InsideOutdoor | SPRING 2022 20 Shepherding the RWS in North America is also the manifestation of a passion that both Jeanne and her late husband Dan have had for Oregon’s high desert and America’s storied west. A Pioneer’s Homestead Claim The Imperial Stock Ranch has a long history as a producer of fine merino/rambouillet wool. It was founded in 1871 by Richard Hinton, a pioneer born on the Oregon Trail, and is the only privately owned ranch in Oregon recognized as a National Historic District that is still operating. The ranch has been in continuous operation producing sheep, cattle, grain and hay since its founding. By 1900, Hinton’s homestead claim, along what later would be named Hinton Creek, grew into the largest land and livestock operation in Oregon. During the 1880s, the sheep industry grew rapidly in Oregon, and the semiarid interior region of the state – where the ranch is located – was well-suited to raising fine wool sheep. Over time, Hinton built the Imperial Stock Ranch’s reputation for fine grade wool, and when his son James took over the ranch in 1915, they had 35,000 head of sheep and 1,000 head of cattle. Many of the original buildings that supported this massive operation are still in use today. A New Legacy When Dan Carver bought the ranch in 1988, he felt a deep responsibility to honor the legacy built by the stewards of this land who came before him. “He wanted to do the best job he could,” said Jeanne, “and went to agencies like the Soil and Water Conservation District and the Natural Resource Conservation Service for help.” Working together with his agency partners, “they spent about a year conducting assessments and establishing a monitoring program,” she said, “and wrote a comprehensive plan to manage the entire operation, with the health of the ranch’s natural resources as their number one goal. They called it a Conservation Management Plan. “At about this time we learned that only two salmon had returned to spawn in Buckhollow Creek, which begins on our land and is a major tributary to the Deschutes River,” she added. Buckhollow Creek was historically an important spawning stream for salmon. Working collaboratively with agency partners and other landowners in the basin, the salmon population returned, Carver said, “and went from the brink of loss to a thriving population. There is no greater motivator than to be part of something like this.” The plan also helped restore and preserve the ranch’s vast grazing lands. The Standard According to Jeanne, the Carver’s involvement with the RWS was a natural next step given their longstanding commitment to the land and animal stewardship. In 2017, The Imperial Stock Ranch became the first sheep ranch in the world certified under the RWS. And since certification of her ranch, Jeanne has worked with Textile Exchange to bring other sheep ranches in the U.S. into RWS certification. “The Responsible Wool Standard is an industry tool designed to recognize the best practices of farmers, ensuring that animal fiber comes from farms with a progressive approach to managing their land, and from animals that have been treated responsibly,” said Liz Mamo from Textile Exchange, which is an NGO dedicated to developing transparent sustainability standards for the global textile industry. “[It] ensures that animals are treated with respect to the Five Provisions [established by Textile Exchange] to promote positive welfare outcomes,” Mamo added. “The demand for certified wool is encourThe Advocates Jeanne Carver tending to her flock In 2017, The Imperial Stock Ranch became the first sheep ranch in the world certified under the RWS.
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