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Empowering Land
Management Partnerships
Eric Schwennesen 1
In the small African kingdom of Lesotho a few years ago, I had a chance to witness firsthand
some of the whimsy that occurs when modern technology meets practical culture. The mainly
agrarian kingdom was about to receive the gift of a new international airport.
As is often the case with new technology, there was to be some care and feeding of this gift,
and local officials spent many long days explaining to the villagers in the surrounding region how
beautiful!, important!, beneficial!, this new airport would be.
And just to make sure, nearly one half million dollars was spent to put a very formidable fence
around the whole thing. Well, the money spent was enough to scare nearly everybody away (is any
of this starting to sound familiar?) And it really was important to keep this airport running smoothly.
Well, even before the new airport had a chance to start operations a "breach" in the security
fence spilled cattle all over the runways. Frantic investigations finally turned up the dangerous
lunatic who had sabotaged the massive project: a 12-year-old boy with a $2 pair or pliers.
He was a herdboy, an important responsibility in Africa. One morning he found his track
blocked by a very formidable fence, found it to be an impediment to his progress ... and solved his
problem with an elegant simplicity that I can only admire today.
The lesson, in case it has escaped you, is that enforced partnerships, regardless of intention,
don't work. They have a fatal weakness; anyone with a philosophical $2 pair of pliers can ruin
them. It happens all the time; anyone care to guess how much money and effort has been built
into massive projects, only to be defeated by "pliers?" That's what lawyers do.
This all sounds defeatist, so can I suggest or demonstrate a better way?
Yes I can.
1. Instead of starting with a project ("what this country really needs is ... ") start with a common
goal, not a vague, everybody-knows-it-anyway statement, but a detailed written goal that recognizes
every serious wish of every participant. The goal becomes the guiding force for everything that
happens later and cannot tolerate consensus! Either every participant supports the stated goal, or
more effort has to be made to have the goal include further needs. It is not a workable goal until
every participant supports it. (See paragraph one: "enforce partnerships.")
2. No uniforms. A workable partnership at any level has no need of corporate identity of agency
mystique. By the same reasoning, there can be no "experts." Participants are individuals with
individuals' need for recognition, and if one individual has special knowledge that is pertinent, so do
all others who participate.
3. Be inclusive, not exclusive. We have evolved into a society that treats severely anyone who
came in late." I'm still trying to understand why! Probably it's a throwback to school days and tardy
bells, but it's a very silly reason to exclude someone who really cares, from participating in the
management of a better future. I have had the fortune of seeing the inclusive approach and its
consequences in extraordinary places. Rest assured that anyone who really wants to be involved,
does have something important to contribute.
1
Rancher, Winkleman ftZ.
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4. Land management partnerships should not be made to "follow regulations." To do so places
the group's goals in an inferior position to policy and bureaucracy and in that case, don't bother.
Start over with a group that includes the policy writers. See point #1. By my reckoning, the "right
way" to manage land has not been invented yet.
5. The previous points all call for that rarest of commodities, trust. About two-thirds of the
audience will now curl their lips in derision ... which does not change my statement in any way. In
my experience our land management groups have tried hard to broker trust without realizing that
you can't broker it; you have to earn it. When you do earn it, the whole management equation
changes.
6. I'd like to list a few brief examples which are nearby and will happily welcome you into their
management partnerships .
.,.
Clay Riggs Ranch, Sunizona, Arizona
.,.
Double Check Ranch, Winkleman, Arizona
.,.
The 20:1 Group, Austin, Nevada
.,.
Rancho Mababi, Cucarachi, Sonora
.,.
Adams Ranch, Texas Canyon, Arizona
.,.
Wheeler Ranch, Globe Arizona
.,.
Holder Ranch, Eagle Creek, Arizona
There are many other such partnerships, and I haven't bothered even to mention the much larger
progress being made overseas.
Thank you.
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