Annual/Termination Reports:

[05/31/2020]

Report Information

Participants

University of Alaska, Fairbanks
Norm Harris, Palmer Research Center  pfnrh@uaa.alaska.edu
John Kawula, Elmer E. Rasmuson Library  ffjdk@uaf.edu

University of California
Mel George, Extension Rangeland Management Specialist, UC Davis  mrgeorge@ucdavis.edu
Norma Kobzina, UC Berkeley Library  nkobzina@library.berkeley.edu

Colorado State University
Sonya Le Febre, Forest, Range, & Watershed Stewardship  slefebre@lamar.colostate.edu

University of Hawaii at Manoa
Mark Thorne, State Range Extension Specialist, University of Hawaii at Manoa  thornem@hawaii.edu

University of Idaho
Karen Launchbaugh, Rangeland Ecology & Management  klaunchb@uidaho.edu

Kansas State University
Walter Fick, Range Management,  whfick@ksu.edu
Mike Haddock, Hale Library  haddock@ksu.edu

Montana State University
Tracy Brewer, Range Science  tbrewer@montana.edu
Jeff Mosley, Extension Range Management Specialist  jmosley@montana.edu

University of Nevada, Reno
Brad Schultz, Cooperative Extension  schultzb@unce.unr.edu
Amy Shannon, Life and Health Sciences Library  ashannon@unr.edu

University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Jolie Graybill, Love Library  jgraybill2@unl.edu

New Mexico State University
Rex Pieper, Range Science (Emeritus)  rpieper@nmsu.edu

North Dakota State University
Kevin Sedivec, Animal and Range Sciences  kevin.sedivec@ndsu.edu
Dennis Whitted, Animal and Range Sciences  dennis.whitted@ndsu.edu

Oklahoma State University
Karen R. Hickman, Plant and Soil Sciences  karen.hickman@okstate.edu

Oregon State University
John Tanaka, Eastern Oregon Agricultural Research Center  john.tanaka@oregonstate.edu

South Dakota State University
Roger N. Gates, Range Specialist, SDSU West River Ag Center  roger_gates@sdstate.edu
Nancy Marshall, Documents Librarian  nancy_marshall@sdstate.edu
Eric Mousel, Extension Range Livestock Specialist  eric.mousel@sdstate.edu

Texas A&M University
David Inbody, Center for Grazinglands and Ranch Management  d-inbody@tamu.edu
Deva Reddy, Sterling C. Evans Library  dereddy@tamu.edu

Utah State University
Anne Hedrich, Quinney Natural Resources Research Library  anne.hedrich@usu.edu
Mindy Pratt, Forest, Range & Wildlife Sciences  mindyp@ext.usu.edu

Washington State University
Jim Dobrowolski, Statewide Extension Watershed Specialist  dobrowol@wsu.edu

University of Wyoming
Paul Meiman, CES Range Specialist  pmeiman@uwyo.edu
Paula Munoz, Science Reference Librarian  pem@uwyo.edu

University of Arizona Workshop Planning Committee

Marianne Stowell Bracke, Science-Engineering Library
Carla Long Casler, Arid Lands Information Center
Barbara Hutchinson, Arid Lands Information Center
Doug Jones, Science-Engineering Library
Sheila Merrigan, Cooperative Extension
Jeanne Pfander, Science-Engineering Library
George Ruyle, Rangeland and Forest Resources Program
Anne Thwaits, Arid Lands Information Center

Other University of Arizona Participants:

Jim Christensen, Associate Dean, CALS, Ag Extension
Wolfgang Grunberg, Arizona Remote Sensing Center
Yan Han, Digital Library Information Systems
Larry Howery, Rangeland and Forest Resources Program
Colin Kaltenbach, Vice Dean and Director, CALS
Min-Seong Kang, Arizona Remote Sensing Center
Chestalene Pintozzi, Facilitator, University Library
Pat Reid, School of Natural Resources
Gene Sander, Vice Provost and Dean, CALS
Jeff Schalau, Cooperative Extension
Carla Stoffle, Dean of Libraries

Special Guests

David Cook, DC Cattle Company
Nancy Laney, Tucson Botanical Gardens
Peter Warren, The Nature Conservancy
Reese Woodling, Malpai Borderlands Group

Brief Summary of Minutes

The Rangelands West Partnership held their 5th annual meeting on March 13-14, 2006 in Tucson, Arizona. The meeting was organized by the University of Arizona Steering Committee and was attended by 34 rangeland scientists and agricultural librarians from the 19 participating Western land-grant universities. During the meeting, members demonstrated newly developed state rangelands websites, reported on new content developments, broke into working groups to discuss governance issues, developed an Action Plan for voting on an organizing structure and election of officers, and attended metadata and website training workshops. There were special presentations given by Jeff Schalau (Extension Agent, Yavapai County) and Mr. David Cook (DC Cattle Company) who spoke about the information needs of Cooperative Extension agents and ranchers. Also presenting at the annual banquet were Dr. Nancy Laney, Director of the Tucson Botanical Gardens, and Dr. Peter Warren (The Nature Conservancy) and Mr. Reece Woodling (rancher) who provided an overview of the work of the Malpai Borderlands Group.

Accomplishments

Following a five year summary of the Rangelands West initiative by Dr. George Ruyle and Dr. Barbara Hutchinson, Vice-Dean and Director of the University of Arizona Agricultural Experiment Station, Dr. Colin Kaltenbach, presented information about WDC status and answered questions from the participants. Issues about governance and reporting obligations were discussed as was the use of travel funds for library participants. A report on the eXtension initiative also was given by Dr. Jim Christenson, Director of Cooperative Extension in Arizona. This was followed by a facilitated discussion on the eXtension Call for Engagement led by Sheila Merrigan (UA Cooperative Extension). Based on the results of the discussion, a self-selected task force of four participants was organized to determine the viability of re-applying to eXtension as a Community of Practice. <br /> <br /> New state website demonstrations were given by Dr. Karen Hickman from Oklahoma State University and by Dr. Roger Gates from South Dakota State University.<br /> <br /> Also reporting on related SARE grant activities was Principal Investigator, Dr. Karen Launchbaugh from the University of Idaho. She outlined the activities since the 2005 annual meeting that took the results of the 2005 content development group discussions and essentially built a new topical structure for the Rangelands West web site. This involved a small group of rangeland specialists who met in Salt Lake City where a new subject hierarchy for rangeland management was drafted for review by the membership. After several revisions, this new hierarchical structure was demonstrated at a sustainable rangeland management SARE-sponsored workshop held in November 2005 at the University of Idaho. The input received from the participants, including agency and private land managers, as well as Extension agents, provided the information needed to again revise the topical structure. At this point, the new structure was sent out for a final review by the membership and discussions were held with programmers at the University of Arizona for establishing a timeframe to implement the new technical architecture for the Rangelands West portal.<br /> <br /> A demonstration of the new home page design and browse structure was provided by Anne Thwaits, University of Arizona.<br /> <br /> Also presenting new developments at the state-level were: (1) Norma Kobzina, University of California, Berkeley, who spoke about a new teaching and library collaboration that resulted from the Rangelands West initiative; (2) Dr. Mel George, University of California, Davis, who described new methods he is using to deliver Extension information; and (3) Jeanne Pfander, University of Arizona Libraries, who described the nearly completed project to digitize the first 20 volumes of the journal Rangelands (v. 1-20, 1979-1998). This online content is now accessible on the Web at the Rangelands Archives site  http://rangelands.library.arizona.edu/rangelands/ and provides browsing and searching capability, with metadata for each article downloaded from the AGRICOLA database and/or created on-site. <br /> <br /> Doug Jones, University of Arizona Libraries, provided an overview of governance issues in the categories of mission, membership, leadership, and operational structure. These topics were discussed in detail in breakout sessions facilitated by Chestalene Pintozzi, Marianne Stowell Bracke, Carla Casler, and Sheila Merrigan  all of the University of Arizona. Each discussion group made suggestions for how the Rangelands West partnership might operate in the key organizational areas. These suggestions were then discussed by the entired membership and an Action Plan was developed based on the results. The first step will be to send out a ballot to all members through the Rangelands West listserv so that all members (inclusing those who were unable to attend the meeting) will be able to vote on each governance issue (Ad hoc organizing committee: John Tanaka, Mark Thorne, Kren Hickman, Rex Pieper, and Amy Shannon). The results will be posted on the listserv and website, and it is expected that a vote for Chair, Chair-elect, and Secretary will follow soon after (Ad hoc nominating committee: Kevin Sedivic, David Inbody, and Norma Kobzina). <br />

Publications

Pfander, J., Y. Han, L. Wyatt, and M.S. Bracke. 2006. Full-text Online Access to Society for Rangeland Management Journals. Rangelands, February issue.<br /> <br />

Impact Statements

1. The meeting concluded with a hands-on workshop to introduce members to the new design and structure, to demonstrate how the resources in the previous database will have to be assigned to the new database, and to show how to add new resources. This was also a means for gaining additional input into refinements that need to be made before the new site can go live. Following the meeting, another session was held with the programmers to review the suggested refinements and to prioritize enhancements and set deadlines. It is expected that the new site will be completed by the end of August 2006.

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