Andrew Briscke, AZSRM President Elect
This summer’s Annual Meeting, “Cooperation, Collaboration, and Coalitions” was just that, a productive example of working together. On behalf of the Arizona Section SRM Board and its members I would first like to thank Diablo Trust, Bar T Bar Ranch, Flying M Ranch, guest speakers, USFS, UA and ASU range clubs, Bopper and Robin Cannon, and the AZSRM summer meeting planning committees. Planning and execution of this year’s meeting wouldn’t have been possible without your help. Thank you all for contributing to a successful meeting.
Base camp for the meeting was set at the beautiful Moqui Campground on the Mogollon Ranger District on the Coconino NF. The meeting kicked off with a Natural Resource Conservation Workshop for Arizona Youth (NRCWAY) fundraiser BBQ where the demand for beans didn’t quite meet the expectations I anticipated. We moved to the general membership meeting where we discussed our new strategic plan, updated bylaws, PR strategy, NRCWAY update, requests for input and help from our Section up to our Parent Society, and a new AZSRM logo contest (congratulations Kelly Bedson!). Thank you to the AZSRM BOD for the hard work you’ve put into each project. It is inspiring to see such an active Board, and I would encourage our membership to get more involved in some of these projects.
It didn’t take long for the meeting to require some adaptive management. On Wednesday night, instead of a presentation on the history of the Bar T Bar Ranch, Ranch owners Judy and Bob Prosser stayed behind to fix a road so we could get to our project sites the next day. After a great breakfast (and lunch) provided by University of Arizona Range Club, we adaptive managed our way through the entirety of the program. We heard presentations from three coalitions: Diablo Trust, Malpai Borderlands, and Canelo Coalition. Other talks included: remote cellular application for a joint well, leveraging funding for restoration projects, and collaborations to complete the projects we visited. Again, thank you to the speakers for sharing their expertise and experiences. On our way back, Judy Prosser provided a quick snack to prepare our taste buds for Bopper and Robin Cannon’s chuck wagon dinner, which was delectable. The night was capped off by networking, sharing tall tales, and music provided by our fantastic AZSRM musicians.
Arizona State University provided breakfast on Friday morning — thank you to them for making the quick trip up as many of them had classes on both Thursday and Friday. In the spirit of collaboration, AZSRM partnered with Diablo Trust to remove an exclosure that has since become a hazard. Many members put in a lot of hard work to complete this task in a couple of hours which normally would’ve taken a day or more. Judy, Bob, USFS, and Diablo Trust were more than pleased with the work completed and I appreciate our memberships’ willingness to provide a little labor.
Thank you to our membership for making the 2018 Summer Meeting a success. I am looking forward to continuing this momentum January 9-11th, 2019 in Silver City, NM for our winter meeting.