The international Society for Range Management will hold its annual meeting in Spokane in February.

About 1,700 members are expected to attend.

The event will be Feb. 9-13

Speakers during the producers forum Feb. 10 include:

• Allan Savory: Renowned ecologist, regenerative agriculture pioneer, and co-founder of the Savory Institute.

• Jon Lundgren: Agroecologist, director of the ECDYSIS Foundation, and CEO of Blue Dasher Farm.

• Alejandro Carrillo: Fourth-generation northern Mexico rancher and leader in regenerative grazing.

“We are really trying to get more producer participation and activation within the society,”  said Chris Schachtschneider, a rangeland and livestock consultant based in Pendleton, Ore., serving a one-year term as Pacific Northwest section president for the society. “We have a lot of agencies and university faculty that do a fantastic job of what they do, but we don’t have the people who are on the ground doing it being represented as well as we need to. We are going over and above our normal capacity when it comes to the producers forum, so we can really emphasize (that) producers are a focus within the society.” 

The speakers will emphasize the impact producers can have, Schachtschneider said.

“When we take responsibility of things, it’s amazing what we can actually change,”  he said.

Carrillo has taken it to a new level by creating grasslands out of the Chihuahuan Desert, Schachtschneider said as an example.

“Where most people see sand and cactus, he has grass,” he said. “(Carrillo) took ownership of managing that to make that happen.”

The agenda includes a film showing open to the public. The film is to be determined, but will depict the society’s rangeland mission.

 “A lot of times we go to these meetings, we stay in the hotel and do our own thing,” but members don’t necessarily interact with the local public, Schachtschneider said. “People don’t necessarily get to see and understand who we are and what we do. We’re trying to fix that this year.”