At home on the range: Healing through the outdoors

Rangeland. The open range. The words elicit visions of wide-open spaces as far as the eye can see, hills and prairies bursting with tall grasses, wildflowers and diverse wildlife. Bison, elk and deer roaming in herds. Hawks and falcons patrolling the skies. Wolves howling at the prairie moon under starry night skies.

But, what IS rangeland, actually?

Rangelands are quite diverse — they can include grasslands, woodlands, wetlands, shrublands and deserts, places where domestic or wild animals graze. Produced by the accredited California Rangeland Trust, “From the Ground Up: Healing Our Planet, Healing Ourselves” is a short film exploring the importance of rangeland, and its power to restore mind, body, soul and planet.

The troubling news is that rangeland in the U.S. and across North America is increasingly disappearing. According to the trust, in California alone, more than 280,000 acres of open rangeland have been lost to development since 2001. And that’s significant as our climate and biodiversity crises continue to worsen. Rangeland plays a key role in storing carbon, providing habitat for plants and animals, and supporting the world’s largest rivers and wetlands.

“California’s rangelands are so resilient. They can heal our planet and us as people,” said Michael Delbar, California Rangeland Trust CEO, in the film. “Well-managed working lands are critical not only to mitigate the effects of wildfires but also to provide clean air and water, healthy food and ecosystems and beautiful viewsheds we need for quality of life.”

Michael himself experienced a devastating wildfire on his property back in 2018. But It’s that last piece that Delbar mentions, ‘quality of life,’ that is a sometimes-overlooked benefit of conservation. The healing aspect of being outdoors.

“There is mounting evidence, from dozens and dozens of researchers, that nature has benefits for both physical and psychological human well­being,” said Lisa Nisbet, PhD, a psychologist at Trent University in Ontario, Canada, in a 2020 feature by the American Psychological Association. “You can boost your mood just by walking in nature, even in urban nature. And the sense of connection you have with the natural world seems to contribute to happiness even when you’re not physically immersed in nature.”

Highlighting the healing power of open land, the film features a rancher conservationist who sponsors a post-traumatic stress disorder recovery program for veterans on his land — the Mighty Oaks program — as well as a veteran who finds healing through the program.

“I was driving, listening to the radio, and the piece had to do with the men and women who were committing suicide who had served this country — the announcer on the radio said it was 23 vets a day,” said B. Wayne Hughes, Jr., owner of Sky Rose Ranch. “It broke my heart, and it made me mad.”

At the time, Hughes’ ranch included a dilapidated lodge that he had no plans for, so he decided to repurpose it into a place where struggling veterans could come and experience the outdoors.

“When I came here, it was at such a weak point,” Ted Gray said in the film. Ted is a veteran and survivor of a serious airborne accident overseas that left him with a traumatic vein injury, a collapsed lung, two broken ankles and two broken knees. “It was the first place in a long that I felt safe. I was able to put my guard down, I felt at peace, and they gave me hope and my purpose back.”

“I don’t think the healing would have taken place if it weren’t for Sky Rose Ranch, just the beauty of the rolling hills, the oak trees, the animals, the peace and tranquility,” he added.

The film also highlights Dr. Lynn Huntsinger, a professor of rangeland ecology and management at the University of California-Berkeley, whose recent work has demonstrated the many benefits of protecting working landscapes like rangeland.

“How do you put a value on biodiversity, carbon, water, all of these benefits that we get from rangelands,” Dr. Huntsinger noted in the film. “We can’t begin to value the spiritual values, even the healing values, the joy that a person gets.”

You can watch the full film below and find out more information about California Rangeland Trust and its work to preserve California’s rangeland here.

For more information on outdoor programs for veterans, check out the Veteran Outdoor Alliance or this article from The Dyrt Magazine.