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More than 30 years ago a few of us ranchers and conservationists got together to talk about securing an open-space future for a 1-million-acre-landscape where Arizona, New Mexico and Mexico come together. For that to happen, we would have to work closely with our neighbors – and many public and private interests – to try to preserve the only livelihood that both protects and depends upon large open spaces: grazing. We became the Malpai Borderlands Group, which focused on “doing what was right for the land,” in the words of our founder, Drum Hadley. We focused on what we could agree upon rather than what divided us, and we have become a force to be reckoned with. We concentrated first on restoring fire to benefit the land while conditions still made that possible, while the land was still undeveloped. The effort to accomplish that one task across multiple land ownerships, both public and private, put us in the middle of the many intractable issues surrounding western lands. With the knowledge that the old ways (lobbying, litigation and confrontation) were doing little for the land itself, we forged ahead, believing in each other and not willing to take “no” for an answer. Under-promise and over-deliver. Do something with someone, not to them.These words became our mantra. Our path of cooperation faced opposition from those invested in conflict, both from within the ranching community and the environmental side. We stayed in the “radical center.” Our initial co-executive directors were a sixth-generation local rancher and a senior staff member of The Nature Conservancy. Today our one-time adversaries acknowledge that our accomplishments have far exceeded their expectations. They have exceeded ours as well. As we pause to celebrate our success, we know the work is far from over. A new generation is stepping up to build on what has been done. They won’t take “no” for an answer either.