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Published by the Texas Section Society
for Range Management
Providing Leadership for the Stewardship of Rangelands Based on Sound Ecological Principles
As we prepare for the upcoming meeting in San Angelo, I reflect back to last year’s president Bill Pinchak and his message in the Jul-Aug edition of “Grass Roots”. He states, “What a difference a year makes. Range and pasturelands across the State are in phenomenal condition for August. Drought is a powerful force in our lives as profes-sional land managers. The recovery potential of the land is nothing short of amazing in these rare wet years.” In the past month I have driven in all directions throughout our State. “Phenomenal” is the last word I would use to describe our current condi-tion. Life-altering fires and drought are this year’s topics, so indeed what a difference a year makes.
I spent time searching for a palatable-annual plant to be eaten by a deer or cow, and found none. I looked amidst the protected lotebush and cactus colonies, still none. This year has been hard on range managers, animals, and plants alike. The theme for the 2011 annual meeting is fitting, Rangeland Stewardship: A History of Heritage, A Future of Change. In our past, we have coped and succeeded in handling the obstacles our commu-nity has faced. We have been through hard times in the past, but it makes the good years that much sweeter. As we write the future each day, we must continue to strive for excellence and adapt to the upcoming challenges. Your board of directors has worked hard this past year to make the meeting a success. They have done a wonderful job and I want to thank them for all of their energy. We have a great program planned full of presentations and tours that will be informational to us all. I am looking forward to the reconnecting with range professionals across the state and sharing in great fellowship. See you in San Angelo!
— Matt Wagner
JUL—AUG 2011 Volume 63, Number 4
Matt Wagner—TSSRM President
Grass RootsGrass RootsGrass Roots
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Matthew “Matt” Wagner, President 4200 Smith School Rd Austin, TX 78744-3218 H: (512) 292-8285 W: (512) 389-4778 F: (512) 389-4593 E: [email protected] Ken Cearley, First Vice President Texas Agrilife Reseach & Ext 6500 Amarillo Blvd W Amarillo, TX 79106 H: (806) 558-2472 C: (806) 670-6070 F: (806) 558-2202 E: [email protected] Jeff Goodwin, Second Vice President 1511 Wordsworth Dr. Cleburne, TX 76033 H: (254) 977-2663 E: [email protected] William “Bill” Pinchak, Past President 3515 Beaver St Vernon, TX 76384-6555 H: (940) 553-3880 W: (940) 552-9941 x242 F: (940) 553-4567 E: [email protected] Natalie G. Wolff, Secretary Administrative Handbook, Website 107 Wyoming Blvd Pleasanton, TX 78064-4401 C: (210) 288-6898 F: (830) 569-6140 E: [email protected] Robert Moen, Treasurer PO Box 43 Sonora, TX 76950-0043 H: (325) 387-2942 W: (325) 387-3168 F: (325) 387-5045 E : [email protected] Tyson Hart, Newsletter Editor 4613 NW Stallings Dr Nacogdoches, TX 75961 W: (936) 462-8185 H: (979) 571-5885 E: [email protected] Diaz W. Murray, Director 2009-2011 F Bar Springs Ranch, LLC 2510 Beefeater Drive Wichita Falls, TX 76308 W: (940) 696-2815 C: (940) 967-7079 E: [email protected] Kent Ferguson, Director 2009-2011 PO Box 478 Valley Mills, TX 76689-0478 W: (254) 742-9886 E: [email protected] Linda Campbell, Director 2010-2012 6204 Salcon Cliff Drive Austin, TX 78749 W: (512) 389-4395 C: (512) 426-0127 E: [email protected] Tony Dean, Director 2010-2012 226 Oak Ridge St Jacksboro, TX 76458 W: (940) 538-4681 H: (940) 567-5396 C: (940) 567-1528 E: [email protected] Bill Fox, Director 2011-2013 Blackland Research & Ext 720 E. Blackland Rd Temple, TX 76502 C: (979)777-3730 W: (254) 774-6034 E: [email protected] Dr. Alfonso “Pancho” Ortega, Director 2011-2013 292 N. CR 1070 Kingsville, TX 78363 W: (361) 593-5001 H: (361) 595-4093 C: (361) 522-0084 E: [email protected] Lee A. Knox, Archivist 361 Foothill Rd Abilene, TX 79602 H: (325) 692-1026 E: [email protected]
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Letter from the Editor: Driving from Nacogdoches west to anywhere is always a treat. I like watching the land transition from the Western Gulf Plain to the East Cen-tral Plain to the Blackland Prairie, and so on. This time, my trip made me cringe a little. I left greenish-yellow plants and wilting trees, to see yellow plants, and finally white plants with blackened islands of scorch. The lack of rainfall and consecutive days of triple-digit heat have not been kind to our rangelands. My trip’s purpose was to spend a week in Albany as an instructor at the 10th Battalion of the North Texas Buckskin Brigade. My wife and I needed to steal some energy from our Texas youth for motivation and inspiration. In the times of texting and a general outcry that the youth is going down-hill, I beg to differ. Given mother nature’s unkind events this year I was inspired by one ca-det’s view of the outdoors. At 5:45 am, the cadets were instructed to sit without talking and dissect the sunrise. Then, they wrote in journals their thoughts, sights, and sounds. With the permission of Shelby Brasher of Mabank I have included her journaling in the issue. Thanks to Shelby (and all the cadets) for reminding me why I love my job.
— Tyson Hart
Burn Workshop Aug 1-5 Edwards County, TX Three Secrets to Increasing Profit Aug 4 Beeville, TX TSSRM Annual Meeting October 12-14 San Angelo, TX Business Mgmt on Working Ranches Oct 27-28 Texas A&M Kingsville
- Upcoming Events -
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A Day in the Field -Shelby Brasher-
It’s just after 6 am on a crisp and beautiful Tuesday morning and already the heat is sinking in. This par-ticular morning I’ve found myself sitting on the bank of a fairly large pond on the Stasney’s Cook Ranch. Slowly, I begin to scan the horizon hoping to see some wildlife. Across the pond I can see a large, wooded hill. The hill rises to its peak before dropping off, slowly rising again, and finally dropping off once more. Looking further to my left I find three crosses standing tall and proud as the sun starts rising behind them. Looking out across the pond I notice many trees peeking out of the water. The water is like glass. There’s not one wave or ripple to disturb the stillness of the surface this morning. Examining the ground around me I see just a few dried grasses. Deprived of any water they have been left to shrivel up and surely die. As the sun gets higher in the sky the birds begin to sing louder, more joyful songs. Two particular birds start to talk back and forth, deep in conversation that seems will never cease to end. The fish apparently have found their voice as well. They begin splashing and jumping all across the pond. It’s nearly 6:30 now, but it seems like I have only been here a few minutes. I take a look at the cadets and instructors spread across the bank all around me. They all seem to be lost in a deep thought. I look up just in time to see a few birds chasing each other across the pond. Gliding on air more than flying, they begin to tire and eventually meet at a nearby tree. It seems now that the bees have awakened or perhaps unwillingly for they don’t seem to be happy. One bee buzzes loudly all around me for quite some time. I notice too that some of the other cadets are being terrorized by the grumpy bees as well. As the first group of birds I observed rests, another comes out to play. They make large circles and weave in between each other. Finally the bee has left me to enjoy my sunrise in peace. By now the whole sky is lit up with beautiful pink and orange rays of light. I begin to drift off lost in my own thoughts as I often do, but suddenly a big fish jumps, making all kinds of emotion, and brings me back to Earth.
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Book Review
Everyone has their favorite range book, and this one is mine. I am not touting that this is the definitive range book, or even the best. I like it because it was my first range book and Dr. Hatch was one of my professors. I took a wetland plant taxonomy class from him in graduate school and remains the hardest class I have ever taken. Young range enthusiasts and high school Ag Teachers treat this book as their range bible. After becoming involved with 4-H and FFA range contests, I watch as the kids finish their tests and imme-diately head back to the truck to check their answers with the green covered book. Sometimes I see fist pumps, but many times I hear, “Dang it, I knew that one!” Dr. Hatch is a Professor of Plant Taxonomy in the Department of Rangeland Ecology and Management at Texas A&M University. He joined the Texas A&M faculty in 1979 as an Assistant Professor; was promoted to Associate Professor in 1983 and to Professor in 1990. Current teaching responsibilities at the graduate and under-graduate level include courses in agrostology, rangeland plant tax-onomy, and wetland plant taxonomy. Part of his teaching efforts include: curation of the S.M. Tracy Herbarium, involvement with the Flora of Texas Consortium, and teaching faculty and graduate students about herbarium use (vouchers and identi-fication). His curatorial responsibilities include directing growth of the herbarium collection, exchange and loan programs and service plant identifications. Dr. Hatch has conducted research in Kenya, Ger-many, the Dominican Republic, and Mexico, as well as in the U.S. His focus is both in floristic and sys-tematics where he is engaged in the development of herbarium information for the public on the Internet as well as traditional publications. Jennifer Pluhar is a talented range scientist with high standards for professional performance and ethics. She has been a leader in SRM most of the years she has been a member, helping to advance range sci-ence and the careers of range scientists. Her outstanding contributions to land stewardship as a profes-sional include exemplary work in her roles as a wetland scientist, range consultant, and ranch manager. Jennifer has co-authored or authored several publications. In her positions as a range consultant, ranch manager, and a senior wetland scientist, she contributes to the sound management of rangelands in a broad geographic area, including wetland delineations, restoration, mitigation, rangeland monitoring, grazing management, and wildlife management. Countless SRM members have been positively impacted by her work on undergraduate student competitions, scholarships, professional development workshops, training, and mentoring. Over 2,500 students and 1,000 professionals have been positively impacted by Tapping the Top and the Student Employment Workshop.
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Texas Prescribed Burn Workshop Newby
Ranch-Edwards County, Texas
Taught by Keith Blair, First Texas Certified Prescribed Burn Instructor
August 1-5, 2011
Course Description Fire has long been an ecologically important factor in Texas, and this course teaches the participant how to use prescribed fire as a tool for land management. The participant will gain an understanding of fire effects and how to use fire in a safe manner to accomplish certain habitat management objectives. The course combines lecture, group discussion, teamwork, individual projects and field work to increase each student's knowledge of fire weather, fire behavior, physical properties and characteristics of fuels, and the effects of fire on vegetation, wildlife and soils. Students will become aware of the risks associated with prescribed burning, including smoke risks and the risk of fire escape. Laws pertaining to the use of prescribed fire and their influence on a burn manager's plan-ning and decisions will be explained. This course meets the minimum training requirements set forth by the Texas Prescribed Burning Board for the Cer-tified Prescribed Burn Manager program. (Texas Administrative Code; Title 4; Part 13; Chapter 228). Five CEU’s/day (Mon-Thurs) are available for current Certified Burn Managers. What you will learn Upon completion of the course, a student should be able to recognize different fuel models important for range-land burning. The student should have the ability to determine fuel load and reliably estimate live and dead fuel moisture, as well as fire rate of spread and flame length. He/she should have acquired an introductory knowledge of the use of fire equipment (for ignition and suppression). Each student will have developed a fire prescription, addressing multiple variables, to meet specific land management objectives, and will have created a prescribed burn plan that includes the use of natural and artificial fire breaks.
Course Information -Newby Ranch -Text Book Required-TDA Prescribed Burn School Manual (provided by instructor) -Leather boots and cotton clothing required on field trips. Nomex cloth-ing recommended. Bandana, sunscreen, and leather gloves helpful.
Contact Information
Red Buffalo, LLC , 205 Bisonte Rojo Rd., Medina, Texas 78055 Phone: 830-459-0444 & Email: [email protected]
Registration: http://www.myredbuffalo.com/burn_schools.htm
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Call for Papers
Theme: Rangeland Stewardship: A History of Heritage, A Future of Change
The Young Professionals Committee is soliciting abstract submissions for both oral and poster presentations from undergraduates, graduate students, and other young professionals. Oral presentations will be 12 minutes long with 3 minutes reserved for questions. Oral presenta-tions will be given during the Thursday morning program and should focus on topics related to the meeting theme. Posters will be displayed throughout the meeting and can cover any topic (recreation, wildlife, reclamation, ecology, livestock management), related to rangeland use. Those interested in giving an oral or poster presentation should send a 200 word abstract to: Sam Schiwart: [email protected] For more information, Sam Schiwart by email or by phone: 325-450-1682.
Call for Photos
Categories: Native Wildlife
Plants Ranching & Livestock
Teas Landscapes People
Check out the TSSRM website
for more details
DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION: SEP 15, 2011
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2011 TSSRM Annual Meeting
College Activities Committee
Presents
Battle of the Universities
Ranger Relays
To register or for more information contact:
Carrie Koennecke
Universities may enter up to two teams of three indi-
viduals each (one under undergraduate team & one
graduate team) in a competition of:
1. Habitat Management
2. Engineering Practices
3. Pesticide Labels
4. Plant Id
5. GPS
6. Topo Map and other
Range Management Skills
- Registration deadline is September 1 -
- Prizes will be awarded -
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2011 TSSRM Meeting Program San Angelo, Texas
San Angelo Convention Center
Theme: Rangeland Stewardship: A History of Heritage, A Future of Change
Wednesday, October 12th, 1 pm, San Angelo Convention Center:
Uploaded and Live: Using Technology and Social Media to Market Your Product Job Fair Range Relay Reception
Thursday, October 13th, 8 am, San Angelo Convention Center:
History of the Flora and Fauna of the Concho Valley Keeping the Family Ranching Operation Profitable Sustainable Rangeland Management for New Landowners Diversification of Ranching Operations while Maintaining Traditional Values Energy Production on Rangelands Research Reports from Across the State Tour of Historic San Angelo Sporting Clay Shoot Awards Banquet and Dance featuring Johnny Dickinson and Big Country
Friday, October 14th, 7:30 am, Depart from Springhill Suites:
Ranch Tour of Sterling, Coke and Tom Green Counties Wind Energy Production in Texas Developing Lease Agreements for Petroleum Exploration Fencing with Stay-tuff Fence Material Priefert Ranch Equipment Demonstration Yellowhouse Machinery Equipment Demonstration Vegetation Response to Wildfires and Prescribed Burning
Texas Section – Society for Range Management Annual Meeting
October 12-14, 2011
McNease Convention Center 500 Rio Concho Drive
San Angelo, Texas 76903
*Early Registration Cutoff – Friday, September 16, 2011*
Registration Fee Includes: Mixer/Social, Awards Luncheon and Banquet *Please mark all events you plan to attend*
Registration Fees Cost/Person Early Late Number Total ($) Guest (Exhibitor or Non-member Speakers Only) N/C N/C ______ ______ Member/Non-Member $100 $125 ______ ______ Spouse $60 $65 ______ ______ Student $75 $75 ______ ______ Day Registration $30 $30 ______ ______ (No meals included; Thursday or Friday only) Wednesday, October 12, 2011 Advertising/Marketing Training Session (Presented by Young Professionals) N/C N/C ______ ______ Mixer/Social (included in registration) ______ ______ Spouse (included in registration) ______ ______ Extra Mixer/Social Ticket $20 $20 ______ ______ Thursday, October 13, 2011 TSSRM Young Professionals Breakfast N/C N/C ______ ______ Awards Luncheon (included in registration) ______ ______ Spouse (included in registration) ______ ______ Extra Awards Luncheon Ticket $15 $15 ______ ______ Afternoon Tours/Entertainment Claybird Shoot $40 $40 ______ ______ Historic Downtown San Angelo Tour $10 $10 ______ ______ Awards Banquet (included in registration) ______ ______ Spouse (included in registration) ______ ______ Extra Awards Banquet Ticket $30 $30 ______ ______ Friday, October 14, 2011 TSSRM Past President’s Breakfast N/C N/C ______ ______ (Past Presidents and Charter Members) Ranch Tour (Box lunch provided) $15 $15 ______ ______ (Limited to first 250 registrants) Total Amount Enclosed $_________
Please Make Checks Payable to:
Texas Section SRM
Texas Section – Society for Range Management Annual Meeting
October 12-14, 2011
McNease Convention Center 500 Rio Concho Drive San Angelo, Texas 76903
Hotel Information:
*Host Hotel Springhill Suites
2544 Southwest Blvd. San Angelo, Tx 76901
(325)949-6900 Block of rooms at: $85.00
Holiday Inn Express Comfort Suites
4613 Houston Hart Freeway 4450 Houston Harte Freeway San Angelo, Tx 76901 San Angelo, Tx 76901
(325)223-2200 (325)944-8600 www.hiexpress.com/sanangelo www.comfortsuites.com/hotel/tx853
Block of rooms at: $85.00 Block of rooms at: $85.00
Room Blocks End September 23, 2011
Registrations postmarked after September 16, 2011 must pay late registration price.
Name: _________________________ Spouse’s Name: ________________________ Address: ______________________________________________________________ City, State, Zip: _________________________________________________________ Phone Number: ________________________ Email: ___________________________ Occupation/Job Title:_____________________________________________________ Employer:______________________________________________________________
Refund Requests must be received by September 23, 2011. No refunds will be made after this date.
For more information about the San Angelo area visit the San Angelo Convention and Visitor’s Bureau at:
www.sanangelo.org.
Return Registration Forms and Checks made payable to Texas Section SRM to: Reggie Quiett, 2818 Center Dr., Vernon, TX 76384
Phone: (940)473-9624
For further information, email: [email protected] or [email protected]
Texas Section Society for Range Management
Sporting Clay Shoot Registration Form
Thank you for participating in the TSSRM Annual Meeting Sporting Clay Shoot to be held October 14, 2011, at the San Angelo Claybird Association. Individual shooter registration is $40 and includes one round of 100 sporting clays at 10 stations. Transportation will be provided to and from San Angelo Claybird Association from the host hotel, Springhill Suites.
Top Shooter will win a Benelli Shotgun 2nd and 3rd place shooters will receive gift cards!
Each shooter is responsible for their shells (approx. 125 rounds), eye and ear protection. Shells and ear protection will be available for purchase at the course. Also, a shell bag or vest is highly recommended. Eye and ear protection must be worn on the course at all times! *No ammunition can exceed 1 1/8 (one & one-eighth) ounce shot, 2 3/4 inch shell length, 3 1/4 dram equivalent or 7 1/2 shot size. *No alcohol can be consumed prior or until the participant is no longer shooting. No alcohol is allowed on the course whatsoever. The following form needs to be filled out completely and submitted with your registration and payment. If you have any questions regarding the claybird shoot, feel free to contact Sam Schiwart at (325)450-1682. Shooter Information (Please Print):
Name ______________________________________________
Address ____________________________________________
Phone (______) ______________________________________
Email _______________________________________________
How many years have you been a member of TSSRM? _______
Have you ever shot sporting clays before? Y N
Highly Sought After TSSRM Pink Camo Hoodies
Price Reduced to Sale!
Regular Price $24.00 Now $12.00
Preorder by call or email Robert Moen: (325) 387-3168 or [email protected]
Orders will be delivered to the TSSRM Annual Meeting held in San Angelo in October
Limited Size Selection
Larger sizes can be worn over other clothing. Any Remaining Hoodies not Preordered will be Available at the Annual
Meeting in San Angelo
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FOR SALEFOR SALE
