AgriLife Extension sets Plant Appreciation Day at quail ranch
Writer: Steve Byrns, 325-653-4576, [email protected]
Contacts: Dr. Dale Rollins, 325-653-4576, [email protected]
Becky Ruzicka, 661-618-3956, [email protected]
ROBY – The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service will conduct a Plant Appreciation Day May 29 at the Rolling Plains Quail Research Ranch, located 10 miles west of Roby on U.S. Highway 180.
The day starts with registration at 9:30 a.m. followed by the program from 10 a.m.-3 p.m.
The event is free and open to the public with lunch served at noon. For an accurate meal count, organizers ask those attending to RSVP by May 25 to Mary Lynn Nelms at 325-653-4576, extension 285.
“I want to host this field day for two reasons,” said Dr. Dale Rollins, retired AgriLife Extension wildlife specialist and current executive director of the Rolling Plains Quail Research Ranch. “First, with all the good moisture we’ve had and continue to have, this should be a good year and a good time of year for ‘botanizing’ since we now have such a plethora of excellent quail forage and habitat plants to view.
“And second, I want to highlight Ricky Linex’s new field guide by honoring him during lunch and by seeing how many species found in his book we can account for during the day.”
The Linex book Rollins referred to is “Range Plants of North Central Texas-A Land User’s Guide to Their Identification, Value and Management.” The 345-page full color, spiral-bound resource features 324 plants, each accompanied by several identifying photos.
The book was published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service with additional funding from the Rolling Plains Quail Research Ranch, the Quail Coalition, the Texas Wildlife Association Foundation and Park Cities Quail.
Linex is a longtime wildlife biologist with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service headquartered at Weatherford.
“We’ll have plenty of copies of the field guide available at the field day, and I can tell you, they are more than worth their $20 production cost price tag,” Rollins said. “We’ll also have Ricky there to sign them as an added bonus. He authored this book with the practical straight-forward eye of someone who knows what he’s talking about and loves what he does.
“So whether you are a landowner, manager, hunter or simply love the outdoors, this book will no doubt be your go-to resource for identifying everything from wildflowers to oak trees in Texas.”
Rollins said though the day’s emphasis will be on plants useful to quail, if the turnout and interest is sufficient, he will consider having plant identification break-out sessions for quail, deer and livestock.
For further information, contact Rollins at 325-653-4576, [email protected], or Becky Ruzicka at 661-618-3956, [email protected].
To order the Linex book, go to: http://shop.brit.org/products/range-plants
