SRM Spotlight: Duane McCartney, Northern Great Plains and International Mountain Sections

By Julia Workman, SRM Outreach Intern

After more than 25 years in the Society for Range Management, Duane McCartney says the best advice he ever received was from a retired scientist in Swift Current, Saskatchewan, who simply told him, “SRM is a great organization and you should join it!” Duane took these words to heart and has been deeply involved with SRM ever since.

Duane is a retired research scientist with Agriculture Canada who enjoys canoeing, cross country skiing, landscape photography, and construction. A Forage Beef Management Systems Research Scientist, he points to his early life experiences in 4-H as the first step on his path to becoming an SRM member. He later attended the University of Guelph in southern Ontario and received a degree in Animal Science before coming to Agriculture Canada. There, he researched cost-saving methods for beef and forage production in West Canada, focusing on management systems in that area. It was during the same period, in Swift Current, that Duane’s mentor, an SRM member, advised him to join the organization. Duane followed this advice and even chartered the Saskatchewan SRM section after becoming a member, at a time when the province had only a handful of SRM members.

Since then, Duane has been heavily involved both as a member of the Nominations Committee and the Awards Committee, on which he has also served as Chair. His advice for younger members who want to get the most out of their membership echoes the same principles he has followed: “The big thing is to be involved.” He recommends that students join and actively participate in their university range clubs while in college, and later in the section associated with their post-graduation location. He adds that section committees are always looking for younger member involvement, which can lead to opportunities for early career members. Further, Duane advises that involvement in field days and local tours, with the chance to interact one-on-one with older members, is a great way to learn and critical to the transfer of knowledge to the next generation.

Throughout his 25 years of involvement, Duane has seen many changes in the demographics of the Society. Membership has fluctuated some, and the younger members, such as students, have taken a larger role. He notes that now the Society has “more ladies—that’s a big one.” There is also a greater emphasis on multiuse and less on ranching now than in the past, though the ranching aspect has made a comeback in recent years. Yet, he says, the main principles are still the same; with good leadership, the Society has been able to change with the times and without altering the things most important to its membership. SRM is, as always, an excellent venue for communication among professionals and researchers, a setting for employers and prospective employees to meet, and a Society which manages to include something for everyone at the national meetings. Duane places high value on the friends from all over the world that the Society has allowed him to make, and the chances to take tours of other ecosystems—“ones I wouldn’t see in Canada.”

The SRM of twenty-five years from now, Duane hopes, will be similar to that of today—a strong organization, and an important voice for range management involving a diversity of people. He sees a big role for SRM as the focus switches from managing rangelands for livestock to managing rangelands for multiuse, and the involvement of a broad spectrum of people as it seeks to meet society’s changing needs.

Texas Section Meeting

My first ever visit to Texas was indeed, a Texas experience and a great introduction to the Texas Section of SRM.  The TSSRM fall meeting, this year held October 13-15 in Odessa, TX, is similar to a mini version of the international SRM Annual Meeting, complete with a trade show and more than 200 registrants.  While in Odessa I experienced first-hand the famed Texas hospitality...  (despite my inability to two-step).  I thoroughly enjoyed the technical sessions, banquets, and field tour.

A very large portion of the TSSRM membership is made up of NRCS employees, which is unsurprising as Texas has large amounts of private relative to public land.  Also noteworthy is that the Texas section is by far the largest section of SRM with more than 500 members.  This makes for big meetings with an interesting focus.  Additionally the meeting hosted quite a few young professionals, who had several opportunities to attend career development sessions in conjunction with the meeting, and plant ID and photo contest.

The Thursday and Friday technical sessions kicked off with a welcome from the Mayor of Odessa, and focused on a diversity of topics.  These included: effects of woody plants on water balance, effects of rangeland recovery on stream flows, mechanisms driving vegetation change, herbicides, prescribed fire to improve diversity, the challenges to range improvements, and the management of salt cedar using herbicides and biological control.  Presenters brought a wide range of experience to the technical sessions, as well as on the tour Thursday afternoon.

The tour was, as always, a meeting highlight.  On Thursday afternoon we set out in four large, air conditioned buses from the hotel heading for the local Railway Ranch.  Stan Smith, the owner of the ranch greeted us and gave an overview of the area.  Ray Schimcek gave an overview of the ranch partnerships and Dr. Dan Womochel (pictured) spoke about area geology, but not before warning the us that giving a microphone to a retired Professor of Geology could be a dangerous thing to do.

The second stop on the tour focused on vegetation, forage, and treatment of creosote and tarbush, led by Dr. Allan McGinty, Preston Irwin, and Sam Schiwart.  At the third stop of the tour Guy Bell gave an overview of the treatment of African rue, and Jim Bob Simms spoke to us about pipeline safety.  Mark Moseley gave a talk titled Forage Estimation and Grazing Stick Demonstration, after which, he distributed grazing sticks to the group.  (I was disappointed, but fairly unsurprised to have my grazing stick confiscated in airport security the following day).

One of my favorite talks from the tour was titled Feng Shui for Wildlife, during which Dr. Dale Rollins shook things up with regards to vegetation management for wildlife.  Somehow, he managed to put nearly everything in terms of baseball and gave a creative, interesting talk.

All in all, the TSSRM meeting was a successful and interesting event  The banquet was fun and entertaining, I am pretty sure the auction made a killing off both its willing and unwilling bidders (and with some top notch items for sale), and people all seemed to know one another well, despite being the largest section of the Society.

Thank you to the Texas Section of SRM for their hospitality and the introduction to Texas!  Next year I'll do my best to bring some boots.

SRM Spotlight: Lynne Breese, Pacific Northwest Section

By Julia Workman, SRM Outreach Intern



Lynn (with Bonnie and Kippy) monitoring a prescribed range burn



For ranchers Lynne Breese and her husband John of Prineville, Oregon, membership in the Society for Range Management is about being part of a big family. “It’s like going to a family reunion,” she says of attending SRM functions. Members “don’t always agree, but we can learn from each other and we’ve become such good friends, we can work out problems together.” Since joining the organization in the early 90s, Lynne has certainly been involved in that family.

Lynne was raised in an agricultural setting, with a father who worked as a researcher at the Oregon State University Agricultural Experiment Station in Ontario. She also participated in 4-H, an experience which would later lead her to a home economics degree and a career as an extension agent with Oregon State University.

Lynne joined SRM in the early 1990s, about the time she took a role in the full-time management of the ranch. She says that then as now, it was important to both her and her husband (who had joined a few years before) that SRM provided them a medium for meeting people with a variety of experiences on rangelands, and allowed them the opportunity to learn more about the things they wanted to do with the ranch.
John and Lynne’s ranch has been in the family for well over a century, since John’s great-grandfather homesteaded it in the late 1880s. She notes that in photos of the original homestead, there is a conspicuous lack of invasive junipers. Juniper control is thus an important part of the couple’s management. She relates how she and John often host student groups who come to “learn on the land,” by working on the ranch: “they help cut little junipers to eat,” she explains with a chuckle, noting that all parties seem to benefit from the exchange. The different activities these students engage in during their time on the ranch are important learning events for all participants, and Lynne believes such events to be one of the best ways for young members to learn from older ones. Especially in light of current workforce trends away from agricultural backgrounds, Lynne emphasizes that students need to “get out and get their hands and feet dirty” in order to learn. They need to work with those who live and work on the land in order to gain a practical knowledge of the field. “You don’t do that by sitting at a computer,” she adds, also noting that agencies and retirees are great resources to tap for gaining this sort of experience.

However, hosting student groups is just one example of the Breeses’ participation in SRM. Lynne has served as director of the Pacific Northwest Section and is currently a co-editor for the Pacific Northwest Section newsletter. John and Lynne also frequent various SRM events, from conventions to workshops. Lynne remarks that participation is crucial to the continued success of the organization, along with members’ willingness to talk and listen to each other. “Don’t be afraid to ask questions,” she cites as the best advice she has ever received, “but do be willing to listen.”

Lynne’s vision for SRM involves an organization that “continues to do what we do.” She notes that the need for practical range management skills is not going to go away; if anything, it will only become greater. Society for Range Management members should thus be prepared to reach out to potential new members through agencies and personal invitations, with an ability to explain SRM’s relevance to all stakeholders—both those who manage the land and those who benefit from its successful management.

California Pacific and Pacific Northwest Joint Section Meeting

The CalPac and PNW sections of SRM hosted a phenomenal joint section meeting early October at Lava Beds National Monument near Tulelake, California.  We learned about area rangelands, fire ecology, and the geologic and anthropogenic history at the monument.  Presentations focused on pre- and post- European settlement ecological conditions, fire management in the national monument and fire history of the area, and on wildlife species, wildlife preserves, and biodiversity.

A personal highlight from the meeting included several spelunking expeditions in the lava tubes.  It took a sense of adventure to climb through the caves, one flashlight to every four or five people!

Another meeting highlight was a detailed narrative of the Modoc War during the winter of 1872 and 1873 at the monument.  Our guide, who was himself a Modoc descendant, took us on tour through the site of the Modoc War, giving a vivid account of the battles, its key players, and how it all fit into the striking Lava Beds landscape.

Also at the meeting, I had the opportunity to meeting with the Spokane 2012 Annual Meeting planning committee.  These folks are well on their way towards putting together a meeting that will blow your socks off.  That is, if you even have socks by the end of the Billings Annual Meeting this February 6-10, 2011 in Montana.  Don't forget to register ASAP to qualify for early registration rates.

In an nutshell, the CalPac/PNW joint fall meetings was one more example of SRM sections putting on a great meeting: good food, good people, good conversation all around.  Thanks to both sections for the hospitality!

(Well, mostly good people - these two are clearly up to some trouble!)