Meet Jay Tutchton | Preserve Manager Southern Plains Land Trust

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jay Tutchton and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jay, let’s talk legacy – what do you want yours to be?
Whenever someone asks the “legacy” question my mind goes to the words of Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley. As the poem explains, ultimately, not even the deeds of the most mighty are remembered. Decades ago, I played a small part helping my boss facilitate the creation of a new National Wildlife Refuge. We and others had to make some hard decisions to move the process forward. He remarked at the time, “years from now no one will remember who did this or what they did – they will just be glad it is here.” My legacy will be the land and the species the Southern Plains Land Trust protects and those words will ring true. Nobody will remember everyone who played a roll in saving the land and its inhabitants for future generations, but they will be glad someone did. That is enough for a legacy.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I spent 27 years practicing law. The key word in that sentence is practicing. Not ever effort was a success, but the effort itself was the reward. Most of that time, I tired to use the law to protect the environment, filing cases for endangered species protection, clean air and water, preserving wild places. What I learned was that you can stop a bad decision from moving forward, but you can’t often force someone else to make what you think is a better decision. Then I switched gears and went to work for the Southern Plains Land Trust, an organization dedicated to buying prairie land and protecting it for wildlife. Here we put the decision-making in our own hands. If we don’t like the way the land is managed, or what people have planned for its future, we just change it. We don’t have to sue someone else to try and force their hand. It is direct, simple, and clean.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
It is all about the land and the animals. I’d start the tour on the edge of the mesa at the southern end of the Preserve. It is a view of the prairie stretching to the horizon and one largely without any evidence of the detritus of humanity, a view that might have greeted someone standing there 200 years ago. Often you can even see our bison grazing, animals weighing up to a ton, looking small and occasionally disappearing as dark specks in a sea of grass. Then I’d show them the bison close up. Let them hear the sounds of hooves clicking, grass being eaten, and the occasional low growl of the bulls as they approach raising clouds of dust. Next, it would be on to one of our two dozen prairie dog colonies. The antics of these small busy rodents, scurrying between their burrows and barking from their mounds are always entertaining, but, if we are lucky, we will see other creatures that frequent the prairie dog colonies: golden eagles, ferruginous hawks, burrowing owls, coyotes, badgers, swift fox, pronghorn, and we wouldn’t neglect the little things found among the prairie dog burrows: box turtles, tarantulas, horned lizards, rattlesnakes, bull snakes, and if it has rained, tiger salamanders. By now, it would be afternoon, the prairie wind would be blowing, temperatures climbing, and it would be time to visit one of the springs, an oasis of life in a dry land. Here we would look for yellow headed or red winged blackbirds in the cattails, great blue herons working the shallows, hoping to catch unwary leopard frogs or small fish, and there would be an incredible abundance of dragonflies zooming about. In the cottonwood trees above we would look to spot great horned owls or porcupines resting from their nocturnal adventures. Then we’d take a well deserved siesta watching clouds build into thunderheads. If the rain comes we’d watch the lightening and listen to the wind roar from a suitable shelter, but if passes by, as it does most often in this vast landscape, we’d go out one more time to see the night shift on the prairie. The prairie dogs would be asleep but their hunters would still prowl the colonies, the badgers, swift fox, coyotes, rattlesnakes, now joined by the owls. If we were really lucky we’d spot a black footed ferret, an endangered species we have reintroduced to the Preserve, that hunts only prairie dogs and always after dark. Along the creeks the raccoons would come out, and a cacophony of frogs and toads would call to potential mates in the moonlight. At the end of our night drive, I’d hope my guest realized the prairie is not empty as it appears from a car window going 75 miles per hour, but a thriving community of interconnected and interesting life.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Nicole Rosmarino, a founder and then the first Executive Director of the Southern Plains Land Trust. Without her vision, tireless efforts, love and support none of this would have been possible.

Website: southernplains.org

Image Credits
All photos can just be credited to Southern Plains Land Trust