What is a Cultural Keystone Species?

Coined in 1969 by zoologist Robert Paine, a keystone species is a plant or animal that is often found in the folklore of local people and that plays a crucial role in an ecosystem. In conservation, a keystone species exerts the greatest influence on the ecosystem it inhabits. The concept of a Cultural Keystone species is similar in that an exceptional salient species to a culture can be identified by its significance in their diets, materials, medicines, languages, traditions, histories, and spiritual practices.

History of the Churro sheep

America’s first domestic sheep arrived over 550 years ago with the Spanish explorers and settlers. The history of the churra importation and distribution is fascinating and complex. Churro sheep are descended from those original Churra (later corrupted to “Churro” by American frontiersmen). Livestock, including sheep, came in 1494 when Spain established colonies in the Caribbean and then in Mexico. The first Churros came into the Southwest with early explorers (Cortez and Coronado) but it is felt that most of these sheep were used for food by the explorers and didn’t survived. In 1598, Don Juan Onate’ brought settlers and 2,900 sheep that formed the initial colonization of the Southwest. During this period, the Pueblo Indians were hired and enslaved to herd livestock and to weave textiles.*

The Pueblo Revolt of 1680 was a revolution against Spanish religious, economic, and political institutions imposed upon the Pueblos. The successful revolt kept the Spanish out of New Mexico for 12 years, and established a different power dynamic upon their return. The Pueblo Revolt holds great historical significance because it helped ensure the survival of Pueblo cultural traditions, lands, languages, religions, and sovereignty. It also established the Pueblos as a key contributer to the weaving traditions of the southwest as well as securing the churro sheep as the sheep of choice for the weaving cultures. All through the 1700s and up until the civil war and the railroad, the Churro sheep was the mainstay of agriculture for New Mexico and was the main economic base for the west and Mexico. 5,000,000 churros were in New Mexico and Mexico during the beginning of the 1800s. Vast Churro sheep drives of 450,000 sheep at a time, through the west and Mexico, supplied superior meat and wool for all the cultures that inhabited the west. The Churro sheep were the only livestock to survive the harsh desert conditions. After the railroad came west, other “improved” sheep like the Merino came west with the trains. Anglo towns and communities sprang up and the Churro lost its favor. Most flocks either perished or were mixed with European soft wool breeds to “improve” their likability among easterners. The 1840s is when we started seeing the Churro decline.

The Dine’ (the Navajo people), living on the edge of Spanish occupation, acquired a few sheep and horses by trade and probably raids. They nurtured their acquisitions and expanded their flocks. The Navajo were such good shepherds that by 1930 the Navajo herds had grown to 574,821 sheep. The large number of sheep, goats, horses and cattle was problematic for the severe drought conditions of the 1930’s, so the U.S. government conducted a stock reduction. Roughly 30% of each household’s sheep were slaughtered by government agents and thrown into arroyos or burned. About this same time it was decided by the U.S. Government to “improve” the Churros. This project lasted until the 1960s and was called Ft. Wingate Experimental Station. They were crossed with many different breeds of sheep and the researchers kept meticulous records of the breedings. By the 1940s, the sheep produced were only about 1/16 churro, and were given back to the Navajo as their sheep of choice. The researchers at Ft. Wingate were trying to “improve” the wool to compete in more of a commercial market. The researchers discovered resulting animals did not do well on the un-improved range and their wool was inferior to the original type seen in the beginning of the 1800s.. By 1977 the “old type” Navajo sheep had dwindled to less than 500 head. A number of motivated individuals along with the Navajo Sheep Project began work to revitalize and save the breed from further depletion. The breed association and registry was formed in 1986. *

About the same time the US government conducted their stock reductions, a similar act was being done in Mexico with the Tarahumara in the Sierra Madres and their churro sheep. Like the desert indigenous cultures in the US that used their churros for food, traditions and spiritual practices, the Tarahumara were a pastoralist weaving culture relying on the native Churro sheep to navigate the extreme terrain and climatic conditions created by the Sierra Madre Occidental range. Like the subjugation of native cultures in the US, the Mexican government were similar and slaughtered the churros that subsisted the indigenous peoples in Mexico.

Luckily, during the governments ill-fated attempt at improving an already superior sheep, hispanics along the Rio Grande, pueblo natives and Navajos that were isolated enough not to be disturbed by “improvements” still retained original flocks. Our source of primitive genetics for Rio Milagro foundation are the descendents of the “unimproved” flocks.

The Churro sheep is the Cultural Keystone species for the Western US.

Why should we be concerned about protecting landraces like the Churro sheep?

Landraces are defined as dynamic populations of a cultivated plant or animal with a historical origin, distinct identity, often genetically diverse and locally adapted. They are associated with a set of agricultural practices of selection, and unique knowledge base. These local unimproved ecotypes can show variable phenology and low to moderate yield, but are often highly functioning in their eco-zone. The main contributions of landraces overall have been traits for more efficient nutrient uptake in their environment, as well as useful genes for adaptation to stressful environments such as marginal living environments like lack of water, marginal toxic feed sources, salinity of soils, and extreme temperature shifts.

Their fleece is virtually waterproof and insulates them from extreme wind and cold as well as heat. They have a high degree of genetic variability (that is, more diverse genes in their genetic code), generally possessing more diverse phenotype and genotype than other breeds. This genetic variability is easily seen, as some animals are taller and more slab-sided and others are shorter and more compact. All have fine bone and long legs for their size. They also do not carry fat as other sheep do and do not have the square-bodied, short stocky legged conformation of other sheep breeds.

Some Key Traits Unique to the TrueChurro™:

More good reference reading about the Churro sheep. Navajo Churro Sheep and Wool in the United States. Written by Phillip Sponenburg and Connie Taylor.