SACPA Member Honored for Conservation Work

Society for Range Management honors SACPA Member Bill Brake as Range Manager of the Year

by Stephen Williams

At its Winter meeting on February 4, 2021, the Arizona Section of the Society for Range Management named SACPA member Bill Brake as Range Manager of the Year.  Mr. Brake is the resident owner and manager of the Rose Tree Ranch in Elgin.  Mr. Brake is a University of Arizona range management graduate who has owned the Rose Tree Ranch since 1999.  He runs a red and black Angus commercial cow/calf operation on 9,700 acres of private, Bureau of Land Management and Arizona State Trust land.

During his 21 years on the ranch Mr. Brake has initiated the preparation of a Coordinated Resource Management Plan with the Natural Resources Conservation Service, Bureau of Land Management, Arizona State Land Department, University of Arizona Cooperative Extension, Arizona Game and Fish Department and Santa Cruz Natural Resource Conservation District.  This CRM Plan outlines the ranch’s deferred rest rotation grazing system.  10 rain gauges spread across the ranch, and annual vegetation monitoring of the key forage plants on 6 Key Areas, help inform yearly grazing management decisions.  Rangeland monitoring has demonstrated that overall rangeland conditions have improved during the 21 years of Mr. Brake’s stewardship.

The most telling fact about the Rose Tree Ranch is that when Mr. Brake bought the ranch in 1999 it had only 5 pastures.  Now, 21 years later, it has 27 pastures.  This change has provided tremendous flexibility to the grazing program by allowing tighter control over the timing, intensity and duration of livestock grazing in each pasture.  Livestock and wildlife have benefited from Mr. Brake’s management and stewardship of the ranch’s natural resources.

The award also recognized how Mr. Brake serves his industry and community by participating as Past President of the Arizona Cattle Growers’ Association (2005-2007), Bureau of Land Management Resource Advisory Council (present), Arizona Game and Fish Commission (present), University of Arizona School of Renewable Natural Resources Advisory Committee (present), National Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (present), SACPA member (present), and Santa Cruz Natural Resource Conservation District Cooperator (present).

Mr. Brake is also the originator of the “This Ranch Feeds American Families” sign, which is now promoted by the Arizona Cattle Growers’ Association Young Rancher Committee.  His is on display in front of his working corrals on Upper Elgin Road.

Congratulations, Bill!