Project Director: Tipton Hudson, Washington State University
The Art of Range is a first-of-its-kind podcast produced by Washington State University in cooperation with the Society for Range Management and the Rangelands Partnership. This project established a biweekly (26 episodes per year) podcast on rangeland ecology and management, marketing the “show” to a national audience focusing on the Western United States, and providing additional instruction by connecting listeners with educational resources through Rangelands partnership websites. This interview-style podcast broadcast the considered thoughts of experts in the field, both academic and practitioner. Ranchers and natural resource professionals were introduced to topics designed to address risks identified as the greatest threats to their economic viability and succession. These included: legal risk from environmental regulation, production risks from land base uncertainty and enterprise diversification, and human risk through interpersonal relationships and succession planning unknowns. A podcast, accompanied by web-based “show notes” and related links, was marketed widely through multiple communication outlets and, thus, reached a broad and diverse audience of listeners. “The Art of Range” assisted aspiring and established range managers to learn from those who have mastered the art and understood the science.
“The Art of Range podcast exists to model and provoke this human-to-human interaction, to inspire a land ethic, to promote education and conservation through conversation.” -Tipton Hudson
Outcomes: As a result of this project: 1,030 Listeners learned principles and various common practices for documenting landscape change over time on large and heterogeneous landscapes; 212 listeners incorporated grazing management principles taught in episodes 1-3 into existing grazing plans or to build new grazing plans; 182 listeners began monitoring rangeland health using principles and methods proposed in podcast episodes 4- 7; 212 listeners implemented rangeland management practices to increase ecological resiliency to climate uncertainty; 444 listeners used communication tools to address human risks inherent in ranching or land management (agency conflict, succession planning, or new proposal for habitat management).
“The podcast is a cool modality for those of us who spend a lot of time driving or out away from a desk. That having been said, I think, at least in my peer group, we’ve been slow to adopt the concept.”
“My uninformed sense is that you have a vision for what you’re trying to do. I hope you stay true to that and not yield to the pressure to be pulled down by listener polls of what they think they want. Vision, deep thinking, leadership and big ideas are in short supply” – Rancher Comments
Genesis of Art of Range Podcast Series
The Art of Range is an educational podcast designed for rangeland practitioners, including ranchers, rangeland professionals, and researchers. Rangeland management is both art and science; the practice of any art depends on mastery of science, a body of knowledge. Rangeland science, as a truly integrative discipline that encompasses soils, plants, animals, people, and economics, invites lifelong learning and cross-cultural learning.
True education is a science of relations; this requires communicating with depth and breadth. The structure of modern life in the developed world promotes thin communication, continuous partial attention, and personal and ideological isolation even as moderns are hyper-connected through digital communication devices. A conversational podcast permits deeper exploration of important topics and promotes synthesis and application to one’s own physical and cultural context.
“Range folk are a colorful social group. They represent the entire spectrum of political persuasion, socioeconomic classes, geographic identity, and demographic characteristics, yet this passionate group of people is united by love of land.” – Tipton Hudson
“My husband, who is a rancher and animal scientist, suffered a severe stroke 2.5 years ago due to a neck injury while gathering cattle. He’s now partially blind, so reading is challenging. Your podcast has helped keep him engaged in what he lost the most; and the content is VERY educational. You have given him all kinds of new ideas on how he will approach his future.” Animal Scientist – Native American Rangelands Partnership
