In October of 2014, Lee Cronk and Athena Aktipis (co-Directors of the HGP) visited the Malpai borderlands region of southern Arizona and New Mexico to explore its suitability for the HGP. They were received warmly by local ranchers and other members of the community and learned a great deal in a short time about both the risks and uncertainties faced by American ranchers and the ways in which they support each other through tough times. Cronk and Aktipis concluded that the Malpai region would provide both some interesting parallels with our East African pastoralist sites and some additional features not found at any of our other sites. These include the risks associated with the work itself – managing cattle in a rugged environment, largely on horseback – and with the ranches’ dependence upon the market economy. After their visit, Cronk and Aktipis decided to make the Malpai borderlands region an official fieldsite of the HGP.
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