This handbook is a revised edition of the Holistic Resource Management Workbook (1988), which was a first attempt to clarify and describe in detail the Holistic Management planning procedures essential for the land manager. Sam Bingham agreed to author that first edition at my request. I had grown stale in presenting material I had worked with for over thirty years and knew like the back of my hand. Sam had a flair, which I lacked, for making somewhat dry material come to life. He also understood the struggles of those new to practicing Holistic Management, having experienced them himself over a six-year period.
When it came time to produce this new edition, Sam was my first choice as principal author, but other commitments kept him from accepting the task. However, he agreed to review the manuscript as it progressed, and because so much of the book is still in his words and so many of his examples are included, we’ve left his name on the title page.
Jody Butterfield, a cofounder with me of the Savory Institute (and, coincidentally, my wife) did the bulk of the work on this edition, spending countless hours collecting the updates from our network of associates, and numerous practitioners, and hammering them into a finished text. Though I drafted some pages of new material and looked over much of the old, I served mainly as technical advisor, reviewing the manuscript as it progressed.
In the years since 1988, we have learned much from those who put the planning and monitoring procedures into practice. While the first edition was aimed at ranchers in the American West, this edition also includes the ideas and experiences of ranchers and farmers from other U.S. regions and from many more countries.
As the first edition was, this handbook is a companion to the textbook Holistic Management: A New Framework for Decision Making (2nd edition, 1999). There was a need for a book that speaks to the general reader as well as the rancher or farmer, because these ideas not only touch all of our lives profoundly, they also provide ammunition to effect the changes needed to ensure our planet’s survival; the textbook does that. The specifics of the planning procedures essential for all land managers would have clouded the understanding of the general reader and were better detailed in this handbook. Both books are indispensable to ranchers and farmers.
I hope this edition is found to be as enlightening and useful as the first. As always, we invite your comments, criticisms, and suggestions for improvement. Your contributions and practical experience have brought us this far and remain essential to advancing the frontiers of Holistic Management.
—Allan Savory