Announcing the Launch of the Collaborative Conservation Learning Network

The Center for Collaborative Conservation at Colorado State University has just announced the launch of their web-based Collaborative Conservation Learning Network (CCLN). The purpose of the CCLN is to facilitate the exchange of ideas, innovations, tools and study results, and to foster connections among academics, practitioners and others, to help worldwide collaborative conservation efforts become effective and sustainable.

The CCLN includes a multi-media library for resources related to collaborative conservation, opportunity listings (including jobs, funding, trainings, conferences and workshops), collaborative conservation organizations and initiatives, discussion boards, a members’ directory with direct messaging, links to resources related to policy and law, blogs and podcasts.

They will be working hard to continually add new, useful information to the CCLN, but others are invited to contribute.

You can explore/join the Learning Network here: https://www.collaborativeconservation.org/learning-network

For more information please contact Jill Lackett: Jill.Lackett@colostate.edu

Rangelands are Adorable

By Aleta Rudeen, Director of Outreach and Leadership Development for SRM

Source: cute-kittens.com

So... unfortunately rangelands aren't really adorable.  But they do need your help.

I am writing from a conference with lots of non-profit organizations that have sexy causes -- they have messages that the general public understands in a sentence or less and issues that are easy to get on board with, without necessitating any background to get people jazzed.  SRM doesn't have that advantage; turns out it's difficult to evoke the right emotions by flashing a specimen of bouteloua gracilis or a well-designed state-and-transition model.  But that doesn't lessen the importance of rangelands, it just means we have more ground to cover when reaching out to the public on the issues that are important to rangeland ecosystems and SRM professionals.

As members of SRM we are a community that is passionate and knowledgeable about rangelands, but we need to get creative about communicating that message.  Rangelands are important, and they do matter.  But how do we get the public to care?

I am in the process of compiling some outreach materials for SRM - think brochures for youth to start, but we will expand from there as projects develop.  I am looking for the feedback and expertise from the experts: you.  What would you tell the world about rangelands and about SRM?  How do we write about the mission and importance of the Society in a few sentences or less?  How can we put years worth of research and learning into a few short bullet points?

Please send me your ideas, your thoughts, and your content!  You can email me at arudeen@rangelands.org, post ideas to Facebook, or respond to this blog post.  Help us develop our materials and get the message out there.  ...Because while rangelands aren't cuddly-pinch its cheeks-cute, they are massively important ecosystems and their sustainable management will affect generations to come.

Welcome to the Billings Annual Meeting from the Billings Planning Committee

TRANSCENDING BORDERS - LANDSCAPES AND LEGENDS

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Just wanted to remind everyone the 64th SRM Annual Meeting is fast approaching. This year’s meeting will be held in Billings, Montana February 6-11, 2011. The meeting promises to be both worthwhile and informative with talks on a wide array of subjects including Native History, Contrasting Lewis and Clark’s Trip Through the Great Plains with Present Day, Historical Changes in Rangeland Management, Birds, Bugs, Popular Notions and the Range. Visit the meeting website (www.rangelands.org/billings2011) to start planning your top priority sessions and events.

While at the meeting, make sure to attend the Producer’s Forum: The Art of Grazing Management on Tuesday, February 8th, as well as one of over 20 symposia focusing on such topics as Sustainable Ranch Management, The Ecology of Seedling Establishment, Expiring CRP: Alternative Management Systems, Rangeland Pollinators: Emerging Issues, and many more. A complete list of symposia can be found by clicking here.

In addition to the many great talks there will be technical tours to the Pryor Mountain Horse Range, Pompey’s Pillar and the Little Bighorn Battlefield.

The Billings Annual Meeting will provide numerous opportunities for attendees to “Transcend Borders” by developing and strengthening working relationships with other SRM members and individuals and organizations that share a passion for the world’s rangelands.

If all that isn’t enough to get you excited for the meeting, then come “Catch the Beaver Fever” and cut a rug to Bucky Beaver and the Ground Grippers at the dance on Tuesday night, February 8th. Still not enough… come dine on some fine Montana home grown cuisine during the Wednesday night Eventing in Montana non-banquet, while being entertained (and trust me you will be entertained) by Montana’s own Ringling 5!  For a complete list of special events, click here.

While it may be cold outside, we promise you’ll be too entertained and informed inside to notice…



SRM Spotlight: Dan Macon, California-Pacific Section

By Julia Workman, SRM Outreach Intern

“Since I’ve started ranching, I haven’t had as much time to volunteer with SRM,” admits Dan Macon, past president of the California-Pacific Section and current owner of Flying Mule Farm in the foothills northeast of Sacramento. There, in Placer and Nevada counties, they raise mostly sheep, and market grass-fed lamb and beef to restaurants and other consumers. Before the farm was founded in 2001, Dan had a variety of careers, starting with an Agricultural and Managerial Economics degree at the University of California-Davis. After graduation, he worked with the California Cattleman’s Association on federal land policy, endangered species concerns, and range management issues. He also helped start—and served as the first executive director of—the California Rangeland Trust (CRT). After that, he worked with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), and then a local land trust.

Dan enjoys reading and camping and is very interested in wildlife. Fly-fishing is another favorite activity when he has the time. Despite the relative inactivity he claims now, he has also been quite involved in SRM since he joined fifteen years ago. Besides serving on the California-Pacific Section board and as the Range Excellence Committee Chair, he has served as Section President in 2001 and received the Ranch Manager of the Year award.

Professional development was Dan’s reason for joining SRM: the Society gave him a chance to gain some technical knowledge of rangeland management since he did not have much background in the field. He says he liked—and likes—that SRM brings together the science and art involved in managing rangelands, and that SRM is the only professional group to bring an ecosystem approach to range management. Looking back, he says that the education he has received through SRM has been very valuable in his career, along with the opportunity to make connections with other professionals. Another strength of the Society, he says, is its ability to make available information to make ranching operations more sustainable and economically viable.

Dan says he was at the forefront of a demographic change among students interested in rangeland management. When he was a student, the profession was beginning to see a shift away from those with agricultural backgrounds—a change which is evident in SRM membership. Dan says that this movement has given range managers a great opportunity to collaborate with other professions and will make the profession stronger in the long run: “diversity is a good thing” when it provides a group with more perspectives and backgrounds.

According to Dan, it is important to bring new and experienced members together. He says that meaningful involvement for young members consists of more than speaking contests, and that direct, hands-on experience with professionals is vital for the professional development of members early in their career. It also provides an opportunity for both young and old to learn from each other. He would like to see more recent college graduates taking on internships on farms and ranches, and SRM continuing to take a bigger role in that: “Opportunities go beyond programs at universities. The professional knowledge is very important.”

Natural resources- and agriculture-related professions, Dan says, will continue to undergo a profound change as interest in local food production for national security increases. He believes that rangeland management is following the same trends as agriculture in that the interest in both has skipped a generation or two, but a new generation is now receptive to SRM’s approach to rangeland management; SRM just needs to reach them. He sees a bit of a struggle in the Society as perceptions of rangelands shift, and believes that SRM will best attract new members in the future by staying relevant. Efforts to broaden outreach to the upcoming generation, while providing professional development opportunities relevant to the public, ranchers, and communities, will be important in achieving this goal.

Dan’s great hope for SRM is that it continues to diversify its membership along a spectrum of ages and backgrounds. He would like to see it recognized as a place for scientific debates and a safe environment for discussions between ranchers and environmental groups.

He also hopes that younger members will get involved by attending section and parent society meetings—but “not going and passively participating: getting involved!” The field tours, he says, are critical and counsels that younger members should seek out more experienced members at these events to get help, information, and mentorship. He concludes with a lesson he has learned from his own diverse background: “Find a way to do what you love!”