Unspoiled Alaskan rivers like the Sandy River have an incredible abundance of animals, birds and marine life. Out here on the end of the Alaska Peninsula, the migratory keystone species – salmon – predators and abundant prey are seen in constant interaction. Texas’ deserts, where wildlife diversity and populations are severely depleted, provide observers with no living example of the harmony of a seemingly chaotic ‘unmanaged’ ecosystem. Forty years of fly-fishing for salmon, 25 of those on the Sandy, gave our family the examples and the insights that guide Circle Ranch’s restoration efforts in the deserts of far-West Texas. Our practices, based on the lessons of the Sandy River, fundamentally differ from the industrial agricultural methods promoted by universities and government agencies.