Modifying human activities is key to achieving land degradation neutrality in rangelands. Rangeland stakeholders encompass different ownership regimes; however, little is known about whether different ownership models benefit or degrade social conditions and ecosystem services in the Middle East. The aim of this research was to determine the effects of Collective or Council ownership on social and ecological indicators in the wintery rangeland of Iran. The study included a social network analysis of the 187 stakeholders in the communal rangelands of Kalat (NE Iran). We considered social network variables such as density, reciprocity, transitivity, geodesic distance and E-I (external-internal) and degree centrality combined with ecological indicators such as condition, forage yield and trend in range condition. The stocking rate was 2.43 AU ha −1 in Council rangelands and 0.94 AU ha −1 for Collective rangelands, with both exceeding recommended carrying capacity. Herbage mass and canopy cover were both higher in the Collective (247 kg/ha; 59%) than Council rangelands (140 kg/ha; 48.3%). Density (47.6% and 48.6%) and reciprocity (54.2% and 53.7%) were higher for Collective rangelands than Council rangelands, but were lower for geodesic distance (1.5 and 1.7-1.8) for trust and collaboration ties. Collective rangelands showed more bridging ties (55%) than the council rangelands (27.5%), suggesting they would be more resilient when problems occur. It concluded that social capital was richer in the Collective rangelands, which creates a willingness in operators to contribute to participatory management of rangelands to improve their condition. Finally suggested new tools and policies, and possible financial and pedagogic support be provided to the Council rangelands to increase social capital and improve outcomes.