Jason Baldes received his undergraduate and graduate degrees in Land Resources & Environmental Sciences from Montana State University where he focused on Tribal Bison Restoration. Currently, in his capacity as Tribal Buffalo Program Manager for the National Wildlife Federation’s Tribal Partnerships Program, he established resolution based support to restore over 100 conservation buffalo to the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho Tribes on the Wind River Indian Reservation since 2016. Jason sits on the board of directors for the Inter-Tribal Buffalo Council, board of trustees for the Conservation Lands Foundation, and the environmental commission of the Congress of Nations & States. He is the executive director of the Wind River Tribal Buffalo Initiative, and adjunct professor at Central Wyoming College and Wind River Tribal College. Jason is a member of the Eastern Shoshone Tribe and manages the Tribes’ herd of 77 buffalo.

Plenary Panel

Tribal Bison Restoration-Land Rematriation and Reconciliation

Nina is a second year apprentice with Quivira’s NAP program. She spent last season learning how to graze a grass finishing beef herd on the Western slope of Colorado. The 2022 season she has spent diving deeper into range ecology, monitoring, and grazing for wildlife habitat in Southern Colorado. Nina fell in love with food production, ecology, and cooking while in college in Vermont. She then set out to work on farms throughout the US and the world, learning various methods of production and scales. Her love for working with animals and an interest in systems and processes lead her to working in the realm of ranching through the NAP program. She is excited about travel, stockmanship and learning the processes that shape landscapes and community based around food production.

Plenary Panel

Young Agrarians: Living the Questions Now & Seeking Bold Solutions & NAP Graduation Ceremony

Beth is the fourth generation of her family to work the Lazy R Ranch outside Cheney, WA. She moved home and began managing the business with her dad, Maurice, in 2010, after completing her studies at Western Washington University. She went on to earn her MBA at Bainbridge Graduate Institute, a small independent business school dedicated to using the tools of business for environmental and social good. Beth is also the co-founder of LINC Foods, a worker-farmer-owned cooperative food hub based in Spokane. Beth became one of the first second generation certified Holistic Management educators in 2015 after completing her training in Extremadura, Spain, with Byron Shelton. She has had the honor of teaching and studying holistic management in Turkey, Sweden, Mexico, and throughout the United States. Along with fellow Holistic Management practitioners, Sandra Matheson and Alex Machado, Beth is a co-facilitator of the New Cowgirl Camp, a 5 day intensive course for women interested in learning the ins and outs of regenerative ranching. Beth is married to her high school sweetheart, Matt and is the proud step-mama to Matt’s 20-year-old kiddo, Audrey. Beth is a very mediocre yodeler but this does not discourage her in the slightest.

Boise Public Radio: Whose Land?

Plenary Panel

Creating Connections between land owners and Native Youth

Wondering how you can help Native youth and Native people in the struggle for justice? Beth Robinette of Lazy R Ranch and LaRae Wiley of Salish School of Spokane will share their story of collaboration, justice, food sovereignty and Native Youth empowerment. You can make a difference!

I grew up in St. Louis Missouri but have always tried to spend most of my time outdoors climbing, camping, hiking and dreaming about making a livelihood in a more open space than the city. My family has a some what abandoned ranch in the panhandle of Texas and it has always been a dream of mine to live, work and steward that ranch. The only problem was that I didn’t have the first idea how to make that happen. Until, my wife Leah found out about the New Agrarian Program. In March of 2021 we left everything we had and everyone we knew in St. Louis to move to a 350sq foot tiny home on the Moe Ranch in Two Dot, Montana. Since the moment we arrived my life has been constantly evolving into something I used to dream about. The community we engage with, the land we get to help steward and our mentor Shane Moe have and will continue to change how I look at the world for years to come!

Plenary Panel

Young Agrarians: Living the Questions Now & Seeking Bold Solutions & NAP Graduation Ceremony

Shannon is completing her second season with the New Agrarian Program at San Juan Ranch in Saguache, Colorado. She joined the program in the spring of 2021 as an apprentice at Sol Ranch in northeastern New Mexico. From Denver, Colorado originally, her educational background is in environmental studies and social justice. She has worked and volunteered on a variety of agricultural operations including fruit orchards, dairies and vegetable farms. Before working on a ranch her favorite former job was being the garden/farm to school coordinator at an elementary school. Shannon came to ranching through a deep love for nature, western landscapes, community, food, agrarian/rural tradition and her desire to be an instrument of positive change. Since then she has discovered an obsession with grazing animals and their impacts on the land as well as a conviction that better land stewardship must be an inclusive, just and collaborative effort. In the future Shannon hopes to continue caring for land through ranching, producing food and building community.

Plenary Panel

Young Agrarians: Living the Questions Now & Seeking Bold Solutions & NAP Graduation Ceremony

Leah grew up in Webster Groves, Missouri where she met her husband and fellow apprentice, Jesse Pinkner. She graduated with a BS in Biology, also earning minors in Chemistry and Sustainability, as well as a certificate in Environmental Education from Missouri State University. Throughout college, Leah and Jesse took many trips to Jesse’s family ranch, the LZ ranch, and dreamed of making a life there. After college she worked in the Hultgren microbiology lab at WASHU Medical School. From there she moved into plant science, working in the Miller lab at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center. Here she fell in love with field work and found a way into agriculture. From there, she found the New Agrarian Program. Leah and Jesse are currently second year apprentices at the Moe Ranch in Two Dot, Montana. They are both working to start a direct marketing business, Honest Harvest, currently raising chicken and pork to sell to their community. Leah hopes to one day have a small, diverse food production operation with livestock integration that provides food and opportunities for her community.
Outside of her work, Leah enjoys gardening, cooking and baking to share with friends and family, crocheting, and camping, hiking, and climbing with Jesse and their dog Maggie.

Plenary Panel

Young Agrarians: Living the Questions Now & Seeking Bold Solutions & NAP Graduation Ceremony