1. Stuebner profile

The Idaho Wool Growers Association at its annual banquet Nov. 2 presented its Friend of the Industry award to Steve Stuebner, who writes and produces the state Rangeland Resource Commission’s “Life on the Range” video series.

For the past 15 years, he has produced many stories and videos about the state’s sheep industry. These include long-form video documentaries featuring well-known ranchers such as the late Bud Purdy of the Picabo area, the late John Peavey of Carey and the late Phil Soulen of Weiser.

A video about Wilder rancher Frank Shirts, “A Year in the Life of Raising Sheep in Idaho,” is the single most popular video published so far in the series, with some 965,000 views, according to a news release from the association and the resources commission.

Shirts and his crew lead sheep across State Highway 55 north of Eagle each April. Hundreds of people, including many young families, line up along the highway to watch the sheep cross the highway on their way to high pasture. Stuebner works with Shirts, Eagle police and southwest Idaho news outlets to promote and help coordinate the crossing.

Stuebner has produced more than 100 educational videos for the series since he and Idaho Rangeland Resources Commission executive director Gretchen Hyde launched the series in 2010.

“Steve has spent a large portion of his career promoting the sheep industry, and the individuals involved, for the accomplishments they have achieved,” Castleford sheep and cattle rancher Mike Guerry, who serves on the Wool Growers Association board of trustees, said in the release.

“It has been a great privilege to work with many of our Idaho range sheep producers over the years,” Stuebner said. “It’s quite an education to realize all the work that goes into raising healthy bands of sheep that hike hundreds of miles through our deserts and mountains, following the green up to higher pastures.

“Ultimately, it’s been a great pleasure to have made friendships with these ranchers over the years, knowing that I have earned their trust by telling their story in a way that rings absolutely true,” he said. “I have come to know that their land ethic and their love for the sheep goes right to their heart. It’s part of their DNA.”

Stuebner is well known in the state for his public relations and communications work for several natural resource organizations, and for writing books and articles about outdoor and environment topics.