The Chihuahua desert once had tall grasses and they are coming back.

Meet the superhero Alejandro Carrillo, fighting climate change with CATTLE and TREES!  This used to be a dry, barren, crusty desert at Las Damas Ranch in the Chihuahuan Desert. Now, without applying fertilizer, irrigation, or chemicals on his livestock, he’s transformed the land.

By changing his grazing patterns to mimic wild herds and studying plants to ensure they’re at the right stage for grazing, the land has become fire-resistant and drought-resistant.  He only gets 6-8 inches of rain a year, yet he watches rainclouds form over his ranch on radar and in plain sight.

The new tall, rich grasses and trees protect the soil from drying out, capture all the rain instead of letting it run off, and are grazed down before they dry out.  GRAZING RETURNS NUTRIENTS BACK TO THE SOIL. Grazing is another word for NUTRIENT CYCLING. When you don’t graze wisely and let the grasses dry out, they oxidize, and all the nutrients held in the grass dissipate into the hot air instead of cycling back into the earth. Adding trees to grazing systems, known as Silvopasture, further enhances ecosystem health.  Trees help process greenhouse gases, including methane, improving air quality and contributing to climate mitigation. 

The old 100,000-member bison herds used to come in stomping, pooping, peeing, munching, and completely crunching out the area—perfect for rejuvenation—then wait to return until the grass had recovered to a yummy stage.