Restoring the Pitchfork Ranch: How Healing a Southwest Oasis Holds Promise for Our Endangered Land

The Pitchfork Ranch is more than another dusty homestead tucked away in a corner of the Southwest. It is a place with a story to tell about the most pressing crisis to confront humankind. It is a place where one couple is working every day to right decades of wrongs. It is a place of inspiration and promise. It is an invitation to join the struggle for a better planet. Restoring the Pitchfork Ranch tells the story of a decades-long habitat restoration project in southwestern New Mexico. Rancher-owner A. Thomas Cole explains what inspired him and his wife, Lucinda, to turn their retirement into years dedicated to hard work and renewal. The book shares the past and present history of a very special ranch south of Silver City, which is home to a rare type of regional wetland, a fragile desert grassland ecosystem, archaeological sites, and a critical wildlife corridor in a drought-stricken landscape. Today the 11,300 acres that make up the Pitchfork Ranch provide an important setting for carbon sequestration, wildlife habitats, and space for the reintroduction of endangered or threatened species. Restoring the Pitchfork Ranch weaves together stories of mine strikers, cattle ranching, and the climate crisis into an important and inspiring call to action. For anyone who has wondered how they can help, the Pitchfork Ranch provides an inspiring way forward.

Table of Contents:
Preface Acknowledgments Introduction 1. The Pitchfork Ranch 2. Diverse Habitat, Wildlife, and Early Cultures 3. Cattle 4. Species Preservation 5. The Trifecta Crisis 6. The Miracle of Habitat Restoration 7. Hope Beneath Our Feet 8. Strategies That Will Save Us 9. Ecological Civilization 10. Empire Zinc Mine Strike and Salt of the Earth 11. Causes for Outrage 12. The Voice of the Streets Conclusion Appendix A: CiÉnaga Spelling, Pronunciation, and Punctuation Appendix B: Mycorrhizal Symbiosis Appendix C: Personal Climate Pledge Appendix D: Draft Public Official Contact Appendix E: On “The Voice of the Streets” Notes About the Wood Engravings Index

About the Author :
A. Thomas Cole spent thirty-two years as a small-town general practicing lawyer in central Arizona before retiring with his wife, Lucinda, to a ranch in southwestern New Mexico. Restoring the Pitchfork Ranch is his first book.

Review :
“This book will help spur the imagination of other landowners--'how can I help?' is the most human of questions, and it turns out the answers are manifold!” - Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature “A.T. Cole is as great of a writer as he is a practitioner of stewarding rangelands and their community. In a region currently being devastated by drought, wildfires and political divisiveness, Tom is not restoring valuable relationships but re-storying the way we relate to the land. Bravo!” - Gary Paul Nabhan, contemplative ecologist, collaborative conservationist, co-author of Agave Spirits: the Past, Present and Future of Mezcal “A riveting tale that combines history, advocacy, and how-to, The Pitchfork Ranch is both a kick-in-the-butt call for individual action on climate change and an inspiring story of what one couple with a passion for restoring the land can accomplish.” - Susan J. Tweit, author of Bless the Birds: Living with Love in a Time of Dying “The great American conservationist Also Leopold once wrote that 'One of the penalties of an ecological education is that one lives alone in a world of wounds.' Tom and Cinda Cole learned this wisdom first-hand when they purchased the Pitchfork Ranch. Decades of hard use had created a variety ecological wounds, some easy to recognize, others only revealed as the Coles came to know their land. In the finest Leopold tradition, they set out to heal these wounds and make the land healthy again, which will be increasingly important under climate change. It is a story for our times - and it's an inspiring one!” - Courtney White, author of Grass, Soil, Hope: A Journey through Carbon Country “A.T. Cole’s story of land restoration on the Pitchfork Ranch rests on a firm premise and a promise: that however daunting the world’s multiple and intersecting crises may be, all of us can be agents of positive change. In this corner of New Mexico’s high desert grasslands, Cole and his wife Lucinda have devoted themselves to repairing a wounded place. In sharing the story of their work, Cole encourages us all to take up our part in healing a wounded world.” - Curt Meine, author of Aldo Leopold: His Life and Work and Senior Fellow, Center for Humans and Nature “For the past 140 years, Arizona and New Mexico's precious cienegas have been extensively drained, degraded and destroyed. Twenty years ago, at Burro Cienega, the Coles reversed the process. After removing the cattle and installing hundreds of stream stabilization structures, gully erosion has ceased and recovery is now well underway. Much of the cienega has been re-wetted. Wetland vegetation and wildlife have returned. My favorite rule applies: When it stops getting worse, it starts getting better.  Well done you two!” - Bill Zeedyk, author of Let The Water Do The Work: Induced Meandering, an Evolving Method for Restoring Incised Channels