Young Professionals Conclave at the Annual Meeting 2012

Young Professionals Conclave (YPC) meetings at the Spokane 2012 Annual Meeting

By Angie Reid, YPC

Hey Everyone!  This year the Young Professionals are gearing up for a busy 2012 Annual Meeting in Spokane, Washington!  The YPC will be helping out with the Career Development Workshops Sunday January 29, 2012 1-5 pm by providing information we learned as we entered into the field as well as tips and important information about professional relations and networking once hired into a position.

Monday January 30, 2012 from 7-9 pm we will be hosting our annual YPC Social at O’Doherty’s Irish Grille, located within walking distance of the meeting at 525 West Spokane Falls Boulevard, to get together in an informal setting and talk about our careers, meet other young professionals, and just get to know each other!  If you have never been to a YPC event and you are young in the career field please join us for the social and where you will be introduced to others in the same position.  Come enjoy good food and good people!

Tuesday January 31, 2012 from 10:30 am - 12:00 pm we will be having our annual YPC business meeting to give a summary of the year and in lieu of a speaker this year we will be working on a 5-year strategic plan for the YPC so make sure to come and provide your input.  So far we have determined four main points to be discussed, which include 1) increasing YPC involvement at the section level, 2) improving outreach and networking, 3) improving fundraising, and 4) defining and meeting YPC member expectations.  The overall goal of the strategic plan is to improve YPC involvement within the parent Society.  We would love to hear what you have to say so please join us at the meeting!

In an effort to become more visible within the parent Society and help recruitment of new young professionals, YPC representatives will be making brief appearances and announcements at several student events during the Annual Meeting.  We are looking for people to help out with this so please volunteer!

This year we will be having our first ever fundraising raffle!  We will have a table set up near registration Sunday-Tuesday for raffle ticket sales.  We know that a lot of our young professionals won’t get to come to the meeting this year so we need extra help with the raffle sales.  We need people to volunteer to sit at the table for a shift selling tickets or walk around the meeting selling tickets.  We will be raffling off a framed art print from Cabela’s, two hand-quilted wall hangings, handmade antler knife and lamp, and handmade fishing lures.  Our members have really stepped up to help provide the raffle items so please support our efforts!  To volunteer please contact Angie Reid at areid@ttrs.org. 

Interagency Ecological Site Applications Workshop, Venus, Florida, November 15 - 17, 2011

The Society for Range Management and agency partners held the second regional Interagency Ecological Site Applications Workshop this past month as part of the Ecological Site Description (ESD) Workshop series.  The workshop took place at the beautiful Archbold Biological Station in Venus, Florida and spanned a total of three days.  There were 40 workshop participants representing 10 federal and state agencies and other organizations.  Organizations represented included: the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), U.S. Forest Service (USFS), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), U.S. Air Force (USAF), Agriculture Research Service (ARS), the National Park Service (NPS), the Florida Natural Areas Inventory (FNAI), and others. This broad participation resulted in an effective series of discussions and field exercises.

Participants spent a considerable amount of time in the field over the course of the workshop and were able to get a great first-hand look at the local Florida landscape.  While the ESD workshop was field-focused, the first day was spent primarily in the classroom with a series of presentations.  First day content focused on the components of an ecological site description and the background for how ESDs are developed, with the intention helping users understand the process and ultimately, the application of ESDs.

The keynote presentation by Dr. Hilary Swain of the Archbold Biological Station provided a basis for understanding the presentations on soil landscapes and vegetation dynamics that followed.  Additionally, the presentation by Menges (fire ecology) greatly added to the workshop.

Presentations by Bestelmeyer (general concepts), Weber (soil processes), Cleland (land hierarchies), Shaver (state and transition models), Sanchez (ESD components), Brown (development process), Herrick (establishing reference state conditions) and Ellis and Hendricks (uses and applications) all set the stage for understanding ESDs and the field portions of the workshop.  Presentations by Wight (policy), Biggam (National Parks Service), Gulledge (FNAI) and Sanchez (accessing ESDs) provided context for ESD projects and the resources available professionals to work on and with ESDs.

The field portions of the workshop were critical to supplement classroom material for forming a working understanding of ecological sites on the ground.  The key elements in the field exercises were to:

1.  Demonstrate how different vegetation (states) can occupy the same soil to illustrate the importance of a well-developed state and transition model
2. Demonstrate how different soils can have similar states resulting from different use histories and requiring different management responses.

Each field site visit had different stations focused describing climate, soil properties, vegetation attributes and management at the site.  Participants moved from station to station and interacted with experts at each to get a better understanding of the different attributes associated with the ecological site.  Field portions of the workshop provided a good basis for the discussion of how differing management regimes can result in distinctly different states with differing values and management requirements.  Likewise, the contrast between soils and similar vegetation can be very powerful in illustrating the need for verifying the soil at the site.

The Venus, Florida ESD workshop built on evaluation form data and recommendations submitted at the Nunn, Colorado workshop as well as the Pilot ESD workshop in Las Cruces, New Mexico held in November 2010.  Future ESD workshops are in development for 2012 and 2013 and will continue to build on feedback from previous workshop to enhance the overall program and tailor workshops to each location.

There will be two ESD workshops at the SRM Annual Meeting in Spokane, Washington.  The next regional three day ESD workshop is scheduled for Reno, Nevada in June 2012.  Additional workshops are in the planning stages for 2012 and 2013.

SRM and the Training Coordination Committee would like to extend a huge thank you to local and national teams that have worked hard to make this workshop series a success.

*Photos courtesy of the USDA-NRCS, photographer: Gail Hendricks.

Native American Rangeland Workshop at the 2012 SRM Annual Meeting

Working Together to Develop Comprehensive and Long-term Strategies for Sustainable Tribal Rangelands

January 31 – February 1, 2011
Spokane, Washington
Part of the 65th Society forRange Management Annual Meeting

The United States Government holds almost 6 million acres of land in trust for Native Americans, much of which is considered to be rangeland.  These rangelands should be able to provide the foundational sustenance for Native Americans, habitat for native wildlife and livestock, and other resources needed for a high quality and healthy life.  Yet tribes are challenged to keep up with the complex task of managing these lands for their benefit and long-term sustainability.  Help is needed to assist with education programs that tie in to employment opportunities in natural resources, compliment tribal cultural and traditional teachings, and help prepare native youth for the task ahead. 

The Society for Range Management (SRM) has established the Native Range Initiative with the goal of helping America’s First Nations restore and manage their rangelands back to health.  During the upcoming 65th SRM Annual Meeting in Spokane, Washington, January 28 - February 2, 2012, a two-day session will be dedicated to the management of rangelands on tribal lands and the Native Range Initiative.

Tribal range managers, students, college natural resource faculty, and others dealing with native rangeland management are invited to attend.  Entire conference registration is available online here for the 2012 Annual Meeting.

Workshop Includes:

• Native American Rangelands Brainstorming and Strategy Session
• Programs that Work on Native American Rangelands
• Feral Horses in Indian Country
• Native Range Luncheon
• Native Craft Fair

Workshop Fee:

• $60/day or $100/both days if you register before December 18, 2011
• $75/day or $125/both days if you register after December 19, 2011

For more information, contact:
Robert Compton, Colville Confederated Tribe
Phone: 509-634-2200
Email: robert.compton@bia.gov
Website: http://www.rangelands.org/spokane2012/program_nativeamerican.shtml

Other conference activities of interest:

• Ecological Site Description Technical Workshop
• Using Ecological Site Descriptions as a Decision-Making Tool
• Rancher’s Forum
• Many more - check out the conference website and program for more details

Download our PDF poster for your college or office here

Agency and tribal employees, please contact Diana Doan-Crider for travel approval letters of invitation.