Leopold Conservation Award in Nebraska presented to A.B. Cox

The Nebraska Cattlemen, in collaboration with Wisconsin-based Sand County Foundation, presented A.B. Cox of Mullen with the 2008 Leopold Conservation Award in Nebraska. The Nebraska Cattlemen and Sand County Foundation recognized Cox Dec. 11, during the Nebraska Cattlemen Convention & Trade Show in Kearney.

Cox is a third-generation Sandhills rancher. His family has been in the ranching business in Cherry County for 103 years.

Their Calf Creek Ranch and 4 –O ranch consist of about 23,000 acres of deeded, leased and managed land. The ranch is operated with sub-irrigated wet meadows of Calf Creek to the North Prong of the Middle Loup River. The ranch is mostly native range and they raise cows, calves and yearlings.

The ranch is a huge flyway for migrating ducks, geese, cranes and many other birds. The Cox’s use the holistic approach to conservation where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Each part of the environment is important and dependent on the other, they are all of value, Cox said. “We are evolving in our management and are like a good doctor, preacher or teacher working to answer a higher calling.”

Cox believes cow-calf operations are very sustainable. “We grow and harvest the grass with cattle and we calve in April, which reduces our reliance on harvested feeds.  We graze and rest meadows and pastures in spring, summer and winter. This practice has added value and diversity to the meadow and pasture composition and balances the warm season and cool season grasses. It extends grazing season and decreases the need for harvested feed.”

Most of his conservation work has involved the Nebraska Chapter for Holistic Management, the Sandhills Task Force, and Grazing Lands Coalition and has included hosting workshops, tours, clinics and schools to promote conservation education.

“I look forward to visiting A.B.’s ranch,” NC President Larry Smith said. “Because, I know the award judges were impressed with it and the difficult decision they had to make in selecting it from among the other ranches nominated.”

“We’re proud to recognize A.B. Cox’s tremendous conservation efforts, but, given the caliber of nominations, it is a difficult decision for the top-notch judging panel,” said Brent Haglund, Sand County Foundation President. “The judges labored selection process is a testament to the great conservation work that is being done across Nebraska.”

Nominations were evaluated and finalists selected by a panel of judges consisting of: Ginger Langemierer –Nebraska Department of Agriculture; David Sands –Nebraska Land Trust; Jim Van Winkle –Sand Hills Task Force; Mark Brohman –Nebraska Environmental Trust; Tim McCoy –Nebraska Game & Parks Commission; Jim Luchsinger –Nebraska Nature Conservancy.

Given in honor of Aldo Leopold, the Leopold Conservation Award, consisting of $10,000 and a Leopold crystal, recognizes extraordinary achievement in voluntary conservation. In his book, A Sand County Almanac (1949), Aldo Leopold called for an ethical relationship between people and the land they own and manage –which he called “an evolutionary possibility and an ecological necessity.”

Sand County Foundation (www.sandcounty.net) is a private, non-profit conservation group dedicated to working with private landowners to improve habitat on their land. The organization backs local champions and places incentives before regulation to create solutions that endure and grow. The organization encourages the exercise of private responsibility in the pursuit of improved land health.      

In 2008, Sand County Foundation will present Leopold Conservation Awards in Wisconsin, Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado, Texas, Utah and California.

The Nebraska Cattlemen (www.nebraskacattlemen.org) is a grassroots organization whose individual producer members determine issues of importance to the Nebraska beef industry. The mission of the Nebraska Cattlemen is to nurture profitability for Nebraska beef producers and to provide leadership to the cattle industry in Nebraska, across the United States, and around the world. NC serves as the representative for the state’s beef cattle industry and represents professional cattle breeders, ranchers and feeders, as well as 48 county and local cattlemen’s associations. Its headquarters are in Lincoln and second office in Alliance serves cattlemen in western Nebraska.

For further information, visit www.leopoldconservationaward.org or www.nebraskacattlemen.org