In addition to his academic duties as an associate professor within Texas Tech University's Department of Natural Resources Management, Blake Grisham will now take on an administrative role as Director of the Llano River Field Station in Junction, Texas, CASNR officials announced today (Oct. 1). Grisham's field station duties will focus on facilitating and coordinating research on the Junction campus in and outside of the Texas Tech University System, in addition to overseeing the facility's Outdoor Education Program.

“I'm excited and grateful for this opportunity, and look forward to working on behalf the campus and field station at the university level,” Grisham said “My goal is make the LRFS the premier research and educational field station in the United States.”

The 400-acre Llano River Field Station, located some 140 miles west of Austin, is the largest inland field station in Texas. Established in 2002, it provides a laboratory and classroom environment for undergraduate and graduate students from regional universities, institutes and public schools. 

Part of station's mission is to encourage, conduct and coordinate basic and applied research projects dealing with water/watersheds, invasive species, range management, natural resources, ecological restoration and environmental education in the Central Texas Hill Country.

Grisham will retain his appointment in Tech's Department of Natural Resources Management, and will continue to teach classes, serve as the faculty advisor to The Wildlife Society at Texas Tech, and coordinate the department's marketing and alumni engagement efforts. 

Today, Grisham's research centers on incorporating weather and climate data into ecological field studies with an emphasis on ground-nesting birds, and more recently disease ecology of upland game birds and ungulates. He has secured funding to study multiple species, including Sandhill Cranes, Lesser Prairie-Chickens, Northern Bobwhite, Scaled Quail, Axis Deer, and waterfowl. 

He has published 32 peer-reviewed scientific papers, two scientific book chapters, presented or co-presented 98 oral or poster presentations, and has authored 28 proposals exceeding $4 million dollars in extramural research grants and gifts. Recent honors for Grisham include the Texas Tech Alumni Association New Faculty Award (2017); Faculty Advisor of the Year Award for the Society for Conservation Biology (2017); and the Texas Tech Alumni Association New Faculty Award (2014). 

Grisham joined the Texas Tech's College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources faculty in 2013. The Arkansas native received his bachelor's degree in wildlife management from Arkansas State University and a master's degree in wildlife management from Louisiana State University. His doctorate in wildlife, aquatic and wildlands science and management is from Texas Tech.

CONTACT: Warren Conway, Bricker Endowed Chair in Wildlife Management and Chairperson, Department of Natural Resources Management, Texas Tech University at (806) 4-6579 or warren.conway@ttu.edu

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