching. Julie and George and the founding mentors of the Quivira Coalition New Agrarian Program and have been mentors since its inception. Julie also serves as Mentor Support and Training for the New Agrarian Program. She is fiercely dedicated to the next generation of agrarians, fully functioning ecosystems and creative solutions to the interaction of humans with their planet.
For the past twenty years, Kate has been a quiet force for change, weaving together agriculture, technology, environmental justice, and democratic workplaces across the US. Her expertise spans food production and digital design, allowing her to tackle systemic challenges – especially those involving spreadsheets or power tools. Outside of work, you can find Kate canning homegrown vegetables, bingeing Dungeons & Dragons podcasts, and exploring nature with her partner and their canine companion, Beans.
Kristina is a passionate advocate for regenerative agriculture and supporting those in this field. She joins the team with a colorful background in many aspects of the agricultural industry including pasture-raised swine and poultry, grassfed beef, produce, fruit trees, dairy cattle, agritourism, event planning, marketing, and program planning. Kristina is a two-time graduate of North Carolina State University with a Bachelor’s degree in Extension Education with minors in Agricultural Leadership and Animal Science and a Master’s of Animal Science degree. In the few years she spent as a Livestock Extension Agent, Kristina worked with farmers of all different backgrounds, expertise, and skill levels; sharing knowledge, methods, and technologies to improve productivity, efficiency, and bottom lines. Kristina is excited to bring a farmer/rancher-centered approach to her communications work and be able to support telling the stories of regenerative ranchers. Kristina is an avid traveller and loves to explore national parks and new countries. When not working or traveling, she loves to read, try new coffee shops, hang out with her dog, Zelda, and plan her next trip.
Kyler combines his passion for local food systems, collaborative facilitation and regenerative stewardship at Quivira Coalition. In his role as Grants Manager he supports the Operations, Fundraising and Programmatic teams with cross-functional and simple systems for securing and managing grants. Originally hailing from the mountains of northwest Montana, Kyler joins the team with a background in multi-stakeholder projects working toward equitable food and land access in the Pacific Northwest and Southwest. He is trained as a participatory facilitator and strategic planner, which he employs in service to community-informed, place-sourced projects and initiatives. In his leisure time you’ll find him stewarding parts of the Mancos Valley in Colorado, sharing food, stories, music and adventures with his wife, two children, friends, and family.
Leah comes to Quivira Coalition with over a decade of experience coordinating and managing nonprofit programs at the intersection of sustainable agriculture, environmental education, and community resiliency. After graduating from Bowdoin College with a B.A. in Anthropology and Environmental Studies, she spent five years working at an outdoor science school in California, helping kids build connections to the outdoors through ecology lessons and exploration. In addition to teaching outdoor ed, she’s also taught garden and cooking classes in the Bay Area, and English in northern Chile. More recently, Leah managed California’s Market Match program, one of the nation’s largest SNAP incentive programs. She helped lead the expansion of the program to over 260 farmers’ markets across the state, supporting small scale farmers, low-income families, and a stronger local food system in the process. Outside of work, Leah likes to spend time up in the mountains on long runs, learning about geology, or whipping up a batch of waffles in her kitchen.
Lynne has worked in food and farming since 2005. She started off as a farm apprentice on an organic farm in Washington State and went on to manage farms in Oregon and Hawaii. After receiving a degree in Anthropology, she traveled the world with the intent to better understand how people connect to their natural environments. Lynne spent 10 years in New Mexico where she pursued work with horses and holistic grazing systems. She is inspired by good food, holistic health for people and animals, community, time spent in nature, and independent films. Lynne now lives in Sisters, OR, holding down the Quivira outpost in the Pacific Northwest.
María Leonor was born and raised in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic and often finds herself daydreaming about the ocean now that she lives in New Mexico. Early on, María found her love for the outdoors and learned how shared outdoor experiences could help build positive and powerful communities. These experiences and communities led her to pursue work in environmental and ecological programs across New Mexico, Idaho, Chile and North Carolina. Through her work, María grew passionate about creating culturally-relevant programs to strengthen connections to land and inspire long-lasting environmental change. As one of Quivira’s Education and Outreach managers, María designs and implements educational programming, facilitates regional network building, and develops one-on-one relationships with farmers, ranchers and land stewards. María is excited to continue building connections at Quivira and expanding education programming to create more equitable and accessible opportunities for all. In her free time you can find María romping around New Mexican landscapes, cooking elaborate meals, and attempting to successfully take care of her plants!
Mattie was raised in the Sawtooth Mountains outside of Stanley, Idaho and has had an interest in building relationships with the land and her food since an early age. Gardening, hunting, fly fishing, and foraging were all integral parts of her homeschool education. Her combined interest in ecological systems and food inspired her to study permaculture design at age 18, and continued through college where she helped develop a campus community garden before graduating with a B.A. in Environmental Studies-Geology from Whitman College. After school, she traveled and volunteered on farms across Southeast Asia before returning to the West, where she worked seasonally conducting field studies, wrangling for a hunting outfitter, and tending several small goat farms. In 2018, she moved to Bozeman, MT where she served two years as an Americorps VISTA at a non-profit food bank. Her work involved managing a small volunteer-powered farm that grew fresh food for their customers and creating a new community garden space where visitors can learn about the agricultural histories of the region, Indigenous food systems, and food forestry. When the COVID pandemic struck, she returned to Montana State University to learn more about the systemic barriers and opportunities for strengthening local and regional food systems and earned an M.S. in Sustainable Food Systems. She is excited to support the next generation of agrarians across the Northern Plains, and to continue connecting people with the land to create a more robust and resilient food system. She currently lives in a cabin outside of Bozeman with her cat, Luna. She likes to listen to live music, wander through the mountains, and work with her hands.
Nameh Marsin blends her love of the land, people and systems in her role as Quivira’s Office Manager. Nameh has led many lives; rape crisis legal advocate, Chicago law firm office management, organic veggie and seedling farming, and spiritual life coaching. Nameh deeply values harmony by bringing our inner world in alignment with our outer expression.
Nancy Ranney spent her childhood years on a farm in northern Illinois and came to New Mexico as a teen when her parents bought a ranch near Corona. She has a graduate degree in Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning. She managed the Ranney Ranch for the Ranney family from 2000 until its sale in 2021; inspired by Quivira Coalition, she instituted regenerative range management practices and land conservation partnerships, including as the pilot NM ranch for the Audubon Conservation Ranching Program. She managed the Ranney Ranch Grassfed/Grassfinished Beef program and is currently on the board of SWGLA (Southwest Grassfed Livestock Alliance) and the Quivira Coalition; also a member of the New Mexico Cattle Growers and the Society for Range Management. She now lives with her husband in Corrales, NM.
Nick grew up partly on a family’s cattle ranch in the Gila Wilderness of New Mexico and partly in San Diego, CA–a real “surf and turf” upbringing. Nick studied Environmental and Marine Resources at Stanford University and holds a graduate degree in Sustainable Aquaculture from the University of Stirling, Scotland. A former member of the Quivira Coalition staff, Nick is now Founder and CEO of Neptune Snacks, a mission-driven food company that seeks to ‘Restore Humankind’s Healthy Relationship with the Sea’. Nick continues to work the family ranch and remains tied to regenerative agriculture as a member of the Quivira Coalition Board of Directors.
Nina joins Quivira with an excitement for sustainable and equitable food system management. Before recently graduating with an MA in Food Studies from Chatham University in Pittsburgh, PA, where they focused on US agricultural policy, agroecology, regional value chains, and justice oriented food practices, Nina spent a decade working on diversified vegetable and livestock farms across the US, and growing as a facilitator, advocate, and educator at organizations such as Cottonwood Gulch Expeditions, The Santa Fe Botanical Garden, and Girls Inc. of Santa Fe. As part of Quivira’s Education and Outreach program, Nina merges their passions for human systems and food systems while facilitating conversations and programming around regenerative agriculture, as well as kindling connections throughout the Mountain West. Outside of Quivira, Nina can be found working at their other career as a food writer and recipe developer for various regional and national publications, as well as tending to their hobbies of needle felting, cooking the perfect pot of beans, and taking long walks.
Nina grew up on a small farm in rural Vermont where her family raised a menagerie of animals from chickens to pigs to horses. As a teenager, Nina found her passion for small ruminants and began raising her own dairy goats for milk and cheese. She continued to follow her passion of further honing skills in livestock management and land stewardship through on-farm apprenticeships while earning a degree in Journalism from the University of Rochester in Upstate New York. Upon graduation, Nina ventured out west to California where she spent multiple years working on her friends’ grass-fed goat and sheep dairy and teaching environmental science in Yosemite National Park. She is excited to bring her combined background in communication, education, and hands-on agricultural experience to her position with the Carbon Ranch Initiative. When not working on all things Quivira-related, you can find Nina tending to her farm in the San Pedro Mountains of New Mexico or off skiing, backpacking, mountain biking, and rock climbing with her two pups in tow.
Owen works on agriculture and conservation issues in the U.S. and around the world. His current projects include analyzing the impacts of eucalyptus plantations in Brazil and figuring out how to build nature-positive economies in Papua New Guinea. As a youngster, he lived on several farms and ranches in Colorado, West Texas, and New Mexico. Owen is a proud graduate of New Mexico State University, loves composting, and once grew the Three Sisters in an apartment balcony garden.
Rebecca is an educator, soil-nerd, gardening enthusiast, fly fisher, and hiker from Colorado Springs. She received her Environmental Engineering B.S. from the University of Colorado Boulder, and researched soil health in alternative cropping systems while studying for her M.S. in Soil Science at Iowa State University. After graduate school, she moved to a ranch in the flowering, sage-dotted slopes of Idaho to herd cattle on horseback and perform ecological monitoring. Since then, she moved back to Colorado and has loved helping passionate producers improve their soil health and crop/pasture quality both in the non-profit world and through her own consulting business. She is currently based in Denver, CO and has completed rigorous agro-ecology training through the Integrity Soils CREATE Program to improve her capacity to guide producers in addressing production issues.
Sam Ryerson raises cattle and horses with his wife and partners on leased grazing lands in northeastern New Mexico. He is a graduate (in 2010) of Quivira’s ranch management apprenticeship program. He has been on the Quivira board since 2017, and also serves on the boards of the Southwest Grassfed Livestock Alliance, Sweet Grass Coop, and Contra Viento Journal.
Sarah has worked in food and agriculture planning for over a decade with a focus on supporting young and beginning farmers and ranchers. She was the editor of Edible Santa Fe from 2011 to 2017. From 2013 to 2015 she worked for the National Young Farmers Coalition as an organizer and is currently on the board of the Southwest Grassfed Livestock Alliance and the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union. She is a committed champion of the local food movement and of resilient and regenerative agriculture. In her free time, you can find her feeding pigs, turkeys and cows, checking the compost pile, or possibly weeding a patch of beans at Polk’s Folly Farm where she lives.
Shumaisa has been immersed in urban agriculture, eco-social design, and ecology initiatives for over 15 years. Her interest in environmental justice led her to the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Environment, where she did her dissertation research on food sovereignty praxis among community food initiatives in London. Shumaisa taught about environmental inequality at the University of Michigan, urban agriculture at the University of Brighton, and has taught permaculture to Global Majority communities in the UK. In 2019, she co-founded Compost Mentis, a soil care and alternative sanitation cooperative in England. Earlier in her career, Shumaisa worked for three years on the USAID Maternal and Neonatal Health program to reduce maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality in Indonesia.At Quivira Coalition, Shumaisa is part of the Carbon Ranch Initiative, where she manages soil care-related technical support and training initiatives and engages in outreach to make these opportunities more accessible.
Sisto Hernandez is a member of the White Mountain Apache Tribe in Arizona. He comes from a ranching heritage on both sides of his family. His maternal grandfather & great-grandfather were both cattle owners on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation in Arizona. His paternal grandparents also operated a ranch in northern Chihuahua Mexico. Sisto also serves as the Vice President of the Grasshopper Livestock Association. The Grasshopper Livestock Association is a Tribal grazing collective comprised of 14 members.Sisto was the Rangeland Management Specialist for the White Mountain Apache Tribe for 16 years. In that time he represented his Tribe and served as president of the Mexican Wolf/Livestock Council for Arizona & New Mexico. In that role he was instrumental in promoting tolerance and the implementation of proactive coexistence practices.Currently Sisto is a District Coordinator for Indian Nations Conservation Alliance (INCA). INCA helps Tribal agricultural producers to access USDA programs & assistance, implement conservation practices, and access new & innovative agricultural technologies.Sisto is a strong advocate of ranching, agriculture, natural resources & wildlife conservation, coexistence, and Tribal sovereignty.
I was born in Boston, MA and grew up in Tucson, Arizona. I currently administer lease agreements for livestock grazing and farming on Pima County-owned properties in southern AZ, and formerly for the U.S. Forest Service in Payson, AZ. I completed a Master of Range Science at NMSU, and Instituto Nacional de Technologia Agropecuaria in Argentina. I have also worked on four different grassfed livestock ranches intermittently throughout my career in the Southwestern U.S.
Wynette brings over 25 years of consulting experience, blending traditional Navajo wisdom with advanced technology and modern business practices. She specializes in developing sustainable, practical solutions that empower individuals, communities, and organizations to thrive.
In the health and wellness sector, Wynette advocates for a metabolic approach to optimal health, including its application to cancer, autoimmune diseases, obesity, and Parkinson’s disease. A strong believer in “food is medicine,” she emphasizes the importance of all-natural, chemical-free food and regenerative land practices.
In addition to owning and operating her consulting firm, Wynette serves on the board of a prominent tribally owned utility company. She is also exploring innovative technologies, such as drones, to enhance conservation and land management capabilities within her own business.
Wynette holds a Master’s degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Oklahoma and a Master’s of Advanced Study in Geographic Information Systems from Arizona State University.
Our History
Establishing collaborative restoration and collaboration
1997
Barbara Johnson, Courtney White, and Jim Widner — two members of the Sierra Club and a rancher — come together with a new vision of a West where ranches thrive economically and ecologically, to found the Quivira Coalition.
1998
Valle Grande Grass Bank established, providing alternative grazing opportunities for ranchers who manage public land permits. The grass bank offers a place for cows to graze while a public land allotment can be thinned, or treated to optimize ecological health.
2000
"The New Ranch Handbook" is published, promoting progressive ranching.
2001
The Comanche Creek Working Group was formed, with Quivira Coalition, New Mexico Trout Unlimited, the U.S. Forest Service, Valle Vidal Grazing Association, and others, to restore Rio Grande cutthroat trout habitat, beginning a 20 year collaboration in the area.
Bill DeBuys writes “Looking for the ‘Radical Center’ in the Quivira Newsletter, an early concept note informing our work.
2002
The Quivira Coalition “Official” First Annual Conference - The New Ranch at Work - happens Friday, January 18 and Saturday, January 19, 2002 at La Posada de Albuquerque.
2003
Radical Center Initiative launched, uniting ranchers, scientists, and conservationists.
Scaling up resilience and collaborative science
2004
Expansion into watershed-scale restoration and community-based conservation efforts.
2008
Inspired by the growing movement of young agrarians, the New Agrarian Program was launched to address the challenge of land access, training, and economic viability for new farmers and ranchers
2009
Introduction of "New Agrarianism," integrating regenerative agriculture, resilience, and local food.
Induced meandering methodology was formalized into a comprehensive how-to manual titled "Let the Water Do the Work: Induced Meandering, an Evolving Method for Restoring Incised Channels,” co-authored by Bill Zeedyk and Van Clothier
Resilience, agrarianism and climate adaptation
2012
Quivira transitions from a "Think Tank" to a "Do Tank", implementing regenerative practices on over 1 million acres.
2017
Expansion of the New Agrarian Program to the Northern Plains (Montana, Wyoming, Idaho)
Development of the New Mexico and Colorado Coalitions to Enhance Working Lands
Diversification and succession
2018
Partnered with Holistic Management International and American Grassfed Association to change the Quivira Conference into the REGENERATE Conference
Carbon Ranch Initiative project launched, integrating carbon sequestration, regenerative grazing, and food system resilience
2020
Quivira’s annual literary journal, Resilience, comes back after a five-year hiatus.
2023
Through the new Soil to Supper and the Pathways to Resilience initiatives, Quivira is focused on putting resources to work on farms and ranches to support transition to regenerative agriculture and ecological restoration.
The New Agrarian Program expands its programming to support more beginning ranchers and farmers to find community, mental health, and technical resources to engage in regenerative agriculture.