Tierra Seca Club has success at the 67th Annual Meeting of the Society for Range Management

From February 8th to 14th, eight students from Tierra Seca Club in the School of Natural Resources and the Environment attended the Annual Society for Range Management Meeting in Orlando, Florida. At the event, all eight students participated in the Undergraduate Range Management Exam, where they were tested on their knowledge of range ecology and management along with other related information. With the help of advisor Dr. Larry Howery, the University of Arizona placed 5th overall out of 21 universities. Individually, every member placed in the top half out of 153 students. Out of those, three placed in the top ten: Alanna Riggs and Anna Collins tied in 8^th place, and Mike McIntire was in 9^th place. Scoring in the top 10% of all URME students automatically qualifies URME contestants to apply for Certified Professional of Range Management (CPRM) status. In addition to the URME, Anna Collins represented UA in the Extemporaneous Speaking Contest and Mike McIntire competed in the Plant ID Contest. Ms. Collins was elected as the President of the Student Conclave for the next 12 months.

Tierra Seca is the University of Arizona Student Chapter of the International Society for Range Management (SRM). Dr. Mitch McClaran serves as Tierra Seca student advisor. Students raised funds for their travel through fieldwork for the Pima National Resource Conservation District, through t-shirt sales, processing and scanning samples on a mule deer diet quality study at the V Bar V Ranch and Grand Canyon Trust, and by assisting the AZ Section of the SRM with their Summer 2013 meeting. They also received donations from the School of Natural Resources and the Environment (SNRE), the College of Agriculture, Life and Environmental Sciences (CALES) Alumni Association, and from the Phil Ogden Endowment. Additionally, the students received donations at the Research Insights for Semiarid Ecosystems (RISE) Symposium and the CHS foundation, as well as from a variety of private individuals.

Congratulations to these folks for their hard work and dedication to SRM and for the many contributions of Tierra Seca to SRM and SNRE.

Photo: Bottom row (L-R) ? Anna Collins, Alanna Riggs, Megan Hurrell, Emily Pecilunas; Top Row (L-R) ?Eric Wagner, Trevor Chilcote, Emilio Corella, Mike McIntire, and Larry Howery (coach).