Lambs in the Pioneers

Lava Lake Lamb is the largest private landowner in the southern Pioneer Mountains and runs a grass-fed natural and organic lamb operation.  They also run their sheep bands across large public land allotments through the Pioneers.  Not insignificantly, they are very dedicated conservationists with both how they manage their private land and their footprint on the public lands they get to use.

ICL plugged into the work of Lava Lake through the Pioneer Alliance, a broad-based effort to retain the great conservation values of the vast Pioneer landscape ranging from Craters of the Moon, through a largely undeveloped expanse of private ranchlands, and into the foothills and high peaks of the Pioneer range near Ketchum.

Over the weekend I joined the Lava Lake crew as they herded a band of sheep out off the hills and into a remote corral in a wonderful valley and the next morning separated lambs from ewes for shipment.  This is a long-practiced business and tradition in this part of Idaho and it was interesting to learn about it up close and in the corral.

No less intriguing, however, were a variety of conversations we had on the edges of the work. Over a corral-side grilled lamb dinner and a later breakfast we discussed large-scale conservation in the West and new ways to link conservation of private lands (with related business practices) with the big BLM and USFS public lands of Idaho.  We're exploring new ways to protect wildlife habitat and other values from the valley floors to mountain peaks at a scale that really matters for the land practiced in ways that actually get it done.

A great weekend in a great part of Wild Idaho.