RLEM 415
CONSULTING FOR GRAZINGLAND PLANNING
Fall 2002
DESCRIPTION:
This course has been redesigned to meet the emerging needs of the managers of grazinglands worldwide. Developing skills to understand the interface between land managers and technical consultants will be the primary thrust of this course. The basics of planning and use of advanced planning tools will be stressed along with techniques that can be used in lesser developed countries. The resource planning process will form the core of the program. Teamwork, task planning, leadership, analysis and reporting will be stressed in this course. A case study of an actual ranch will be pursued in a team context of background information provided while on campus and a mid-term, 3-day field trip to collect supporting resource. Each person in the course will first submit a resume the second lab of class and undergo a review by the instructors for placement on one of 3, 5-person planning team. Each team will meet and determine their planning step leaders based on group consensus. Once assigned to a planning step leadership position, you will be responsible for coordinating information gathering processes, task assignments to other team members, analysis, and report preparation related to that planning step. Each team will work through the planning steps listed below. The grading system will involve 5 planning-step grades applied to all team members, comprising 50% (10% per step) of your grade. After landowner goals and objectives are set, the following planning responsibility areas will need to have team leadership assignments: Resource Assessment, Livestock Planning, Nature-Based Enterprise Planning, Integrated Vegetation Manipulation and Economic Analysis. The planning step leader will then be assigned a leadership grade by the instructors for 20% of your grade in the course. Finally, at the end of the course you will be assigned a peer grade from each of the other 5 members of your team, reflecting your contributions to the team’s efforts, interpersonal skills and technical skills acquired. The peer appraisal grade will make up 30% of your grade or 6% per person on the team. This course will not involve formal exams but will stress experiential learning.
The course will be a combination of targeted lectures, student requested lectures for subjects that they deem necessary and some invited speakers on topics relevant to the planning process. You will be exposed to a variety of field sampling tools, information gathering techniques and computer-based planning tools in this course. We will stress planning from a sociological, economic and environmental perspective. We assume that all students coming into this course are capable of learning new concepts and can learn the concepts covered in the class without prerequisites. However, it would be helpful if the student had an understanding of basic range management, animal husbandry, rudimentary economic analysis, vegetation manipulation methods, general wildlife management and use of computers for report writing and analysis. Since this is a required field trip, a field trip fee will also be assessed for the course. Each team will prepare field task plans prior to taking the trip and coordinate their activities among their team members while in the field.
INSTRUCTORS:
Jerry W. Stuth (845-5548, ), Wayne T. Hamilton (845-5589,
), and J. Richard Conner (5-7456, ). Several other instructors will be in the course through the semester. Your TA will be Mr. Will Shaw (693-1442, ). Our point of contact for scheduling is Mrs. Ginger Parker (845-7331).
INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS:
Materials will be handed out in the class as needed but we will depend largely on software accessed over the web. You will be provided take-home copies for some of the software.
COURSE SCHEDULE:
Wk/Date/DayActivity
1- Sept 2 MCourse Orientation (JWS, WTH, JRC)
1- Sept 3 TLab - Team formation and orientation for problem (JWS, WTH, WS)
1- Sept 4 WAssessing Objectives and problem definition (JWS, WTH)
1- Sept 6 FConducting life stage analysis (JWS)
2- Sept 9 MResource Assessment – Assembling photography, maps, et (WTH).
2- Sept 10 TLab – Using GPS, Digital Cameras, Planimeters (WTH, JWS, WS)
2 -Sept 11 WMapping key habitat for target wildlife species (NW)
2- Sept 13 FMapping ecological sites (WTH)
3- Sept 16 MConducting a forage inventory to assess stocking rate (WTH)
3- Sept 17 TLab Mapping with webGLA (WS)
3- Sept 18 WPopulation survey and analysis by species of interest (NW, WS)
3- Sept 20 FCharacterization of herds/husbandry practices (JWS)
4- Sept 23 MPopulation survey and analysis by species of interest (NW, WS)
4- Sept 24 TLab- Nature-based enterprise characterization and assessment (JRC, WS)
4- Sept 25 WMarketing / Hunter lease arrangements (JRC, WS)
4- Sept 27 FCurrent practices, costs and contracting issues for IBMS (JRC)
5- Sept 30 MPlanning brush management strategies (WTH)
5- Oct 1 TLab - Matching land treatments with needs using EXSEL (WTH, WS)
5- Oct 2 WEnterprise budgeting (JRC)
5- Oct 4 FPartial budgeting (JRC)
6- Oct 7 MEmerging early warning systems for adjusting animal demand (JWS)
6- Oct 8 TLab - Using the NIRS/NUTBAL PRO nutritional management system (DT,KW)
6- Oct 9 WConducting advisories for ranchers (DT)
6- Oct 11 FConservation cost analysis (JRC)
7- Oct 14 MAssessing Stocking for mixed animal populations (JWS)
7- Oct 15 TLab - Planning with webGLA (JWS, WTH, JRC, WS)
7- Oct 16 WConservation cost analysis (JRC)
7- Oct 18 FConservation investment analysis (JRC)
8- Oct 21 MProjecting land treatment response (JRC, WTH, JWS)
8- Oct 22 TLab – Teams conduct task plan for field trip (JRC, WTH, JWS, WS)
8- Oct 23 WTrip Planning (JRC, WTH, JWS, WS)
8- Oct 24 ThDepart on field trip (12:00p)
8- Oct 25 FConduct field survey
8- Oct 26 S Complete field survey and return to CS (6:00p)
9- Oct 28 MPlanning with webGLA (WTH, WS)
9- Oct 29 TLab - Planning with webGLA ( WTH, WS)
9- Oct 30 WPlanning with webGLA (WTH, WS)
9- Nov 1 FPlanning with webGLA ( WS)
10- Nov 4 MPlanning with webGLA (WTH, JWS, WS)
10- Nov 5 TLab – Planning with ECON investment tool (JRC, WS)
10- Nov 6 WAssessing trade offs among land uses (JRC)
10- Nov 8 FDealing with risk and uncertainty (JRC)
11- Nov 11 MLeadership assessment of forage inventory (JWS, JRC, WTH, WS)
11- Nov 12 TLab – Group planning tasks with instructors (JRC, WTH, WS)
11- Nov 13 WGroup planning tasks with instructors (JRC, WTH, WS)
11- Nov 15 FGroup planning tasks with instructors (JRC, WTH, WS)
12- Nov 18 MLeadership assessment for livestock planning (JWS, JRC, WTH, WS)
12- Nov 19 TLab - Group planning tasks with instructors (JWS, JRC, WTH, WS)
12- Nov 20 WGroup planning tasks with instructors (JWS, JRC, WTH, WS)
12 -Nov 22 FGroup planning tasks with instructors (JWS, JRC, WTH, WS)
13- Nov 25 MLeadership assessment for vegetation manipulation (JWS, JRC, WTH, WS)
13- Nov 26 TLab - Group planning tasks with instructors (JWS, JRC, WTH, WS)
13- Nov 27 WGroup planning tasks with instructors (JWS, JRC, WTH, WS)
13- Nov 29 No class – Thanksgiving Holidays
14- Dec 2 MLeadership assessment for nature-based enterprise planning (JWS, JRC, WTH, WS)
14- Dec 3 TLab - Group planning tasks with instructors (JWS, JRC, WTH, WS)
14- Dec 4 WGroup planning tasks with instructors (JWS, JRC, WTH, WS)
14- Dec 6 FGroup planning tasks with instructors (JWS, JRC, WTH, WS)
15- Dec 9 MGroup planning tasks with instructors (JWS, JRC, WTH, WS)
15- Dec 10 T Lab – Leadership assessment for economic analysis (JWS, JRC, WTH, WS)
16- Dec 12 ThTeam plans are due at 10:00 am on December 12, 2002.