Coexistence on the Anderson Ranch
Hannibal Anderson is one of my favorite humans I’ve met out on these Montana ranches. Primary because I can’t get enough of his Scottish eyebrows, but also because of the bee-utiful legacy he and his family have created. There was a recent NPR news story on grizzly bear and human conflict, featuring Hannibal, who spoke to the counter point -- coexistence.
"I don't see the world as a place where humans just get to trump everything else," he said in the interview. "I consider it a really fundamental responsibility of being human to serve the ecological integrity of wherever we live."
The headline photo of this email is a screen shot of a video I took of Hannibal and his brother, Jack Pope, using a stockmanship practice called low-stress livestock handling.
Herders use their body and their energy to put pressure on specific parts of a herd to move cattle, sheep, bison, or whatever else they may want to relocate.
They use their horses, their dogs, and sometimes just themselves.
This is one of a handful of stockmanship practices used on the Anderson Ranch to coexist with grizzly bears and wolves.
They are ranching in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, where a woman was mauled by a bear three days after I left the area.
BGO is studying bees on three different ranches managed by the Anderson family in the GYE to understand how cattle/predator coexistence effects bee communities.
This is just year one, but so far I’m floored by the glorious bee habitat I’ve seen on their ranches. The photo below is a western bumble bee (Bombus occidentalis) that I found this summer. This special bee is a "species of concern" and will be soon considered for listing by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
I know curious minds will be wondering, "Is that bee OK and why are you wearing rubber gloves?" She is totally alive and well, and the gloves are to prevent bloodsucking flies from annihilating my hands. Here is a link with videos and photos of the ranch, Hannibal moving his cows, and this beautiful bumble flying away!
It's a true honor and a privilege to work alongside Hannibal, Malou, Andrew, and this whole family, I'm forever grateful, and will be sharing more about the project in the coming months.
Please take five minuets to a listen to the news story on Hannibal’s “Why,” and to better understand the complexity of his question, “How do we want to live with bears?”
