Monday, May 23, 2011

2011 SRM Fly-In, Washington D.C.

Guest post by Gary Frasier, SRM First Vice President


2011 Fly-In
Washington D.C.

SUMMARY REPORT


2-5 May 2011 

Participants: 
Jack Alexander, SRM President
Gary Frasier, SRM 1st Vice President 
Wally Butler, SRM 2nd Vice President
Aleta Rudeen, SRM Director of Outreach and Leadership Development 
Kimberly Haile, SRM Young Professional
Jess Peterson, SRM Executive Vice President
Kelly Fogarty, SRM Washington D.C. Liaison 

The Society for Range Management (SRM) executive committee travels to Washington D.C. each year.  The purpose of this trip is to converse with SRMs partners about current and past projects and to identify their current training needs and how SRM can help them meet those needs and maintain its role as an professional society for its members.

The Spring, 2011 Washington Fly-In consisted of two full days of short meetings with various Federal Agencies, (Bureau of Land Management, Natural Resources Conservation Service, U.S. Forest Service, and US Department of Agriculture officials), Sister Societies (The Wildlife Society, American Fisheries Society, Society of American Foresters), and commodity organizations (Public Lands Council, American Sheep Industry).  There was also a Reception by Western Skies Strategies (Jess Peterson) and a 2011 American Lamb BBQ hosted by the American Sheep Industry.


Under the leadership of SRM President Jack Alexander, discussions with each group centered on the Ecological Site Description Workshops facilitated by SRM, Training and Certification opportunities, and Native Range Forums, past and upcoming. 

We were well received by all groups. SRM is perceived as a credible science-based organization.  The discussions were very open with the dialog directed toward how we could all work more closely to achieve the goals of proper management of natural resources, especially during these times of reduced budgets. 

The Fly-In was considered a successful activity of getting to better know the “Washington Scene” and to expose the various groups we met with to SRM’s goals and objectives.

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