AgriLife Extension, Rolling Plains Quail Research Ranch to host event
Writer: Steve Byrns, 325-653-4576, s-byrns@tamu.edu
Contact: Dr. Dale Rollins, 325-653-4576, d-rollins@tamu.edu
ROBY – A Fire Appreciation Day to be conducted by the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service and the Rolling Plains Quail Research Ranch is set from 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. May 24.
The program will be held at the research ranch, located 10 miles west of Roby, or 18 miles east of Snyder on U.S. Highway 180. In case of inclement weather, the program will be held in the Roby Community Center.
“We’ve been using fire as a tool for managing quail habitat and controlling prickly pear since 2007 at the Rolling Plains Quail Research Ranch,” said Dr. Dale Rollins, retired AgriLife Extension wildlife specialist at San Angelo and director of the ranch. “We’ll be featuring much of what we’ve learned during this field day about when and where fire is appropriate.”
Individual preregistration by May 18 is $10, which includes a meal, refreshments and handout materials. For more information and to preregister, call Mary Lynn at 325-653-4576.
Rollins likens fire –as it relates to range, livestock and wildlife management — to an adjustable wrench, well suited in some situations but not in others. The five-stop field tour of pastures named after Rollins’ hunting dogs, is designed to illustrate Rollins’ adjustable wrench metaphor.
Tour stop topics and speakers will include:
– Stop One, Suzie Pasture – Planning and Implementing a Prescribed Burn on the Rolling Plains Quail Research Ranch, Lloyd LaCoste, Rolling Plains Quail Research Ranch, program specialist; Fire Weather, Matt McEwen, Southern Rolling Plains Prescribed Burn Association representative; Special Considerations, Dr. Morgan Russell, AgriLife Extension range specialist, San Angelo.
– Stop Two, Doc Pasture – Fire and Prickly Pear Control, Season of Burning, Fire With and Without Herbicides, Prickly Pear Response, and Forb and Shrub Response, Rollins; Lawson Aerator demonstration.
– Stop Three, Annie Pasture – Species Responses to Burning: Livestock, Kent Mills, Hi-Pro Feeds nutritionist, Snyder; Deer, Barrett Koennecke, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Roby; Quail, Rollins; Other Consumers Including Arthropods and Small Mammals, Brad Kubecka, Rolling Plains Quail Research Ranch graduate research assistant.
– Stop Four, Lunch at the Pavilion – Landowner Experiences, Jim Cave, rancher, Snyder; Technical Assistance Opportunities, Southern Rolling Plains Prescribed Burn Association, McEwen; Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Seth Pearson, Snyder; U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service, Ethan McJames, Natural Resources Conservation Service, range conservationist, Abilene; and Certification and Continuing Education Opportunities, Robin Verble, Texas Tech Fire Ecology Lab, Lubbock.
– Stop Five, Ellie Pasture – Conservation Innovation With Fire, Patch-burn Grazing, Rollins and Russell; Soil Health Considerations-Making Cents of the Science, Russell; Summer Burn Pretreated with Glyphosate, LaCoste; and Fuel Reduction for Wildfire Prevention, Rollins.
“I’ve made a career out of ‘appreciating’ things, including quail, feral hogs and even prickly pear, and now fire,” Rollins said. “But when I say ‘appreciate,’ it’s important to remember it has various contexts, and the one I refer to is ‘to judge with heightened awareness,’ hence this is ‘fire appreciation day,’” he said.
Two Texas Department of Agriculture continuing educations units – one general and one integrated pest management, and four continued fire training credits for prescribed burn managers – will be offered.
Joining AgriLife Extension and the quail research ranch as co-sponsors for the event are the National Grazing Lands Coalition, Southern Rolling Plains Prescribed Burning Association, Texas Grazing Lands Coalition, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Texas Section Society of Range Management, Texas Tech Fire Ecology Lab and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service.
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