Edible Idaho

ALDERSPRING RANCH: Where new cowhands learn old tricks

• Photo by Melanie and Linnea Elzinga

  Alderspring Ranch, May. Idaho.

• Glenn and Cheryl Elzinga of Alderspring Ranch.

• Like other ranchers, their homestead lies in a remote, spectacular mountain area called the Pahsimeroi Valley in central Idaho.

• They live with their cattle--or their "beeves," as they call them--24/7 while they're on public rangeland.

• their trek starts in late spring, when the herd leaves Alderpring's 1,650 acres of private land...and heads north onto 46,000-acre federal Hat Creek Allotment.

• The Elzingas bought Alderspring Ranch in 2007 from The Nature Conservancy (TNC).

• Last year was the first summer of Alderspring’s “new” approach to grazing. It was the first summer they didn’t lose any animals to wolves, poisonous plants, theft or straying.