Stockman or Gardener of the Mountain?

It is the day after Easter Sunday and the countryside around Jaca is a vibrant fairy-tale green with a backdrop of brilliant blue skies and puffy clouds.  Wildflowers color the roadsides and birdsongs fill the air.  We have only a month left here and it is hard to think about leaving as the mountains come to life after their winter slumbers.  The livestock kept in their stables all winter are back in the fields near their home villages.  Soon the transhumant herders will make their long trek back to the summer mountain pastures. 

A month ago, in mid-March, we organized community meetings in each of the two valleys where I have been conducting my research.  The purpose was to report the preliminary findings and conclusions to the research participants and other community members, and obtain their feedback on the interpretations we reached.  The meetings were well-attended for such small villages (in one, nearly 50 of the 500 inhabitants showed up) and the discussion was lively.  After the formal presentations and Q&A we adjourned to the local bar where we hosted a more informal exchange over tapas and drinks. 

Overall, the research participants validated my major conclusions, and many offered to help clarify the points on which I had lingering questions or uncertainties.  The most interesting response, however, was the strong reaction of some herders in both valleys to the proposal that livestock producers be compensated for the ecological services they provide, and specifically for the role their livestock play in helping to maintain an open and grassy aspect to the mountain pastures, where shrub cover has increased notably over the past several decades.  In my interviews, herders invariably mentioned the increase in shrub cover as the major environmental change in their lifetimes, and all viewed this change as a negative one, in part because increasing shrub cover means less herbaceous vegetation for livestock to consume.  Herders in the two valleys differed in their views about why this change has occurred (more on this another time), and whether these changes are reversible.  Herders here (not unlike many ranchers in the western US) often allude to the fact that the natural values so prized in this area are in part attributable to their centuries of stewardship of the mountains.  So I was surprised by the strong negative reaction some had to the notion that these contributions could be compensated, and the role of livestock in maintaining a desired vegetation composition be more directly valued. 

Upon further discussion the stockmen’s objections became clearer and were related to their sense of identity and purpose as herders.  Their goal as stockmen is to produce the best product possible, and their product is calves or lambs.  If the main purpose of their livestock becomes vegetation control, this would conflict with what they see as their primary aim—to raise healthy and well-fed animals.  Their reasoning is that their animals will only consume the undesirable shrubs when the more palatable grasses and forbs are unavailable, and this would mean basically starving their animals in order to force them to consume the less palatable vegetation.  This is possible, but the result would be less healthy and less productive livestock (fewer calves and lambs of lower weight), and would directly conflict with the qualities they most value in a good herder—one who cares for his animals and produces the best and most fit animals.  They had no objection to the idea that grazing their animals in the mountains might have collateral benefits of managing vegetation, but objected strongly to the notion that the animals be used as “brush-cleaning machines.”  Their role as stockmen was not to be “gardeners of the mountains,” but rather raisers of high-quality animals for food.  It bears noting, however, that not all the stockmen shared this view, and a vocal minority (one of whom I quoted in a previous entry to this blog) believe that the greatest value they contribute to society is the “work” their livestock do in “cleaning the mountain.”  

In the month that remains of our time in Jaca, I plan to talk with the government officials charged with the management of the Natural Park that encompasses the high mountain valleys where the herders spend the summer months, and also with the officials who oversee the administration of agricultural and environmental subsidies for livestock producers in this area.  It will be interesting to hear their perspectives on these issues, and especially their views of the role and value of livestock-based agriculture in this mountain region.