published by the texas section society for range management

Published by the Texas Section Society for Range Management

Providing Leadership for the Stewardship of Rangelands Based on Sound Ecological Principles

NOV—DEC 2011 Volume 63, Number 6

In this last installment of my message to you as TSSRM President, I’d like to leave you with a sense of pride, humility, and inspiration over the last 11 months. The members of this great organization have been a pleas‐ure to serve and an honor to be associated with. We’ve made some progress in areas that need atten‐tion: engaging young professionals in our annual meet‐ing, improving the stewardship of our financial assets, and reaching out to the public and decision makers, on the impacts of the drought, wildfires, and the benefits of prescribed burning. Yet, we are faced with many challenges: maintaining and growing our membership, remaining relevant to a wide array of new rangeland uses and users, and having a louder voice in the natu‐ral resource policy arena.

Looking back, one of the highlights of my tenure was the Youth Range Workshop. If you ever need to re‐charge your batteries, I highly recommend it. You will return home with a renewed sense of purpose after meeting the new generation of natural resource man‐agers. As professionals, all of us have a responsibility to mentor these young people. In fact, a mentor pro‐gram was discussed at the past president’s breakfast in San Angelo. The theme “Change on the Range” constantly re‐minded me of how critical our professional expertise is to owners and managers of our wide open spaces. Our friend and colleague Wayne Hanselka put things in historical perspective by reminding me that windmills and barbed wire fences revolutionized the way we use rangelands. Guess what? Wind turbines and high

fences are doing the same thing today! Most of us will agree that 2011 has also been a tough year. The uncertainty we continue to experience di‐minishes in the knowledge that as an organization, we are composed of folks that understand the realities of life. We know how to get things done, and are frus‐trated by those that don’t. Through it all, we know that our best days are ahead, and one thing remains the same: land and the people connected to it. The Texas Section Society for Range Management repre‐sents people who intimately understand that connec‐tion. I have been blessed to serve you all! And a Merry Christmas to each of you!

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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]

Jan—Feb 2011 Grass Roots 2

Scholarship Awards

TSSRM Scholarship -Ryan McCarty-

The 2011 TSSRM Scholarship was awarded to Ryan McCarty during the 4H roundup in College Station, TX. Dr. Barron Rector presented the award to Ryan on behalf of the TSSRM. Ryan’s hometown is Normangee, Texas and he is a sophomore at Texas A&M University in Kingsville, TX majoring in Range & Wildlife Management. Ryan is an avid outdoorsman. He enjoys fishing in the bays and duck hunt-ing in the Kingsville area.

Bill Wyche Jr. Memorial Scholarship -Dillon O’Dell -

The 2011 Bill Wyche Jr. Memorial Scholarship was awarded to Dillon O'Dell. Dillon is the son of Eric and Mary O'Dell from Woodson, Texas. He graduated first in his class from Woodson High School in 2011 and is a freshman at Tarleton State University. He loves camp-ing, hunting, and spending time in the outdoors and competed in FFA range competitions in high school. He plans to pursue a degree in range management because he wants to work to improve land that has been overgrazed and depleted.

- Upcoming Events -

Nov—Dec 2011 Grass Roots 2

National SRM Meeting Spokane, Washington January 29—February 3, 2012 TX Chapter of The Wildlife Society Fort Worth, Texas February 23—25

Ecological Site Descriptions: Developing a foundation for Conservation Planning

‐David Hinojosa‐ Information is the most useful tool landowners and managers have when decisions have to be made about their property. The kinds of plants and soils present, and how they are affected by different management actions, are important factors to consider when making a conservation plan or before committing money and time to high in‐put projects. Better management and conservation decisions can be made when a landowner is able to under‐stand the possible outcomes of management decisions and the effect they will have on their overall goals for the property. Ecological Site Descriptions (ESD) are reports designed to provide information about plant communities , the soils they grow in, and how they are affected by different management decisions and natural circumstances. This information can help land managers realize or exceed their goals, and conserve natural resources by integrat‐ing the planning process with the potential of the property. These reports can also be used as a tool to evaluate the potential of a property before deciding to buy or lease. Ecological Site Descriptions contain climate, soil, hydrology and vegetative information to describe the ecological potential of the land. ESD’s are developed around ecological sites; the concept that certain types of plants grow together on certain types of soils. Technically, an ecological site is defined as a distinctive kind of land, with specific physical characteristics which differs from other kinds of land in its ability to produce a distinctive kind and amount of vegetation and in its ability to respond to management actions and natural disturbances. Among other informa‐tion, the ESD’s also describe the vegetation that is considered to be the reference plant community, or native plant community, which existed on the site before European settlement. Ecological Site Descriptions are a new twist on an old concept in the rangeland community, but can be a new idea for parts of the country considered forestland or areas that have traditionally focused on farmland. Landowners and consultants have been using Range Site Descriptions to guide management actions since the mid 20th century. ESD’s are expansions of existing Range Site Descriptions which reflect the demand for additional knowledge and diversification of land uses in our time. Soils are not always considered the most important factor when planning or making decisions on the ranch, but they are the foundation from which everything grows. As Hugh Hammond Bennett put it “Out of the long list of nature's gifts to man, none is perhaps so utterly essential to human life as soil.” Information about soils and eco‐logical sites can be accessed on the web at web‐soilsurvey.nrcs.usda.gov. It can also be found as a Web Soil Survey application for smart phones or in hard copy and DVD at local NRCS field offices. A collaborative effort is underway by the Natural Resources Conservation Service, the Bureau of Land Management and the United States Forest Service to create a seamless map of ecological sites across the country. For some areas, these reports are already available to the public on the web at esis.sc.egov.usda.gov. They are being made available as an additional tool that landown‐ers and managers can use when planning and mak‐ing decisions on their property.

This picture illustrates the effect soils can have

on plants with the same management. The soil in

the foreground is a deep Monteola clay and the

soil in the background is a shallow Fashing clay.


News Release for FFA Contest -Mark Moseley-

The training of students in the Texas FFA program has just taken a new turn….toward the NRCS. At their re-cent meeting in Lubbock, the FFA advisors made a de-cision to align their range contest more to the National Range Judging contest which is held each spring in Oklahoma City. This contest, which itself was revised a few years ago, is aligned to the NRCS rangeland plan-ning process. The FFA advisors, with the goal of pre-paring their students for college and careers, elected to implement the training immediately with some local and regional contests occurring in September and Oc-tober. To help train the new advisors, Levi Tibbs, Ber-tha Venegas, Gregg Wolff, David Bush, Tanner Agee, Mark Moseley (NRCS) and volunteer Alice London pro-vided a training workshop on property owned by Kendall County. The students are tested in plant identification of 30 plants from a state master list. Not only do they have to know the plant, but they also have to know the value for cattle, its invasiveness, longevity, season of growth, and other attributes. The next part of the contest, a small plot or “pasture”, is flagged for them to evaluate for cattle. Here is where the NRCS rangeland planning process emerges. As the students evaluate the plot, they have to determine from a soil pit which of six contest-specific ecological sites it is. They also are provided a distance to water and a management goal. Their next task is to inventory the plants in their current condition, then calculate Similarity In-dex. They record this, and the ecological site on their score sheet. The students then utilize a habitat rating guide that considers for cattle their needs such as vegetation quality and quantity, diversity, distance to water, slope of the land, integrity of the site, utilization, and density of brush. Each of these factors is scored from 0 – 40, with 40 being the best. Once this is done, the student then identifies the

most limiting factors. Referring back to the manage-ment goal provided earlier, the student recommends management practices until the scores for all factors meets or exceeds the goal. The contest is designed to teach student how to rec-ognize the importance of goals and how to mitigate limiting factors until the goal is reached. The contest does not get into the tools of management as they are so complex and specialized. That is for a later time! FFA supervisors are now hurriedly training students for the local and regional contests and in preparation for the State Contest held in the spring at Tarleton State University. Winners at the state contest then earn a trip to the National Range Con-test in Oklahoma City in May.


TSSRM Outstanding Young Range Professional -Forrest S. Smith-

The Outstanding Young Range Professional Award is presented by the Society to an individual mem-ber who has demonstrated extraordinary potential and promise as a range management professional. This year’s award winner has been a member of the Texas Section since 1999. He has a degree in range and wildlife management and a minor in biology. While in college, Mr. Smith completed several in-ternships at ranches and research facilities. Most notably, he began working as a student technician with South Texas Natives in 2001. South Texas Na-tives is administered through the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute (CKWRI). When he be-gan working for South Texas Natives, his exceptional leadership qualities caught the attention of industry veterans. Now, 10 years later, he has worked in every job South Texas Natives had to offer. He attained the top position of South Texas Natives Director in 2009. As South Texas Natives Director, not only does he oversee seed collection, increase, and release to growers, but is also leading an expansion of the project to Central and West Texas. He has received grants from the Texas Depart-ment of Transportation, Texas Parks and Wildlife, and other funding sources exceeding $2 million to fund South Texas Natives. He was invited and now serves on the Board of Directors of a new 501C3 called "Taking Care of Texas," an initiative by former First Lady Laura Bush. Forrest Smith has been very productive since entering the range management profession. He has obtained and inventoried nearly 1,800 native seed collections, authored 13 plant release documents, and served as an editor of the “Restoration Manual for Native Habitats of South Texas”. In the last couple years, he has become a frequently requested speaker throughout Texas on the topics of range seeding and range restoration. He has authored or co-authored 30 publications, including articles in “Native Plants Journal,” “Rangeland Management and Ecology,” and “Ecological Restoration.” He is a member of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Landowner Incentive Program Review Committee, the Texas Inva-sive Plant and Pest Control Board, the Society for Ecological Restoration, the Native Plant Society of Texas, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, and the Texas Wildlife Association. He also serves the TSSRM as an Activities and Education committee member. Forrest is also now recognized statewide as an expert botanist. Landowners, man-agers, students, and other range professionals regularly consult with him for assistance identifying unknown plants.

Forrest’s photographs of plants and landscapes have become well known. His photos regularly grace the covers of Texas A&M Kingsville and Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute publications. He served as the principle photographer for the Restoration Manual for Native Plants of South Texas. His pictures have won best of show twice at annual TSSRM meetings. He has also had the honor of having one of his photos on the cover of Rangelands magazine (Dec 2008).


Jan—Feb 2011 Grass Roots 2 Nov—Dec 2011 Grass Roots 2

I’m Thankful for Drought -Tyson Hart-

I’m thankful for drought. What??? Are you kidding me? Why would anyone be thankful for lack of rain, scorching temperatures, cracked soil, and dried up ponds? Without the repetitive cycle of wetting and drying, the flora and fauna never adapted. In witness of our ending year, our state should be doomed

and damned. Am I the eternal optimist for knowing Texas will recover? Hardly, a paralleled graph of the Dow Jones and Texas Rainfall through the last 10 years shows greater fluctua-tions in the latter (Dow in yellow and Rain in Orange). The precipitation history of Texas over a longer period reveals a cyclic nature. Texas as a whole experienced three droughts (>75% average rainfall) in the last 30 years. The stock market has seen four recessions over the same period. Maybe we can take to heart Warren Buffet’s mantra, “Be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful”.

I’m thankful for drought conservation plans. The fear and greed only work if you can see the future through the past. Nothing complex, just a simple algebraic equation: If Rain = X percent of normal by Y Date, then sell Z Animals. Wash, rinse, repeat on Y2 date during growing season. Such a simple equation, yet hard to practice. In contrast, I’m thankful that broker’s algorithms are seemingly incomprehensibly complex and the prairies don’t emulate Wall Street’s hysteria when climactic conditions go awry. I’m thankful that plants have no boundaries. The most inhospitable environments only pro-vide an opportunity. Only myself and the dog find the interior of my truck habitable, but grass has no problem with my truck’s posterior. If the ability to germinate is not inhibited by a bedliner and a busted pair of flip-flops, then the soils of Texas are the Garden of Eden. The Texas voting republic of grass did not elect sideoats grama as their leader for beauty and a great smear campaign. Resilience, persever-ance, adaptability represent the majority with esteemed gusto. I am not trying to be flippant about these issues, I know many people have been hurt. But, we have a lot

to be thankful for. Ecosystems have the ability to rehabilitate, and well-managed environments even

quicker. Over the holidays take a more intimate look at your surroundings. This includes your kids,

grandkids, and the land you love. We can’t change nature, nature is change. So, I do not rescind my pre-

vious, I’m thankful for drought.


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Outstanding Rangeland Management Award -Running V Ranch managed by Suzanne and Pat Schuchart-

The Running V Ranch in southern Atascosa County is named after Suzanne Schuchart’s grandmother, Viola. When Viola was growing up, her parents began to acquire and piece together many small tracts of land in order to farm and ranch. The first piece was bought in 1916 and acquiring the other acreages was quite a feat. The small tracts were being auctioned off in 10 and 20 ac tracts. The ranch now consists of 4,000 ac of owned land and another 2,000 ac of leased/operated land. Viola’s mother was very active in the ranching business. She once walked 60 miles from the San Antonio stockyards while herding cattle all the way down to the ranch. When the majority of this land was acquired, it was as a wide-open, mottled prairie. Mostly native grasses were found throughout the acreage, with smaller mottes of brush and woody growth. Goats were herded on the open land by local herders for many years. With the minimal brush cover, white-tailed deer were very scarce in Viola’s time. Needless to say, there was very little wildlife management going on in the 1920’s in this local area. Suzanne’s family recognized the potential for graz-ing at that time and always carefully stocked the prop-erty. However, periodic drought would dry tanks and create hardship for the cattle herd. When the rains did come to break the drought, runoff was high and many of the stock tanks silted in. Carrying capacities for cattle varied due to weather and markets and could be quite low at times, but the family simply strived to make the best of what they had acquired. It was during these times and over the next 50+ years that a lack of knowledge of prescribed burning and brush management slowly allowed brush encroachment; this lead to the thick brush cover that took over the majority of Atascosa County. Range condition has improved following brush management and proper grazing. Where thickets of chaparral once stood, you will find a mosaic of brush mottes and patterns that have allowed the native grasses to express them-selves once again. The first types of brush work implemented were the goats that were herded back in the 20’s. Unknowingly, the herders were managing brush before the brush invasion set in. The first planned brush manage-ment method was mechanical rollerchopping, and then eventually, prescribed fire began to follow. The first aerial spraying, to create mottes and edges both wildlife and livestock could benefit from, was in 1990. Suzanne’s family has always strived to properly stock and not overgraze. Suzanne carefully monitors growing con-ditions and stubble heights on the ranch. She spends lots of time on the ranch thinking about where her herds should go next. A decision deferred grazing system is used. Two herds of breeding cows on the ranch are rotated throughout 26 pastures. One herd is composed of F1 Brahman x Hereford crosses. The second herd is composed of Hereford cows. Several years back, the family wanted to have F1 tiger-striped cows. When she found out what they were bringing on the replacement cow market, she decided to dive in. In 1992, the ranch took action, and purchased their first Hereford cows and J.D. Hudgins Brahman bulls to develop their herds. Along with building their herds, Suzanne also went on to show some of their cattle at major stock shows. Since winning the All Breed Overall Female Sale at both Houston (1998) and San Antonio (2000), the Running V has become well known for its F1 replacement cattle. Many buyers call the ranch regularly, as far away as Tennessee, for replacement heifers and show calves.



Wildlife management is also a big part of Suzanne’s day-to-day life. She carefully exam-ines the value of quail habitat on the ranch and monitors quail abundance and produc-tivity. She has been successful in creating good quail habitat by diversifying pasture habitats and successional growth stages; which makes the habitat highly sought by quail hunters. White-tailed deer and northern bobwhite quail are plentiful on the ranch and it is highly regarded by its hunters for trophy white-tailed deer. Quality population man-agement has resulted in producing tremendous free-ranch specimens exceeding the 180 in Boone and Crocket score. The ranch is also sought out by quail hunters for its healthy populations of birds. These birds are here due to the balance of habitat types main-tained on the ranch. Suzanne is especially astute to graze in a manner that ensures plenty of nesting cover for the bobwhite. Suzanne’s drought plan starts with conservative stocking rates that have been devel-oped slowly over time. These stocking rates are coupled with regular monitoring of the range conditions, grass stubble height, and plant vigor. Periodically, the ranch will have to reduce the cattle numbers to deal with drought. Being in the replacement cattle busi-ness, Suzanne usually has yearlings or two-year olds as part of the herd. When needed, two-year old growing heif-ers will be sold early. If further reduction is necessary, yearlings will be sold next. When this is not enough, calves will be sold at weaning. This practice will be followed by early weaning if needed. In the most severe droughts, older breeding cows will be sold as well. Suzanne has done such a good job of drought management that she has always been able to maintain good ground cover and has not had to sell any of the young or middle-aged breeding. Even in high precipitation years, Suzanne manages for droughts. She does not immediately enlarge her cattle num-bers to compensate for the growth. This is a testament to skill, patience, and the discipline required to keep cattle numbers conservative. In Suzanne’s own words, “While I can’t possibly explain the ins and outs of my day-to-day ranching efforts, I can say my goal is simple; manage the ranch to make it more profitable and enjoyable while cutting expenses. This is ulti-mately done by carefully observing livestock and wildlife/hunting markets and taking out unnecessary factors in the overall process. Being a fourth generation rancher, keeping the ranch in my family, and continuing to make as many improvements as possible really drives the Running V.” “I am always trying to learn from everyone else. With all the uncertainties in this job, it can be pretty tough on you. The best tool is education. I attend classes, seminars and field days to expose myself to new ways of thinking, which helps me take ideas and implement them on Running V. One of the most important concepts I’ve learned is you have to be as flexible as the weather and the markets because stocking numbers and rangeland capacities change with them. Even though it seems to be cliché, the most important piece of advice I would give is don’t overgraze. When times get hard and production is slim, if stewardship comes before all else, you’ll more likely be able to move past that period at a quicker pace.”


Book Review -Tyson Hart-

Similar to Roemer’s Texas, Ferdinand Lindheimer’s story recounts the journey of his life looking at plants. The book can be dull and boring at times, especially if you don’t know your scientific plant names! While wading through the Latin, I became engrossed with early-settlement Texas. I found myself knowing the places he visited during his work, and how different the times are today. I am always amazed how tough our ancestors were. Traveling back-and-forth between St. Louis and Houston with cartons full of pressed plants is no small feat. Lindheimer accomplished the task quite regu-larly. We, as students of plants, owe much to the early footsteps to the “Father of Texas Botany.” Also, the German fascination with New Braunfels remains interesting to me. Roemer and Lindheimer both thought this was the most beautiful place on Earth. From the Texas State Historical Association: Ferdinand Jacob Lindheimer is known as the Father of Texas Botany, with over 20 species and one genus bearing his name. He was born on May 21, 1801 in Frankfurt, Germany. He was a refugee who left Ger-many after participation in the failed Frankfurt Putsch insurrection in 1833. In 1834, Lindheimer arrived in Belleville, Illinois, whence he traveled by boat to New Orleans. Lindheimer began traveling to Texas, but were diverted to Mexico where he lived and worked for more than a year. Late in 1835, he departed Mexico as the Texas Revolution was beginning and was ship-wrecked on the coast near Mobile, Alabama. Lindheimer headed to Texas and arrived at the San Jacinto battlefield the day after the final battle of the Texas Revolution. The standard author abbreviation Lindh. is used to indicate him as the author when citing a botanical

name. During the late 1830s and early 1840s, Lindheimer collected botanic specimens in Texas, part of this time for Harvard University. Lind-heimer collected 1,500 species in the south Texas area, over a period of 13 years. His home in New Braunfels is preserved as a pub-lic museum and operated by the New Braunfels Conservation Society. The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970 (pictured left). Lindheimer died December 2, 1879 in New Braunfels.


published by the texas section society for range management

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