Four Arizona Ranchers Rawarded

Four Arizona ranchers in Coconino Co. have cared for our beautiful, fragile land for generations, most tracing their families back to settling the West & European roots. According to them, the longevity of their operations is testament to their commitment to the land. Because of that commitment, the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) will pay them $172,030 combined next year & a total of $1,341,322 in the next 10 years through the Conservation Security Program (CSP). CSP is a voluntary conservation program administered by NRCS that rewards private landowners for their ongoing care of natural resources on working lands.

The 4 ranches demonstrating high conservation excellence to receive the CSP awards are:

* Auza Ranches, Joe Auza & Mike Macauley
* Pouquette Cattle Company, Colleen & Albert Pouquette
* Babbitt Ranches & Cataract Natural Resource Lands, Bill Cordascio

Auza Ranches 28,950 acres

Conservation practices:
Air resource management
Energy management
Grazing management-rangeland monitoring
Wildlife Habitat management

Mike Macauley owns the Perrin Ranch, leasing to CSP recipients Joe Auza & Colleen Pouquette. Macauley is busy restoring his grasslands. Pinon juniper has invaded the range, & the drought has taken its toll. He has cut way back on the number of cattle he allows on it. Water is managed to attract wildlife as well as cattle. He is also playing with an idea to expand into niche markets, setting aside property for an Adopt a Ranch program that gives the disabled a place to hunt.

Joe Auza of Auza Ranches LLC has ranched all his life. His father, a Basque sheepherder, came from Spain. Auza owns property in Wickenburg, Casa Grande, Heber & Utah. He has done a lot of conservation improvements since he started working with NRCS in the 60s & 70s. He says he couldn’t afford it otherwise. Auza also does construction & bails hay for himself & other farms to make ends meet. He says conservation makes for a sustainable operation. He currently has a total of 1,200 head in his calf-cow operation, with 600 in the Havasu Canyon Watershed.

Pouquette Cattle Company 6,315 acres

Conservation practices:
Wildlife habitat management
Grazing management-rangeland monitoring
Air resource management
Energy management

Colleen Pouquette & her husband Albert have also been lifetime ranchers. He is the 4th generation - his grandfather came from the Pyrenees in France & homesteaded a ranch in the Williams area about 100 years ago. Colleen grew up working cattle with her father in a small farming community close to Blythe on the California-Arizona border. Since she works part time at her Speech Pathology business & Albert also has an outside job, her dad at 79 still works cattle, helping manage 130 head of cows & bulls. They lease about 1/4 of Mike Macauley’s ranch. Colleen feels conservation is important, & the couple have always tried to maintain range quality, participating in range monitoring for almost 10 years & implementing their own practices to make sure the land is not overgrazed & maintain range quality.

Babbitt Ranches 99,741 acres

Conservation practices:
Air resource management
Grazing management-rangeland monitoring
Wildlife habitat management

Cataract Natural Resource Lands 45,234 acres

Conservation practices:
Air resource management
Grazing management-rangeland monitoring
Wildlife habitat management

Bill Cordascio, president of Babbitt Ranches LLC, oversees the lease for Cataract Natural Reserve Lands. He's a descendant of the Babbitts, another old Az ranching family. This year will mark 120 that family has ranched in the Havasu Canyon Watershed. He attributes a relationship with NRCS’s precursor, the Soil Conservation Service, for their success. Cordascio says that the solid science put together by the NRCS has benefited not only the soil, but the livestock, water infrastructure & wildlife habitat.

He aggressively acts on his beliefs: he donated the 6th largest land area in the U.S. to Nature Conservancy, initiated a science foundation, & participates in biological land assessments with the State Fish & Game Dept. & studies on invasive plants.