I bet we can guess what you’re doing for Earth Day! Yep! You’re going out there and taking care of the land and the animals you manage, just like you do every day, trying to make sure that everything is better than it was the day before.

Earth Day is every day for farmers. For the rest of the USA, it started on April 22, 1970. On that day, 20 million Americans got out and rallied across the country, seeking a cleaner, more sustainable world. And Earth Day is now celebrated globally each April 22nd.

The first Earth Day came out of an unlikely partnership between Republicans and Democrats. (Of course, they seemed to get along better 45 years ago, so maybe that wasn’t so unlikely). Unlikely partnerships are one of the amazing things about Earth Day. People remember we’re all on the same team,  Team Earth, and that when we work together, we can accomplish a lot more.

Biologist Mark Hereford (don’t you just love his last name?) with Lahontan cutthroat trout prior to being released upstream. Photo courtesy of USGS.

An example of a great, and maybe unusual partnership is in the video we’re sharing this week about the work that ranchers and Trout Unlimited are doing together to save the Lahontan cutthroat trout.  It is the largest subspecies of trout and there isn’t another fish like it anywhere on the planet. But this is only one example of graziers working for the environment. In California, ranchers partnered with the environmentalists and AmeriCorps to protect burrowing owl habitat. In Nebraska., the Switzer Ranch is working with the Audubon Society  and the World Wildlife Fund to protect prairie chickens.

Those are just a few examples of the things farmers and ranchers and land management professionals like you are doing to make Earth Day happen on every farm and ranch every day. And even if we haven’t pointed you out personally, we appreciate what you’re doing, this week and every day.

Happy Earth Day!

Thanks!

Rachel and Kathy