Ben Munger Email & Phone Number

Since June of the 2015 I have been the Farm Manager at Deep Springs College responsible for making hay to sell and use at the college. I am responsible for working with students to irrigate the hay crop, to complete daily tasks, and to plan for future enterprises to support the college through the Farm.For the last 14 years I have been the Ranch Manager at Midland School where I arrived at the age of one year old. I manage a cattle lease on 2500 acres, our own grass-fed cattle on 80 acres, and a 10 acre organic farm. Midland School's property is in a conservation easement and requires that the property is well managed, and learned from, with students participating in monitoring grasslands and conducting oak tree surveys. With three different grants from the National Resource Conservation Service I made important ecological and financial improvements to the ranch with the help of students. Over the last decade we fenced springs and riparian areas and developed clean drinking water with wildlife escape ramps. We divided the property into several manageable pastures with cross fencing, built a corral, and protected a significant archaeological/cultural site. Recently, I have developed a partnership with The Santa Barbara Trails Council to improve hiking and horse riding trails for Midland and local community members. Prior to working as a Ranch Manager I was an archaeologist with the US Forest Service. I began working for the Forest Service in 1981 in Trails on the Chugach National Forest and worked seasonally until working full-time on the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest in Dillon, Montana. My specialty with the Forest Service was doing archaeology in Wilderness Areas in Idaho, Montana, and California. I worked on wildfires in the Southwest, Great Basin, Northern Rockies, and California. I also did historic preservation work on buildings in historic mining towns and Forest Service administrative sites.

Listed skills include Ecology, Wildlife, Teaching, Equestrian, and 14 others.