Research, impacts recognized by the Texas Section Society for Range Management

Faculty, staff and students of Texas A&M AgriLife and the Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences received top awards and recognition during the annual Texas Section Society for Range Management, TSSRM, meeting recently in Alpine.

“Our faculty, staff and students continue to position Texas A&M AgriLife at the forefront of rangeland stewardship and producer support through innovative research, academic rigor and meaningful collaboration,” said Roel Lopez, Ph.D., head of the Texas A&M Department of Rangeland, Wildlife and Fisheries Management and director of the Texas A&M Natural Resources Institute. “Through their work and service, we see the core components of the land-grant mission being realized across Texas and beyond.”

Paul Loeffler Fellow award

Humberto Perotto, Ph.D., associate professor and Joan Negley Kelleher Endowed Professor in Ranch Management in the Department of Rangeland, Wildlife and Fisheries Management, received the Paul Loeffler Fellow award, recognizing outstanding contributions to TSSRM and the rangeland management profession.

Perotto held multiple leadership roles with TSSRM and its parent organization, the Society for Range Management, SRM, an international professional organization that promotes rangeland health, stewardship and productivity through sound ecological and economic principles. In 2024, he served as SRM advisory council chair and as he is the 2024 president of TSSRM.

Publication awards

Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service specialists and program coordinators received first, second and third place honors in the popular publication award category.

The AgriLife Extension document “Borger’s Prescribed Burning Success: A Shield Against Texas Panhandle Wildfires,” received first place honors. The authors include David Brooke, AgriLife Extension statewide prescribed fire program coordinator, and Morgan Treadwell, Ph.D., AgriLife Extension range specialist and professor, both in the Department of Rangeland, Wildlife and Fisheries Management, San Angelo; and Jason Whisler, City of Borger emergency management coordinator.

Second place honors went to Silverio Avila, Ph.D., AgriLife Extension rangeland specialist and assistant professor in the Department of Rangeland, Wildlife and Fisheries Management, Alpine; Treadwell, and Robert Kinucan, Ph.D., executive vice president and provost of Sul Ross State University, for the publication “Far West Texas Drought: Healthy Rangelands Are Affected Last.”

“Trans-Pecos Rangelands Management: The Rangelands of Far West Texas” earned third place honors. Authors include Avila and Eduardo Gonzalez-Valenzuela, Ph.D., visiting professor and grazing specialist, and Louis Harveson, Ph.D., founder and director, both with Sul Ross State University’s Borderlands Research Institute.

First place special publication honors went to “People of the Range” by Doug Tolleson, Ph.D., director of the Texas A&M AgriLife Research Grazingland Animal Nutrition Lab and associate professor in the Department of Rangeland, Wildlife and Fisheries Management, Sonora.

“Developing Large-Scale Pasture Approaches to Quantify Forage Mass in Rangelands Using Drones,” took third place in the technical writing category. Authors include Michael Page, graduate student, Texas A&M University-Kingsville; Perotto, and Rider Combs, property manager, Texas A&M Ecology and Natural Resources Teaching Area. Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute contributing authors are Alfonso Ortega-Santos, Ph.D., professor, Evan Tanner, Ph.D., assistant professor; and students Kye Johnston, Melaine Ramirez, Annalysa Camacho and Alexandria DiMaggio. Other authors were Jay Angerer, Ph.D., research leader, U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agriculture Research Service Livestock and Range Research Laboratory, and Dwain Daniels, GIS specialist, and Tony Kimmet, national imagery leader, both with USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Student competitions

The Texas A&M Range Club plant identification teams took first and second place in their competition.

The first-place plant identification team was comprised of Jessica Sebastian, Garrett Purcell, Jake Chapman and William Longoria, all in the Department of Rangeland, Wildlife and Fisheries Management.

The second-place team was comprised of Hanna Hardt, Texas A&M Department of Ecology and Conservation Biology, and Hannah Moreno and Monica O’Hara, both in the Department of Rangeland, Wildlife and Fisheries Management.

The top three high-scoring individuals in the plant identification contest were Sebastian, Purcell and O’Hara. Moreno and Chapman tied for fifth place.

The Texas A&M Range Club placed second overall in the Undergraduate Range Management Exam, with Chapman earning the highest individual exam score.

Don Pendleton Memorial and Three-Minute Thesis awards

Ed Rhodes and Kelley Mundy, both in the Department of Rangeland, Wildlife and Fisheries Management, placed first and third, respectively, in the Don Pendleton Memorial Oral Presentation competition.

Mollie Kemp, Department of Rangeland, Wildlife and Fisheries Management, placed second in the Don Pendleton Memorial Graduate Student Poster Presentation.

Chase Brooke, Department of Rangeland, Wildlife and Fisheries Management, received the Rancher’s Choice Award for his research poster. 

Conner Ties, Department of Rangeland, Wildlife and Fisheries Management, placed second in the Three-Minute Thesis Competition, and Kemp placed third. 

Outstanding range students

Longoria and O’Hara were recognized as outstanding range students at Texas A&M University.