Carlsbad rancher and former state legislator Joe Stell has been awarded the Bureau of Land Management's Stewardship Award for 2011. Stell was presented the national award in Park City, Utah, by Ed Roberson, BLM assistant director during a meeting of the rancher-based Public Lands Council. Stell received the award for his continued improvement of rangeland conditions on his BLM grazing allotment. The long-time rancher and former Carlsbad educator has run a commercial cow-calf operation since 1964 and practices a deferred-rotation grazing system on his BLM allotment. "In southern New Mexico, the BLM's hopes for restoring this landscape rested on a partnership of stakeholders and the critical involvement of ranchers," said Roberson. "That effort would require someone of influence and credibility in the ranching community, someone who would step forward, take a risk, and lead the way. That rancher was Joe." Roberson added, "Working with the BLM and other ranchers, Joe tried a new approach to the area to control brush using prescribed fire that helped restore grasslands. And if he hadn't done that, we wouldn't be where we are today with our efforts in the Carlsbad area, which involve the restoration of 150,000 to 200,000 acres a year compared to what used to be only a few thousand acres a year."...
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