With over 70 percent government-owned and -managed land, Harney County is no stranger to disputes between ranchers, federal wildlife employees, and environmentalists. In many ways, the 2016 occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge (MNWR) by Ammon Bundy and his followers was the culmination of years of conflict and seemingly nonstop litigation. However, that national news story obscured the more important local story of how people in Harney County have been working to successfully resolve conflicts through collaborations like the High Desert Partnership. Click the title above to read more.

"In the opening pages of his book, Walker announces his goal to be showing how Harney County, faced with a divisive invasion, chose not to fall on its own knives. Instead, residents elected "sagebrush collaboration." It was also the author's goal to attempt "to explain how and why Harney County made that decision." He has achieved those helpful purposes -- and more." ~Richard W. Etulain