The Newsletter for the Center for Grazinglands and Ranch Management

Center Staff:

• Wayne Hamilton - Director
• Michelle Lee - Assistant Director
• Travis Whitney - Intern

Texas is a big state, but just how big is big? It has 167,624,960 acres of land. About 78% is farm and ranch land which is broken into several categories with 65.5% being native rangeland. The owners of this land have to pay property tax according to the use of that property. Prior to 1979, a person farming or ranching in agriculture had to make at least 50% of their income from agriculture in order to have their land taxed at the productive value. Many people that had traditionally been involved in agriculture no longer made 50% of their income from agriculture because of off farm/ranch jobs. Those taxed at the market value, due to this outside income, had to sell their land as a result of higher taxes. Since 1979, much of that land is classified as 1-d-1 open space more commonly referred to as "Ag Exemption". Therefore, about 86% of the state's land mass is appraised on its productive value. These private lands comprise much of Texas' open space, and therefore are a key to our natural heritage. This law of property tax classification has made it possible for many people to retain ownership of their land. In 1992 an additional property classification was added to the property code which is 1-d-1 wildlife, as an additional agriculture use. Landowners are beginning to use this property classification as their traditional agricultural use changes to wildlife management. Presently there are about 104,173 acres in the tax classification.

What does this property tax history tell us about stewardship? I think it points out how concerned we are about land and landownership. As a society we value open space. Some may even say green space. The landowners of Texas are trying to preserve this open space for the future of Texas. There has been a shift in the type of person owning Texas land from a traditional rural agriculture person to an urban nonresidential landowner. We as a society need to recognize this shift in landowners and their values. We need to allow those persons to maintain open space for the people of Texas, just like we made shifts in 1979 from Ag production where 50% of your income had to come from agriculture to one of acceptable agriculture production on the land. Now we need to recognize the land uses that the new Texas landowners are making and continue to keep in mind that it is the land and its stewardship that is important and not that it has to be a traditional agriculture use that may have fit our past paradigms. There are many new tools to help in preserving this land ethic. Some of those are conservation easements, wildlife tax classification, wetland easements, and other land use restrictions that landowners are using to accomplish land conservation. All these can lead to conserving our Texas land heritage through conservation. Contributed By Dr. Don Steinbach Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Science Member of CGRM's Faculty Advisory Committee

With common resources in South Texas and Northeastern Mexico, ranchers face the same adversities and advantages in the cattle production industry. It's just plain, simple "cowboy logic" to share knowledge and strategies among ranchers on both sides of the border. This trading of help is natural in the ranching life, whether it is calving season, branding time, or pasture rotation. This "neighbor helping neighbor" lifestyle creates the basis for this series of binational workshops cosponsored by the Center for Grazinglands and Ranch Management and a consortium of universities, government agencies and producer groups from Mexico.

With common issues of climate, soil and market facing cattle producers from northeastern state of Mexico (Coahuila, Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas) and Southern Texas, this series of workshops has been beneficial to their interests. The third in this series was held January 28-30 in Monterrey Mexico. Over 220 participated in this workshop.

The focus of this workshop was Conservation and Use of Natural Resources and Marketing of Beef Cattle. The topics discussed were soil conservation, water conservation, revegetation of rangelands, beef cattle production systems, emerging trends and issues affecting the cattle and beef trade and trends in outdoor recreation and nature tourism. As in the past workshops, CGRM brought speakers from the Texas A&M System and Mexico provided speakers for each of these topics. Simultaneous translation and written proceedings in Spanish and English were also provided.

After the workshop, breakout groups discussed possible future research needs dealing with the topics presented. This workshop series is designed to share information and experience and identify mutual problems to be addressed in a long term project. Each workshop has different topics but all focused on conservation of resources for sustained food production. The ideas brought out during theses discussions were recorded for possible future cooperative investigation.

A tour associated with the workshop took participants to Chipinque, a mountain area adjacent to Monterrey where they observed restoration projects on areas devastated by a large fire. Chipinque provides a sharp contrast in ecosystems, from the arid zones of the valley to the moist, cool conditions near the upper peaks. Dr. William Grant and his associates, Leticia Myriam Sagarnaga Villegas and Arnulfo Moreno, conducted a modeling workshop in conjunction with the meeting. The modeling workshop was well attended and will be repeated at the Saltillo workshop. The workshop was open to all interested parties on the first come basis up to a limit of 25.

We would like to welcome two new members to the Center for Grazinglands and Ranch Management. The first is a new member to our Clientele Advisory Committee, Mr. Matt Wagner. Mr. Wagner is a Technical Guidance Biologist for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department in the Post Oak Savannah District. He received his M.S. degree in Range Science from Montana State University in 1985 and a B.S. degree in Range Science from Texas A&M University in 1980. Matt is a certified Wildlife Biologist with experience in habitat restoration, working with private landowners to develop wildlife plans.

Dr. Carson Watt joins the Center's Faculty Advisory Committee. Dr. Watt is the Associate Department Head for Extension in the Department of Recreation, Parks and Tourism. His program supports recreation and tourism in the state through training, applied research and technical assistance. Currently he is working on an interdisciplinary team to address nature-based tourism in the state.

Thank you! Karl Wolfshohl, Southwest Editor Progressive Farmer, for the article on Brush Busters in the April issue and for the information about the Center. This kind of publicity really helps. We have seen a significant increase in calls, emails, and contact through our web page discussion board since the article appeared. Thank you! Sharla Ishmael, Editorial Director, for the great feature article in the December issue of The Cattleman that covered our workshop in Laredo. The article was beautifully done with many color pictures and a great layout. Thank you! Colleen Schreiber for the article in The Livestock Weekly that also covered our Laredo meeting and gave a great deal of information about the Center and our activities. We appreciate your continued help in publicizing our programs. We would also like to thank the Unión Ganaderas Regional de Nuevo León for their facilities and hospitality in Monterrey.

We have formed a Funding Campaign Committee to help obtain funding for the Center and take advantage of a matching grant program for a Chair in Grazinglands and Ranch Management that would support the activities of the Center. This committee met in Austin on March 11 and developed a plan for the campaign. The Bright Matching Chair Program will provide $500,000 of matching funds for $500,000 we must solicit from donors. This is a wonderful opportunity to underwrite Center operations and we earnestly solicit your support in the campaign. Significant donors to the chair matching fund can receive recognition and publicity through the Center. Thanks to Dr. Warren Evans of the Texas A&M Foundation for his assistance in developing the campaign

The Center For Grazinglands and Ranch Management's standing committee's will meet for their annual meeting in Vernon on October 21-22, 1999. Dr. Don Robinson will be our host for a tour of the Waggoner Ranch. So committee members mark your calendars. More information on accommodations will be sent out to you soon. The Beef Cattle Short Course will be offered through the Animal Science Department August 9-11, 1999. Call Dr. Larry Boleman at (409) 845-2051.

The fourth Binational workshop for South Texas and Northeastern Mexico will be held in Saltillo, Mexico, August 18-19, 1999. The focus will be wildlife management. Call the Center for more information.

CGRM along with the TCU Institute for Ranch Management will offer Brush Buster training to agency personnel and others from around the state. The training will be held in Burnet, Texas on May 4, 1999. Dr. Darrell Ueckert and Dr. Allan McGinty will be the instructors.

CGRM will attend the trade show at the Independent Cattlemen's Association of Texas Convention in San Antonio on August 1, 1999. Come by and see us at the Center's booth.

For more information contact the Center at 1-888-799-4442 or CGRM@tamu.edu