Staff Report
A public radio story on an innovative local ranch has KUNM 89.9 FM in contention for the nationally-acclaimed Daniel Schorr Journalism prize.
The story, "Montoya Ranch," produced by independent producer Joe Gardner Wessely, was conceived by the Quivira Coalition, a nonprofit organization created to bring ranchers, environmentalists, public land managers and the public together to look at ways to manage and provide good stewardship of ranch lands.
Sponsored by WBUR, a local Boston radio station and Boston University, the prize is designed to encourage and inspire a new generation of public radio journalists. It is named after Schorr, a senior analyst for National Public Radio, who has an award-winning career in broadcast journalism.
The Montoya Ranch, which is on Highway 313 west of the Sandia Indian Pueblo and across from St. Anthony's Mission, is owned and operated by Sam Montoya, who grew up at the pueblo.
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The ranch runs 200 head of cattle on 90 acres. Quivira Coalition sources said it is typical in the west for only half that number to be grazed on that acreage.
Overgrazing traditionally plagues the west, with the bulk of it resulting from the time the cattle spend on the land, not the number of cattle on it, according to Quivira Coalition sources.
"I am pleased to have been a finalist for the Daniel Schorr Journalism Award. It is gratifying to be able to share material about our struggling, scrapping state with a broader public," Wessely said in a UNM press release.
