Welcome to our second installment of the Stewardship Series, in which we highlight and share inspiring stories of a local land steward once monthly. With her son James and daughter Adele, Liza Jane McAlister operates the multigenerational 6 Ranch in Wallowa County.

"The word Stewardship comes from an old Germanic Norse, the first part meaning house or hall and the second part meaning ward. The first stewards were just servants tasked with making sure there was food, drinks & a hall in the castle. That word has evolved its usage over time, but understanding its origin of service helps me to understand what my role is as a land steward. It means that I’m not in charge of this place. This place isn’t working for me. I’m working for it."

"My actions are in service to the land, to the wildlife, to the grass, to the river. Part of the reason that 6 Ranch has been successful through so many generations is that we haven’t taken too big of a bite. We’ve always looked at it as something we’ve been tasked with caring for. We are not a parasite on the landscape, it’s a symbiotic relationship, the ranch gives us everything that we need. We do our best to give the land everything it needs." - James Nash, 6 Ranch Outfitters, son of Liza Jane

"To be a servant and a mother, you have to get fulfillment from the work and from the purpose. When you talk about being a servant to the land it is symbiotic. It is a cycle that we pour energy into, and it comes back. The days you want to quit are the days that your expectations were higher than your gratitude. We know that nature doesn’t care about our plans. It is only affected by our actions, not our ideas or intentions. There is not a lot of fame or recognition here either.

The ranchers who I have seen thrive in their work, who seem to not age, are those who keep learning and showing up, the ones that believe that this kind of work gives you endless amounts of purpose." - Adele Schott, 6 Ranch Livestock Manager and daughter of Liza Jane

"I’m still breaking through what it means to be a daughter, and then a mother, on a multigenerational ranch. My voice feels a little bit of an echo of my mother's and a little bit of my own. I have endless amounts of gratitude for everything my mom did for us when we were young and an evolving perspective as I raise my own kids here. That feeling and understanding of who is going to be here when you’re gone and the need for my children to have the opportunity to be on a healthy piece of land. Sometimes I feel like I’m cultivating that, but sometimes it can feel totally out of my control." - Adele Schott, 6 Ranch Livestock Manager and daughter of Liza Jane

"I am fortunate in opportunity. To care for a piece of land that three generations of my family cared for before me— land cared for by two generations following me. The work is real. It's in my blood. I am rooted in this landscape and community. Without them I wouldn’t be myself. The previous generations could’ve sold out and had an easier life but didn’t. That lesson is in the river and rocks and soil here. Easy isn’t better. I’m grateful for their sacrifice. James and Adele knew this too, have known it since they were little and doing ranch chores. This is our legacy and heritage and responsibility. “ - Liza Jane, Owner of 6 Ranch

"There are a lot of tangible ways that humans are in control that people love to talk about. We love to talk about conservation and preservation. But there are physical things we’ve done here that have massive implications beyond the 6 Ranch. You can look at the juniper removal project, hundreds of thousands of gallons of water that are no longer being used by those trees that now gets to stay in the river. The juniper was milled and repurposed. We built a new river channel to create habitat for multitudes by raising the water table throughout the valley. We had multiple endangered species return to that section of the river. We have a robust population of mule deer that live here in Fall-Spring when they’re fawning, and part of the reason they’re able to do that is by the way we’ve managed the grass and by relieving the pressure from predators. There are things we do that benefit wildlife, but within that you’re always managing for an objective. What’s good for the bull trout isn’t necessarily good for the juniper, but part of our task here is to identify what needs help and determine which levers we can pull to help those things." - James Nash, 6 Ranch Outfitters and son of Liza Jane

"That’s been our management style overall, aiming towards what we want to see more of instead of what we want to eradicate. If there are too many noxious weeds in a pasture, the management question becomes, 'How can we make this a more hospitable ground for native grasses to thrive.' Diversity and balance are the keys to health, anywhere but especially on the land.”

“Folks will feel inspired and ask how they can support us, and it always comes down to buying our products, and for us that is grass-fed beef. That’s not romantic. It might not feel heroic, but spending your money intentionally when it comes to food allows us to continue doing the work. We hope people will trust us, even if they don’t know us, because we believe we care the most. We care about the health of this land. My livelihood, my children’s livelihood, and my parent's livelihood depend on a regenerative landscape. There are ugly parts because nature isn’t all beautiful. It can be merciless. We are comfortable with that, and that’s why we can cut down juniper and nurture a creature till its death." - Adele Schott, Livestock Manager at 6 Ranch and daughter of Liza Jane.