Restoring the Pitchfork Ranch
How Healing a Southwest Oasis Holds Promise for Our Endangered Land
By A. Thomas Cole
Now that we have entered the period of boiling, cauldron-like climate weather, the search for solutions beyond abandoning the carbon spewing fossil-fuel merry-go-round has finally hit home. The habitat restoration being done on the Pitchfork Ranch the past two decades is an important solution, but there is more we all can do. 'Restoring the Pitchfork Ranch: How Healing a Southwest Oasis Holds Promise for Our Endangered Land' not only tells the story of the ranch but also details how everyone can pursue their climate stabilization potential.
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.