Synergistic Activities

Editor-in-Chief Rangeland Ecology & Management, 2008 – present: Responsible for all academic aspects of publishing the premier international journal addressing global rangeland issues. Activities include management of the editorial board (26 members with a strong international presence), coordination with the managing and production editors at Allen Press, and numerous aspects of Journal promotion. The Journal receives over 200 submissions from authors world-wide and publishes 720 pages per year.

Academic Coordinator for USDA Rangeland CEAP, 2007-present: Academic coordinator for the Conservation Effects Assessment Program (CEAP) of the USDA-NRCS Resource Inventory and Assessment Division. The goal of this national program is to provide an evidence-based assessment of the effectiveness of major rangeland conservation practices on environmental quality and ecosystem services. The current program involves nine academic teams, totaling 36 scientists. Recommendations of this initiative will inform policy makers of science-based priorities to effectively allocate funds to rangeland conservation systems in the current and subsequent Farm Bills.

Invited Presentations

International

Information and technologic needs for global rangeland monitering: what do they need to address?. (Keynote address) International Grassland Rangeland Congress, Hohot China, July 2008.

Texas warming and rainfall manipulation (T-WaRM) project: growth form contrasts in oak savanna. Joint U.S.-European Union Global Change Workshop sponsored by TERACC and NSF, Elsinore, Denmark. May, 2006.

Vegetation responses to grazing: have unifying principles emerged? Symposium presentation at the 59th Annual Meeting of the Society for Range Management, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. February, 2006.

Increasing precision in describing ecological thresholds, drivers and indicators.  Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America, Montreal, Canada. August 2005.

National

Development of comprehensive grazing policy guidelines: context and objectives. Annual Meeting of the Society for Range Management, Albuquerque NM, February 2009.

Conservation effects assessment program rangeland literature synthesis: prescribed grazing. Annual Meeting of the Society for Range Management, Albuquerque NM, February 2009.

Grass and juniper responses to modified precipitation seasonality and warming.   Annual Meeting of the Society for Range Management, Louisville KY, February 2008.

State-and-transition models: recommendations for resilience-based application.  Annual Meeting of the Society for Range Management, Louisville KY, February 2008.

The detection of catastrophic thresholds: perspectives, definitions and methods-Synthesis and conclusions. Ecological Society of America Meeting, Memphis TN, August 2006.

State-and-transition models and ecological thresholds; bridging theory and application. State-and-transition model theory workshop, Oregon State University, Corvallis OR, August, 2006.

Impact of altered precipitation distribution and warming on tree and grass life forms in oak savanna. Principal Investigator Workshop, National Institute for Global Environmental Change-Department of Energy, Tulane University, New Orleans LA, June 2005.  

State-and-transition models and ecological thresholds: bridging theory and application. Leu Distinguished Seminar Series, Center for Grassland Studies, University of Nebraska-Lincoln. October, 2005.