Kelly Beevers is the Grazing Lands Partner Strategy Lead with The Nature Conservancy, where she helps guide collaborative efforts to support ranchers, strengthen communities, and conserve some of the most threatened ecosystems in North America. Based in Montana, Kelly has built her career at the intersection of real estate, land stewardship, and community-driven conservation—first working in commercial real estate, then private equity and consulting, before finding her home at TNC. Today, she leads TNC’s work that champions rancher-led, peer-to-peer learning and innovation by strengthening, connecting, and activating all varieties of rancher networks.
In this conversation, Kelly and I talk about her unlikely journey from Texas A&M finance classrooms to Montana ranch kitchen tables, and how those experiences shaped her approach to building authentic partnerships. We dig into the power of peer-to-peer rancher networks, why local knowledge and community leadership are essential for durable conservation, and how initiatives like Women in Ranching are reshaping the future of stewardship. Along the way, Kelly shares lessons from her career pivots, stories of on-the-ground innovation, and the hope she draws from the people she works with every day. She also offers a ton of excellent book recommendations, so be sure the check out the episode notes for links to everything.
Kelly brings a rare mix of technical expertise, strategic vision, and deep human connection to her work, and I’ve had the privilege of calling her a friend for many years. It’s been a joy to watch her career evolve, and I know listeners will take away both inspiration and practical insight from this conversation. Enjoy!
Header photo by Emmie Sperandeo, photo with pups by Thewmatt Photography
LISTEN & DOWNLOAD:
Apple Podcasts
Spotify
…or wherever you get your podcasts!
EPISODE PARTNER:
This episode is brought to you in partnership with the Colorado chapter of The Nature Conservancy and TNC chapters throughout the Western United States. Guided by science and grounded by decades of collaborative partnerships, The Nature Conservancy has a long-standing legacy of achieving lasting results to create a world where nature and people thrive.
During the last week of every month throughout 2025, Mountain & Prairie will be delving into conversations with a wide range of The Nature Conservancy’s leaders, partners, collaborators, and stakeholders, highlighting the myriad of conservation challenges, opportunities, and solutions here in the American West and beyond. You can access all of the episodes here.
To learn more about The Nature Conservancy’s impactful work in the West and around the world, visit www.nature.org
RESOURCES:
Topics Discussed:
- 2:50 – Intro, Kelly’s early real estate history
- 6:39 – Next steps after real estate
- 9:23 – What drew Kelly to the West
- 14:30 – Specializing in listening
- 19:49 – From a company of one to a national nonprofit
- 24:41 – Kelly’s role at TNC
- 28:33 – Figuring out focus
- 36:23 – “All it took”
- 44:11 – How Kelly’s work fits into the broader TNC picture
- 54:35 – Women in Ranching
- 1:00:11 – Earning hope
- 1:05:58 – Book recs
- 1:10:42 – Wrapping up
Information Referenced:
- Kelly Beevers
- TNC Regenerative Grazing Lands, primarily focused on the Great Plains and the Western United States.
- North America’s grazing lands — including grasslands, shrublands and prairies — have been disappearing at an alarming rate. What remains is at risk from land conversion, extreme weather events and habitat loss, among other threats. The Nature Conservancy is working with producers, collaboratives, companies and government agencies to implement large-scale solutions to conserve these iconic lands and enhance the lives of the people who depend on them.
- TNC’s 2030 Goal: Increase the pace and impact of grazing land conservation. TNC is working to restore, improve and protect the ecological and economic condition of 240 million acres of grazing lands, which can influence how most of the 750 million acres of U.S. grazing lands are managed.
- The 240 million acres goal incorporates goals of other teams and work TNC is doing as well. Work is made up of principal (TNC in charge — lands, easements, projects delivering on public lands, etc.), direct (TNC in leading or having direct impact on direction of collaborative project) and indirect (TNC influencing or having a hand, but not in charge).
- TNC helps to shape policy to support regenerative grazing within the Farm Bill and public land management, creates supply chain incentives that support implementing regenerative practices and champions peer-to-peer networks, like Ranchers Leading Change.
- M&P Matt Cahill and the sagebrush sea episode
- M&P Matt Moorhead and Galen Guerrero-Murphy episode
- M&P Amber Smith episode
- Kris Tompkins on M&P
- Ed’s Good News newsletter for when you need some extra hope.
- What’s giving Kelly hope: rancher-led collaboratives, Department of Defense interest in agriculture, and the current administration forcing conversations within TNC to tell a more comprehensive story (ecology + economy + community).
- Women in Ranching
- Working Lands Collaborative in Wyoming
- Rancher-led collaboratives like the Ranchers Stewardship Alliance
- A revolving loan fund that raised $80,000 to loan to businesses in Winnett, Montana, population 500.
- Book recs: The Heart of Tracking by Richard Vacha, Never Whistle At Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology, The Serviceberry, Becoming Animal by David Abram
Enjoy this episode? Then you might like these too:
- Matt Cahill – A Deep Dive into the Sagebrush Sea
- Matt Moorhead & Galen Guerrero-Murphy – Grasslands Conservation on the Southern High Plains
- Rob Addington – A Deep Dive into Western Wildfires and Forest Health
- Kristine Tompkins – Nothing to Lose
- Live from SXSW – Farmer-Founded Brands Will Save American Fashion
- Sean Claffey – A Resilient Vision for Sagebrush Country
- Helen Rebanks – “The Farmer’s Wife” – Live at the Old Salt Festival
Visit the podcast page for a full list of episodes where you can filter episodes by topic and guests’ vocations.
