"The Diablo Trust represents a great example in collaborative management and rangeland stewardship, and receipt of this award will honor the community-based effort that has allowed the group to flourish over the past thirteen years."

— Katherine Sanchez Meador, Range Specialist on the Coconino National Forest

Diablo Trust Honored by US Forest Service

US Forest Service Press Release — February 28, 2007

Flagstaff — The Diablo Trust, a northern Arizona collaborative grassroots land management team located in Flagstaff, recently received the 2006 US Forest Service National Rangeland Management Award. The award was presented in Reno, Nevada at the annual Society for Range Management meeting earlier in February.

The mission and work of the Trust could not be a more perfect match for the 2006 National Award for Outstanding Achievement in Rangeland Management. Formed in 1993 the Diablo Trust is a local collaborative comprised of two ranching families, environmentalists, public land managers, Northern Arizona University researchers, scientists, professors, students, elected officials, and other citizens.

“We are pleased to work closely with this group and believe there could not have been a better candidate for this special recognition,” said Katherine Sanchez Meador, Range Specialist on the Coconino National Forest. “The Diablo Trust represents a great example in collaborative management and rangeland stewardship, and receipt of this award will honor the community-based effort that has allowed the group to flourish over the past thirteen years.”

The Trust is dedicated to managing and promoting the social, biological and economic sustainability of 426,000 acres of federal, state and private land comprising the Flying M and Bar T Bar ranches southeast of Flagstaff, Arizona.

The philosophy for this dynamic group is: “Learning from the land and sharing our knowledge, so there will always be a West”. This philosophy entails a commitment to science and monitoring projects incorporating a range of ecological as well as social, economic and collaboration indicators designed to provide information of value to both researchers and land managers. In addition to a series of projects aimed at improving range lands, the Trust has contributed to educational and artistic efforts, producing a field-based curriculum and hosting artists out on the land.

Besides being centered around the century-old homesteads and the ranches associated with the homesteads on the Diablo Trust lands, the Flying M and Bar T Bar Ranches also work hard with the support of other collaborators such as U.S. Forest Service, Arizona State Land Department, Arizona Game and Fish Department, and National Resource Conservation Service to manage and promote watershed health, wildlife habitat improvement, spring restoration, and wetland protection.

The Trust has also received numerous local and national awards related to their collaborative work, environmental stewardship, and rural community planning including:

Sheldon D. Gerber Award for Excellence in Environmental Planning from Western Planner Resources, Inc.
Governor’s Excellence in Rural Development Award for Innovative Economic Development Practices
Regional National Cattleman’s Beef Association Environmental Stewardship Award
Outstanding Achievement Award from the Environmental Protection Agency on Earth Day

In 1998, the Trust was designated as a National Reinvention Government Laboratory by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. This designation offered the Trust the cooperation of all federal agencies "within the constraints of statute" to, demonstrate innovative approaches to restore and maintain natural processes that create and protect a health, landscape that supports a diverse flourishing community of human, plant, and animal life in the Diablo Trust land area.

Members of the Diablo Trust receive the 2006 National Rangeland Management Award from the U.S. Forest Service (left to right): Judy Prosser, Bar T Bar Ranch; Mandy Metzger, President, Diablo Trust; Joel Holtrop, Deputy Chief U.S. Forest Service; Diana Kessler; Kit Metzger, Flying M Ranches; Alan Kessler.

Learning from the land and sharing our knowledge...
So there will always be a West.