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Rangeland social-ecological ecosystems experience conflicting social goals for land use that can stall progress towards effective governance and land management. This can be detrimental to social and ecological wellbeing. In the western United States, disparate land use goals for wildlife conservation and ranching within sustainable rural communities have led to polarized management contexts and legal challenges. At the US Sheep Experiment Station (USSES), a federal research ranch located in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE), researchers, diverse community partners and organizations, and ranchers are asking: what would happen if conflicting groups agreed to manage the land together in a participatory, co-production manner within a scientific research project framework? Could we learn to work with, rather than control, the rangeland social-ecological system and one another to achieve common objectives and outcomes? In this study, we report on the initial phases of the USSES Collaboratory, a multi-year collaborative adaptive rangeland management project focused on rangeland domestic sheep systems, rural livelihoods, biodiversity conservation, and climate adaptation. Initial social and ecological assessments have been used to inform the development of management goals and experimental treatments for a participatory grazing experiment. We report early key lessons from the baseline social assessment and initial objectives-setting workshops, which will inform how we work to bring divergent viewpoints together to build common ground based on increased trust and a new, shared understanding of complex systems dynamics.