#37 Kenyon Fields

Kenyon Fields is a conservationist and rancher from western Colorado. His background is in conservation biology and landscape scale conservation planning. He worked for many years in Alaska for the U.S. Forest Service and as executive director of Sitka Conservation Society, before serving as western strategic director of Wildlands Network.

Kenyon was one of the founding members of Western Landowners Alliance, along with Mary Conover. Now husband and wife, Kenyon and Mary own and operate Mountain Island Ranch, a generational 32,000-acre cattle ranch along the Utah-Colorado border entirely under conservation easement, with another 100,000 acres of grazing allotments on public land.

We talked about Kenyon’s own “Green Fire” moment, a reference to Aldo Leopold and the experience that led him toward the ideas we now celebrate. Kenyon’s was a transformative summer spent working in forestry in Southeast Alaska. We also delved into Mountain Island’ Ranch's current operations, their restoration projects, and their approach to public grazing allotments.

I’d encourage you to visit KenyonFieldsPhoto.com for some context of the landscape we're discussing. He does a great job capturing the drastic seasonal change, the diverse wildlife, and the everyday ranching scenes out there, along with stunning landscapes across the world. And, of course, you’ve heard about Western Landowners Alliance by now in some of the recent episodes. I hope you’ll go to their website and peruse some of their content as well.