Texas Tech Natural Resources Management students shine at TCTWS
By: Norman Martin
Students from Texas Tech University's Department of Natural Resources Management were in the spotlight in late February at the 55th Annual Meeting of The Texas Chapter of The Wildlife Society in Conroe.
"We represented our department, college, and university quite well this year, and look forward to the continued success and accomplishments of our students, faculty and alumni," said Warren Conway, the Bricker Endowed Chair in Wildlife Management in Tech's Department of Natural Resources Management. The event was attended by 28 undergraduate and 16 graduate students, along with one post-doctoral student and three department faculty members.
Caroline Skidmore of Goddard, Kansas, garnered first place honors in the graduate student competition for her poster, "Distribution and Comparative Nesting Habitat of Riparian Raptors in the Trans-Pecos Region of Texas." It was co-authored by Clint Boal, who serves both as a professor with Tech's Department of Natural Resources Management and assistant leader of the Texas Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at the university, Ben Skipper, an assistant professor with the Angelo State University Department of Biology; and Russell Martin, a biologist with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department in Alpine.
Meanwhile, Jenny Harris of Keller, received the second place award in the graduate student competition for her poster, "Seasonal and Annual Variation in Raptor Species Presence and Abundance in the Southern Great Plains of Texas." It was also co-authored by Boal.
Separately, Jonathon Bentley, a senior from Lubbock, won the first place award in the undergraduate student competition for his poster, "Effect of Weather Conditions on Population Variance and Abundance of Cassin's Sparrow, Horned Lark, Mourning Dove, and Western Meadowlark Populations in a West Texas Shortgrass Prairie." It too was co-authored by Boal. This is the second year in a row in which a Tech undergraduate has received first place honors in the poster competition.
In other action, Munday's Gary Mizer, a master's student working on pronghorn ecology in the Texas Panhandle, won first place for best wildlife photo, and third place for best landscape photo. Madeleine Thornley, a senior wildlife biology major from Flower Mound, placed third for her entry in the remote camera photo competition.
In alumni-related news, Jena Moon, who received her bachelor's (2001) and master's (2004) degrees in wildlife sciences from Texas Tech, presided this year as TCTWS President. Moon currently serves as an inventory and monitoring zone biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Winnie.
In addition, David Wester won the event's "Educator of the Year Award" for his career-long, student-centered efforts. Wester, who received his bachelor's (1978) and master's (1984) degrees in range science from Tech's Department of Natural Resources Management, served at Texas Tech from 1976 to 2011 in a variety of academic and research positons. Today, he is a professor and research scientist at the Texas A&M University-Kingsville Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute.
Wester received a CASNR Distinguished Alumni Award in 2012. The award honor graduates who've made significant contributions to society, and whose accomplishments and careers have brought distinction to the college and to the professions associated with agriculture and natural resources.
CONTACT: Warren Conway, Bricker Endowed Chair in Wildlife Management, Department of Natural Resources Management, Texas Tech University at (806) 834-6579 or warren.conway@ttu.edu
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