AgriLife Extension Disaster Assessment Recovery unit receives award of excellence
Wildfire and COVID-19 response garners southern region accolades
The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service Disaster and Assessment Recovery, DAR, unit has received the Southern Region Team Winner Excellence in Extension award from the Association of Southern Region Extension Directors.
The award was presented at the association’s annual conference held in Orlando, Florida.
“It has been a true pleasure to share the good work, the service and the leadership of our DAR unit with other states in the southern region,” said Rick Avery, Ph.D., AgriLife Extension director, Bryan-College Station. “The DAR unit is a very unique structure within the Extension network across America, which is only fitting seeing how Texas is unique in facing a greater number and greater variety of natural disasters than other states. I commend Dr. Monty Dozier for his leadership and am grateful to our southern region Extension director peers for recognizing the DAR unit’s contributions to Texas and other states.”
The DAR unit responds to immediate needs of Texans following floods, wildfires, tornadoes, hurricanes and pandemics. With a presence in all 254 Texas counties, AgriLife Extension has embedded local teams built from the communities they serve. This layered, comprehensive AgriLife Extension network positions DAR to offer one of the most unique and effective disaster response infrastructures nationwide.
Award-winning disaster response and recovery
According to the award nomination, the DAR unit was cited for several major disaster missions over the past three years with support throughout COVID-19, wildfire response and out-of-state requests.
The DAR unit delivered more than 1 million COVID-19 vaccines to medical facilities, correctional facilities and regional staging areas for further distribution across Texas. The unit also supported delivery of 3.57 million COVID-19 test kits to school districts, nursing homes, city and county governments, universities, youth camps and 18 food processing facilities with the goal of avoiding shutdowns and preventing further pressure on food supply chain disruptions.
The DAR unit had successful deployments to the Eastland Wildfire Complex and Chalk Mountain Fire in Somervell County, sheltering 336 head of livestock, 26 dogs and 18 cats. They coordinated distribution of 1,070 round bales, 314 square bales and more than 2,000 sacks of livestock feed.
Tornado assessments were also conducted in Red River, Lamar and Morris counties, which included 110,489 linear feet of fence damage and five agricultural structures.
The DAR unit has also provided out-of-state support during 2022 along with the Texas A&M University VET Med team. The two teams worked to provide support for 81 canines working with 22 urban search and rescue teams after Hurricane Ian. The team provided 24-hour continuous operations as the canines worked through the rubble and debris as part of rescue missions.
“We are grateful for this award as our DAR agents work extremely hard to provide for Texas when in need,” said Monty Dozier, Ph.D., DAR unit coordinator, Bryan-College Station. “DAR is uniquely positioned to provide significant manpower, supplies and assist in distribution of supplies to the hard-hit areas. We stand ready and are grateful for the opportunity to serve Texas in this capacity.”
