Boies Ranches
Landscape Stewardship Certificate of Appreciation for 2008

THE PUBLIC LANDS FOUNDATION presents Boies Ranches with a Landscape Stewardship Certificate of Appreciation and Citation.  The Foundation grants this recognition to honor private citizens and organizations who work to advance and sustain community-based stewardship on landscapes that include, in whole or in part, public lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).  Candidates for the award include any private citizen or citizen group of the United States who, over the past 1-5 years, has demonstrated sustained outstanding leadership, vision, and purpose in contributing to BLM’s efforts and in motivating other citizens and institutions to work together to more effectively manage whole landscapes, including watersheds, planning or management units, and other land systems upon which people share a common interest.  

In his nomination of the Boies Ranches, Jeff Moore, Rangeland Management Specialist in the BLM’s Elko office, detailed the contribution Boies Ranches has made.

Steve and Robin Boies took note of the success of the changes on a neighboring ranch brought about by a group known as the Shoesole Group, named after a famous brand in the area and consisting of federal, state and local agencies and other interested parties.  This prompted the Boies family to become interested in starting something similar on their ranch. In 1999/2000 the group from the neighboring ranch expanded to include the Boies family operation.  The ranch has routinely placed between one-third to one-half of their permitted use into non-use each year and has implemented rotational grazing systems that have periodically rested or deferred livestock use in pastures containing wildlife habitats during critical seasons for sensitive wildlife species.   These efforts have led to substantial improvements in riparian and upland resource and habitat conditions across much of the allotment.  The Boies family’s efforts do not stop at the boundaries of their ranch.  The family has extensively networked with other collaborative group processes around the west, including such groups as the Quiviera Coalition in the southwest.  Their efforts are aimed at trying to spark a new way of dealing with natural resource management that advocates productive working relationships between agencies, land users, special interest groups, and other interested parties to peacefully resolve land use conflicts and lead to improved resource conditions that benefit all parties.

The Public Lands Foundation is pleased to present Steve and Robin Boies of Boies Ranches with this Citation and a Certificate of Appreciation for invaluable contributions to the stewardship of America’s public landscapes.

/s/ George Lea, President