From left: Moderator Sosie Bacon, RTF President Neda DeMayo and experts Rodger Savory and Alejandro Carrillo discuss regenerative grazing at the Environmental Media Association’s 2025 Impact Summit.

Thank you to the Environmental Media Association for again hosting Return to Freedom’s panel at its Impact Summit highlighting the value of equines as part of regenerative holistic land management!

The panel provided an opportunity for RTF’s president, Neda DeMayo, and experts Rodger Savory and Alejandro Carrillo to discuss regenerative grazing’s potential as a solution for sensitive ecosystems on both private and public land.

It’s exciting to see the regenerative grazing community growing — if the soil isn’t healthy, we have nothing!

Our thanks to actor, director and activist Sosie Bacon for being such a well-informed moderator!

It was also great to see the moderator of last year’s Gwenn Malick. A volunteer and Next Gen ambassador for RTF, Gwenn is serving on the Young Hollywood Board for the EMA, the entertainment industry’s foremost environmental nonprofit.

We’re proud to be a forerunner in using regenerative grazing for animals not being raised for food. Working with Savory and Carillo, we have revitalized nearly 1,000 acres of grassland at our San Luis Obispo, Calif., satellite sanctuary.

We carefully herd 69 wild horses, 23 burros and 13 cattle across the land to emulate what would happen when there were endless grasslands and diverse grazing mammals and predators that kept those herds moving. We partner with @calpoly rangeland management students on projects like dispersing native grass seed and soil testing.

We’ve also worked with Carillo on a grazing project on a military base in Arizona modeling the benefit of integrating rescued burros.

This year, we are implementing regenerative grazing at our headquarters in Lompoc, Calif., thanks to a generous pollinator grant from the Cochuma Resource Conservation District.

To support the nearly 500 animals in our sanctuary’s care and all of the pioneering work we do, please give as generously as you can