NPSOT-NPAT 2007 Joint Symposium

Speakers

Speaker Bios

Plenary: Matt White

Matt is author of Prairie Time: A Blackland Portrait which helps us understand what a native prairie is and how to appreciate its beauty and importance. He also increases our awareness of prairies, past and present, so that we might champion their survival in the prairie remnants that remain. Matt teaches American and Texas history at Paris Junior College and studies and grows prairie plants on his land near Campbell, Texas. In addition, Matt also authored Birds of Northeast Texas. Matt is also a board member of the Native Prairies Association of Texas (NPAT).

In anticipation of the Joint Symposium, the organizers are encouraging all members to read Prairie Time: A Blackland Portrait by Matt White. You can order a copy directly from the publisher. Texas A&M University Press is offering a 30% NPSOT discount (Discount Code is JJNPS) either online (http://www.tamu.edu/upress) or by calling 800-826-8911.

David Bamberger

Founder of Selah, the Bamberger Ranch Preserve, long recognized as the largest habitat restoration project on private land in Texas. Selah has been a model for other area landowners to emulate. The educational stewardship message of the ranch has influenced literally thousands of landowners and subsequently thousands of acres of land. J. David, along with his wife, Margaret, has received numerous awards over the years. He has served on a variety of boards such as the Texas Nature Conservancy, Bat Conservation International, and the San Antonio Area Foundation.

David will introduce the new book, Water from Stone: The Story of Selah, Bamberger Ranch Preserve, by award-winning author Jeffrey Greene and discuss the status of, and current conservation efforts, at Bamberger Ranch Preserve.

Don Beaumont

A retired geologist for a large oil company in Houston, Don is a Sun City favorite in the Georgetown Senior University, covering the subject of Williamson County geology. The county's diversity makes this a difficult subject but Don organizes his lectures in an understandable and entertaining manner.

David Bezanson

Northeast Texas Program Manager for the Nature Conservancy. He was previously Executive Director for the Natural Area Preservation Association (NAPA), a Texas land trust. David is co-author of Conservation Priorities for Texas: A Guide to Ten Threatened Areas in the Lone Star State which identifies Texas tallgrass prairies as a conservation priority.

Bob Burleson

Owner (along with wife Mickey) of one of the oldest restored prairies in our area. Mr. Burleson is an attorney based in Temple, Texas, whose passion for exploration and conservation has taken him from early float and canoe trips down the Big Bend Canyons, to efforts to create a national park in the Guadalupe Mountains, to service on the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission, and to work on restoring native tallgrass prairie.

Linda Campbell

Linda is a Florida native with degrees in Wildlife Ecology/Range Science from the University of Florida and Rangeland Ecosystem Management from Texas A&M. She spent 11 years working with landowners in Florida and Texas as a range/wildlife specialist with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. She also has worked in the private sector as an environmental consultant. Linda has been with TPWD for 14 years, serving as Diversity Biologist for central Texas and statewide Nature Tourism Coordinator. Linda authored Endangered and Threatened Animals of Texas in 1995, a book describing the life history and management guidelines for federally-listed animals in Texas. Linda is responsible for completion of the Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail and additional wildlife viewing driving trails - the Heart of Texas, Panhandle Plains, and Prairies and Pineywoods Wildlife Trails. In 2003 she became Program Director for the Private Lands and Public Hunting Program. In that position, she directs the agency's activities concerning the full spectrum of conservation matters affecting private lands as well as management of the TPWD public hunting program.

Jim Eidson

Jim has worked for conservation in Texas for almost two decades. Jim received his Masters of Science in Rangeland Ecology and Management from Texas A&M University where his research interests were prairie restoration and management. Serving The Nature Conservancy almost 12 years as Ecoregional Manager for the Crosstimbers and Southern Tallgrass Prairie, he is happy to now be focusing exclusively on prairie preserve management as a Land Steward. He is also an adjunct professor at Texas A&M University in Commerce, Texas, where he currently teaches a course on plant diversity and conservation. Jim is a 4th generation Texan, with old roots in the Blackland and Grand Prairies, and serves on the Native Prairies Association of Texas (NPAT) board of directors.

Tim Fennell

Tim Fennell teaches Advanced Placement Environmental Science at the Liberal Arts and Science Academy of Austin at LBJ High School. He has been an active birder in Central Texas for 15+ years and has taught classes on shorebird identification for the Travis Audubon Society since 1999. Many prairie birds breed in Central Texas, while others only overwinter or migrate through the area. Tim has been particularly interested in these prairie birds since he moved to Round Rock in 1997 and has published articles on the Mountain Plover, a prairie species that is a candidate for the endangered species list and a winter specialty of eastern Williamson County. He has also led many field trips in Central Texas for such groups as the Texas Ornithological Society, the Travis Audubon Society, and the Houston Ornithology Group.

Scott Gardner

Since 2002, Scott Gardner has managed the C.L. Browning Ranch in Blanco County, Texas to offer selected institutions, organizations, and government agencies opportunities to collaborate with the Browning Ranch on studio projects and research studies that promote good land planning and environmentally sound management practices in the Texas Hill Country and elsewhere.

Brian and Shirley Loflin

Independent naturalists, photographers and writers, teach seminars and workshops and have led nature and photography tours throughout the world. Authors of "Grasses of the Texas Hill Country".

Bill Neiman

Native American Seed, Junction, Texas. Bill will discuss his restoration projects and prairie plant seed collecting.

Paul Ohlenbusch

Professor Emeritus, Grazingland Management, Kansas State University. Owner, Grass by Design (consulting service).

Flo Oxley

Director of Education and Conservation, Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, will focus on landscaping with prairie plants.

Dr. Wayne Polley

USDA-ARS Grassland, Soil & Water Research Lab

Barron Rector

Extension Range Specialist at Texas A&M University, Texas Agricultural Extension Service in the Department of Rangeland Ecology and Management. Recognized nationally and internationally for his plant identification skills and training workshops regarding poisonous plant issues, exotic, noxious weed management and plant materials important to agriculture and urban interests in native plants.

Carl Schwope

Fire Management Officer, Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge in Marble Falls, Texas. Carl has been Fire Management Officer for Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge and is responsible for planning and executing prescribed burns in a safe and effective manner. Carl is responsible for managing fire programs that benefit two critically endangered birds; the golden-cheeked warbler and black-capped Vireo.

Fred Smeins

Professor of Ecology in the Department of Rangeland Ecology and Management, Texas A&M University. His research focuses on understanding the structure and dynamics of rangeland (grassland, wetland, savannah) ecosystems as influenced by herbivory, soil, fire and weather. Current research includes life history and successional studies of Ashe Juniper, habitat features of Golden Cheeked Warblers, influence of summer burning on Edwards Plateau rangelands and Blackland Prairie Restoration. Dr. Smeins is also the scientific advisor to the Native Prairies Association of Texas (NPAT).

Jason Spangler

Treasurer and board member, Native Prairies Association of Texas (NPAT), Webmaster, Austin and Williamson County NPSOT Chapters, Secretary, Austin Chapter NPSOT. In addition to his regular job as a software engineer, Jason is passionately devoted to helping preserve native prairies and restoring the land.

Jason speaks to organizations about native Texas prairies and the need for their conservation and protection. Jason has also arranged and led prairie and native plant field trips, organized advocacy for protecting and restoring native prairie, contributed native prairie and plant articles to the newsletters of NPAT, NPSOT, and other conservation organizations, and searched for and recorded native prairie remnants.

Matt Turner

Matt Turner is a market researcher at the Univ. of Texas, McCombs School of Business, as well as a teacher, naturalist, and free-lance writer. Armed with a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature and having a botanist for a father, he approaches the natural world from a humanities perspective.

His first book (coming soon from UT Press), Remarkable Plants of Texas: Natural and Cultural History, explores the little-known facts.historical, medicinal, culinary, and cultural-- behind our everyday botanical landscape. He has published several articles on botany in scientific journals, has given talks at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, and has contributed pieces to their magazine, as well as to NPSOT News. He is currently the President of the Austin Chapter of the Native Plant Society.