OSU Range Club garners international honors

OSU’s Range Club members Rusty Norrie, Derek Matz and Lauren Wilkerson won the display board competition with an entry titled, “Managed Rangelands in Oklahoma:  Traditions and Transitions.”

Range Club members also completed the rangeland management exam at the event. Competing against 152 students from 22 universities from the United States and Canada, the OSU Range Club placed fourth overall in the management competition with the top scoring efforts of  Wilkerson, at twelfth place; Justin Rader, sixteenth place; and Adam Gourley, twenty-sixth place.

Other members who attended the Reno event were:  P.J. Martin, Chris Hobbs, Kevin Spears, Colin Walden and Kevin Parsons.

Karen Hickman, Range Club adviser, and faculty member in OSU’s department of natural resource ecology and management, said the competition allows students an opportunity to network with professionals who may be in position to hire them and hone their skills in rangeland management.

Students who place in the top ten percent in the undergraduate rangeland management exam can use those scores toward the professional certification process, another bonus to their career development, Hickman said.

The Range Club has grown in popularity on campus and hosts various activities that include an annual Big Buck Contest.  This year’s event saw entries from Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas and Nebraska with official scoring done by Jon Cunningham of the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation.

Prizes in the Big Buck Contest included a two-day wild hog hunt with Bow Safaris in Coalgate, Okla., and turkey hunts in western Oklahoma donated by O-Kan Outfitters and Eagon’s High-point Ranch, as well as a raffle for $100.

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CUTLINE:

John Tanaka, president of the Society for Range Management, greets OSU Range Club members (L to R), Lauren Wilkerson, Colin Walden, Adam Gourley, Justin Rader, Kevin Parson, Kevin Spears, Rusty Norrie, P.J. Martin and Chris Hobbs, in Reno, Nev.

 

Janet F. Reeder, BA, MS
Agricultural Communications Services
Communications Specialist
142 Printing Services / Oklahoma State University
Stillwater, OK  74078
405.744.3651
janet.reeder@okstate.edu

 

Oklahoma State University, U.S. Department of Agriculture, State and Local Governments Cooperating: The Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service offers its programs to all eligible persons regardless of race, color, national origin, religion, gender, age, disability, or status as a veteran, and is an equal opportunity employe