Ranchers in the American Southwest are dealing with an escalating threat. The Mexican gray wolf has become an increasing liability to ranchers and residents of Arizona and New Mexico.

“Wolves have killed our cattle in Arizona and in New Mexico. Wolves have changed our culture. They have changed how we live in wolf country.”

Tom Paterson, New Mexico Rancher

Tate Bennett, head of Rural Policy at the America First Policy Institute in Washington, D.C., has co-authored a new white paper titled “The Mexican Gray Wolf: A Threat to Rural Prosperity.” In it, she addresses the problem ranchers are facing and encourages government action.

She joins me today to discuss what ranchers are dealing with and how the government can properly implement the Endangered Species Act (ESA) so that the needs of rural Americans are balanced with those of wildlife in the American Southwest.

Show Notes:

"The Mexican Gray Wolf: A Threat to Rural Prosperity" by Tate Bennett https://www.americafirstpolicy.com/issues/the-mexican-gray-wolf-a-threat-to-rural-prosperity

Sponsored by Ranch Vision: www.ranchvision.io

Special thanks to Josh Woolwine for creating our intro. Follow Josh at www.instagram.com/hjwoolwine.

UNWON is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support independent Western journalism, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber at www.americaunwon.com.

Six months after the press conference in D.C. where Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced criminal charges against the Maudes had been dropped, Heather fills us in on what’s happened to her family since and answers your questions.

We discuss what it has been like working with Secretary Rollins, Chief Schultz, and other members of the Trump administration; whether the Forest Service agents involved in her family’s case have been held accountable; the dire need for more voices from the American West in D.C.; and more.

02:13 Introduction to the Maude Case08:09 The Impact of Bureaucracy on Ranching Families14:01 Challenges in Communication and Resolution20:11 Internal Review and Accountability25:56 Concluding Thoughts and Future Outlook34:00 Cultural Change in Bureaucracy42:00 Legal Challenges and Resolutions48:15 The Impact of Bureaucracy on Agriculture54:19 Faith and Purpose in Adversity59:26 Grassroots Advocacy and the Future of Agriculture

Sponsored by Ranch Vision: www.ranchvision.io

Special thanks to Josh Woolwine for creating our intro. Follow Josh at www.instagram.com/hjwoolwine.

Subscribe and support UNWON: www.americaunwon.com

Today I am speaking with Matt Kendall, sheriff of Mendocino County in California’s infamous Emerald Triangle, the epicenter of black market marijuana production.

Sheriff Kendall blows the lid off some of the most under-covered and shocking stories in the U.S. today. Cartels are running rampant on Native American reservations and transnational criminal drug trafficking organizations are operating on U.S. soil including on our public lands and national forests. Illicit cannabis is stealing millions of gallons of water in the drought and fire-prone West every single day. Kendall also talks about being a California sheriff under Governor Gavin Newsom, his restrictions on working with ICE, and trying to advocate for victims in a state that is increasingly pro-predator. He explains how legalization has impacted the cannabis market, how over-regulation is killing rural America, and much more. This episode is shocking and you won’t hear this info anywhere else.

Thank you for listening, please enjoy the show and be sure to rate, review, and subscribe wherever you tune in including YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.

Watch High Country Murder short documentary:

More UNWON coverage:

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Theodora Johnson is a cattle rancher and mom of three, born, raised, and still ranching in Siskiyou County, California. She’s also an award-winning journalist; one of the few who covered the reality of the infamous Klamath Dam removals that California governor Gavin Newsom has touted as a major victory.

WATCH ON YOUTUBE:

We talk about what’s happened since the Klamath River dams were pulled in 2024. From destroying salmon to watersheds to small towns, pulling the dams has harmed Siskiyou County in profound ways, and the worst may be yet to come for ranchers. Theo warns that agriculture is being set up to take the fall for this man-made catastrophe.

We talk about what appears to be the intentional targeting of small, independent producers in California. We talk about the intrusion of wolves in the Siskiyou County area, how the Endangered Species Act and “emergency drought declarations” have been used to control agriculture, and so much more.

This episode is powerful and I’m so grateful for Theo’s voice as a journalist speaking truth to power in rural California.

Read Theodora’s exposé on the Klamath Dam disaster here:

J.B. Zielke is a world-traveling cowboy, author, and the host of the latest and greatest event on the Western music scene: Dusty Vaquero Days in Gillette, Wyoming, set to launch its inaugural weekend this Friday and Saturday (May 30-31).

I met J.B. years ago. He set me a pre-release copy of his phenomenal memoir “The Lost Cowboy” where he describes his adventures cowboying on six continents. He’s living proof that the West isn’t won and adventure is still out there for those brave enough to find it.

Now, he’s launched a new project: Traveling with his camera, he is documenting emerging sound coming out of the northern American West, a movement he calls Western Grit. On his YouTube channel Dusty Vaquero, J.B. is recapturing the soul of country music by profiling artists with a strong connection to agriculture, often on their ranches or in their barns or backyards or saddle shops, raw, stripped down to the basics, recording a song they wrote that means a lot to them in a place they love.

J.B. and I talked about his storytelling, his world travels, cowboying in South Africa, the large animal vet medicine crisis, how a Mongolian herdsman kickstarted his friendship with Colter Wall, living out of a minivan, the top destination on his bucket list (not sure what I expected he was gonna say, but it wasn’t this), the world’s most dangerous place to be a cowboy, the historical figure J.B. credits with “making the cowboy cool,” and a whole lot more.

Follow The Lost Cowboy on Instagram and Dusty Vaquero on YouTube and be sure to buy his book. Whatever J.B. does next, I for one don’t want to miss it.

Buy your tickets to Dusty Vaquero Days here!

Show notes:

* Purchase “The Lost Cowboy” by J.B. Zielke

* Ranch Album (1987) - Directed by Gail Steiger

Heather Maude is finally free to speak about her case and what the federal government put her family through.

Her case has been called "private property rights precedent-setting issue of a generation.”

After covering the Maude family’s case for close to a year, I was finally able to sit down with Heather and hear about what her family dealt with at the hands of the U.S. Forest Service. Heather is a former ag journalist, a fifth-generation rancher, and a mother of two. Her family’s case went viral, got the attention of the Trump administration, and set a vital precedent for agriculture and property rights. We talk about what happened, what still needs to happen, the future of private property rights and agriculture, and where her case stands today.

Show notes:

-Sponsored by Ranch Vision. Learn more and schedule a free demo at www.ranchvision.io.

-All UNWON coverage of the Maude case

-Videos of the USDA press conference with Brooke Rollins’ and Heather Maude’s remarks

-Maude Case: Frequently Asked Questions by Heather Maude (Tri-State Livestock News)

-Day Writing by Heather Hamilton-Maude: With God (Tri-State Livestock News)

UNWON is reader-supported. Support independent journalism for rural America by becoming an UNWON subscriber at www.americaunwon.com.

Casey Murph is a consummate Westerner, a man out of his time but here to remind us about the old ways and the things that still matter. For many years, he led the mule string at the Grand Canyon and now runs cattle on his family’s historic ranch in Navajo County, Arizona. He’s a regular writer for Range Magazine.

In our interview today, we talk about how the National Park Service effectively ended the iconic Grand Canyon mule rides, and what that program meant for American tourists and the culture and history of the Grand Canyon. We talk about how various government agencies have evolved to oppose ranching and the Western way of life, and just why that might be. We talk about the adventures still to be had in the American West, and why it’s worth fighting for. We also talk about Casey’s latest fight; facing off threats to his grazing leases in the form of giant, sprawling solar energy projects backed by powerful and deep-pocketed interests.

As always with Casey, I learn so much from our conversation. Be sure to follow Casey on X where he is a wealth of information, and see more of his writing at Range Magazine.

Show Notes:

* Read the UNWON interview with Casey Murph on wilderness designations

* Listen to “The Dude String Trail” by Dave Stamey

Eddie “E.J.” Crandell has deep roots in Lake County, California, where he serves as chairman of the county board of supervisors and vice chair of the Robinson Rancheria of Pomo Indians.

On Friday, Supervisor Crandell generously made time for an interview between meetings. I wanted to ask about his board’s bold decision to reach out to President Trump asking the federal government to intervene in the planned demolition of two dams that supply water for 600,000 residents in rural Northern California—something no other local county boards have done even as the date for final dam surrender looms. Last week, a Trump official said the Bureau of Reclamation is looking into the request.

Our conversation was broad-ranging. We talked about his career of military service, the work he’s done representing rural and tribal communities, his meetings with Gavin Newsom, how California politicians and media have used Native voices when expedient while ignoring others, how a powerful NGO called CalTrout single-handedly kept Supervisor Crandell and Lake County out of a group that could have taken over management of the Potter Valley Project, how rural communities have been hurt by California’s soft-on-crime policies, and much more.

This is an underdog story between an underserved rural county and some of California’s most powerful interests, ambitious politicians, and influential NGOs. What started as a local clash has reached the national stage, and Supervisor Crandell is right in the middle of it.

These takes are Teflon

In honor of National Ag Day, I’m beyond excited to share the trailer for a film project very close to my heart. You Just Can’t See Them From the Road is my first full-length documentary. My sister Michaela and I had been wanting to shoot a film on the vanishing ranches of the American West for some time when California Rangeland Trust approached us. They gave us enormous trust and creative freedom to tell this story about West Coast ranching—the men and women who feed us and sustain our landscapes, who you just can’t see from the road. Our bootstrapped team of four traveled up and down the state of California to tell the story of the men and women who feed us, manage our lands, but who you just can't see from the road.

Stream the trailer at www.americaunwon.com.

Film Synopsis:

An immigrant family in California’s Central Valley faces the loss of their land and way of life. One of the few remaining ranching families in the Bay Area watches urban sprawl creep in from every direction. Cowboys work in the shadow of the historic Hearst Castle. Wildlife find refuge on the biggest expanse of private land in Southern California. One of the largest Black landowners in the state discovers Native American artifacts on his ranch.

Presented by California Rangeland Trust and directed by Keely Brazil Covello and Michaela Brazil Gillies, You Just Can’t See Them From the Road is a documentary portrait of the vanishing ranchers of the American West—invisible to and misunderstood by the rapidly modernizing society they sustain.