Conservation Planning Training Boot Camp

Rangeland conservation planning has for its foundation a culture and custom rooted in agency history and traditions. A custom derived off the hardships from the great depression and the dust bowl, and a culture of resource conservationists technically trained to secure, maintain and enhance natural resources. On June 6 through June 10, 2005, over 260 years of combined experience and tradition passed on to a new generation of NRCS employees equipped for and trained in natural resource conservation planning.

A total of 25 NRCS employees from Zone 1 representing multiple disciplines were placed among six teams assigned to collect, assess and formulate rangeland inventory data for the Lake Allen Henry mitigation area.  Each team was guided by a mentor whose responsibility was to assist them recognize and pursue practical and technically sound resource conservation opportunities and formulate alternatives from collected field data. The inventory data was used for developing a resource management system conservation plan.

Project Manager Diane Selby initiated the training session and set forth her objectives for the ranch. Her presentation was followed by detailed instruction provided by State Rangeland Management Specialist Homer Sanchez, , State Grazing Lands Conservation Initiative Coordinator Mark Moseley and zone 1 rangeland and biology technical staff. The classroom instruction included the NRCS mission, authorities and policies, standards and specifications, upland wildlife management, rangeland inventorying and monitoring, livestock water development and water distribution, fencing and grazing management, brush management, rangeland health and trend, similarity index, plant identification, and networking and consensus building.

Training consisted of two days in a classroom setting, two days of field data collection and a one day presentation by each of the teams to the Project Manager, Lake Allen Henry Mitigation Area. Team leaders and members compiled and organized their data using common computing environment tools such as ArcView, Soils Spatial and Ecological Site description data, word and excel electronic assessment and processing documents. All of the inventory and conservation planning records and documentation were submitted for the development of a conservation plan instrumental to the management of the ranch.

Cultivating partnerships is imperative to success in organization and preparation for events of this magnitude. The Garza Soil and Water Conservation District, the City of Lubbock, the Brazos River Authority and the Grazing Lands Conservation Initiative provided facilities and equipment, access and personnel, and refreshments. Finally, their support for and sanction of training new NRCS employees on natural resource conservation planning is what they most valued in traditional technical assistance.


Lake Allen Henry mitigation area is a 3,700 acre parcel of land that offsets the flooding of Brazos River bottomland resulting in Lake Allen Henry, a major fresh water source for the city of Lubbock, Texas.


Contact: Quenna Terry, PAS, Lubbock (806) 791- 0581
Tony Garcia, Range Management Specialist, Lubbock, (806)791-0581