| As in many areas of the "New West," ranchers in Montana's Madison Valley are being replaced by retirees, "exurbanites," and hobby ranchers. Some in the conservation community feel that ranching ought to give way to a more environmentally-friendly amenity economy. Others see value in maintaining "working landscapes" in order to mitigate the impacts of increasing development. This study gives a detailed analysis of "family ranches" as ecological, economic, and social units, allowing for a nuanced understanding of the human ecology of mountain ranching in the U.S., the dynamics of ranchland conversion, and the strategies employed by remaining ranchers to maintain their lifestyle.; Historical analysis shows that the development of ranching in the valley contradicts the accepted storyline of Western settlement. Rather than pursuing an open range strategy, settlers immediately established private lands. The land use and tenure patterns in the valley display strong parallels with other societies that practice systems of grazing transhumance. However, due to the political context of Western settlement, true common property regimes did not emerge. Instead, public lands in the U.S. served many of the functions of common lands. This would have important implications when national values began to focus on environmental amenities.; Interviews with ranchers reveal significant overlap in landscape values with newer residents and environmentalists. However, subtle differences in social values and dramatic differences in economic interest lead ranchers to resist standard land protection tools. Nevertheless, ranchers in the valley are currently building new forms of collaboration with each other and with diverse outside groups, in recognition of their collective interest in landscape conditions. Unlike a traditional commons, the actors in this "mixed commons" have different values, understandings, and economic interests, making cooperation more difficult to accomplish. However, this diversity gives the mixed commons more potential to broadly address ecosystem services, rather than merely economic resources. In their efforts to practice "ecosystem management," conservationists should recognize the powerful incentives for cooperation that exist at the more circumscribed scale of the landscapes. Building institutions for "landscape citizenship" could address the negative impacts of administrative and property boundaries with some of the efficiency of traditional common property regimes. |
