Cowhands with a conscience

Environmentalists and cattle ranchers make strange bedfellows, but the Stone family is one and the same. They received an environmental stewardship award from the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association for their 7,500-acre plot near Winters, Calif. For 20 years, the Yolo Land and Cattle Company has raised grass-fed Angus cattle while preserving wildlife along its rolling oak woodlands. The family-owned operation helped pilot a carbon-sequestration program and implemented a burn policy with surrounding ranchers to control invasive weeds. It may take some more convincing to bring vegans and vegetarians around, but this might be as good as it gets when it comes to local, sustainable beef.