Conservationists and hunters find common ground on the prairie grasslands
TIA’s Dr Kerry Bridle is feeling very much at home on the range after her second visit in three years to Big Sky Country. Along with fellow ecologist Dr Louise Gilfedder from the Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment Dr Bridle recently visited the 238,278-hectare Vermejo Park Ranch in northern New Mexico, owned by media mogul and philanthropist Ted Turner, on her way to attending a climate adaption conference in Tucson, Arizona.
It is the largest tract of privately owned land in the American West, one of a dozen ranches in Turner’s property portfolio which totals two million acres. Each ranch attempts to integrate conservation and production imperatives.
