Presentations
May 8th, 8 AM – 9 AM: Check-in, Coffee, Light Refreshments
May 8th Morning Session (9 AM – 12:05 PM)
9:00 AM – Symposium Welcome
David Wolfe – Bonamia, LLC
9:05 AM – Thinking About Cedar
Steve Nelle – Private Consultant
9:25 AM – Edwards Plateau Vegetation Patterns
David Diamond – Missouri Resource Assessment Partnership; and Duane German – Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
9:55 AM – Historical Ecology of the Texas Hill Country
Lisa O’Donnell – Austin Water, Wildland Conservation Division
10:25 AM – Break
10:55 AM – Rare and Endemic Plants Associated to Ashe’s Juniper Plant Communities in Central Texas
Jason Singhurst – Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
11:15 AM – Ashe Juniper – It isn’t Just for Warblers
Rich Kostecke – Hill Country Conservancy
11:35 AM – Ecosystem Benefits of Ashe Juniper Pioneer Thickets and Old-Growth Cover
Elizabeth McGreevy – Project Bedrock
Lunch (12:05 PM – 1:15 PM) – Served in Atrium
May 8th Afternoon Session (1:15 PM – 4:30 PM)
1:15 PM – Soils, Roots, and Symbioses: A Belowground Perspective on Juniper-oak Woodlands
Brian Pickles – University of Reading; and and Monika Gorzelak (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada)
1:35 PM – Mutualist Matters: Effects of Inoculum Source on Mycorrhization and Drought Resilience in Quercus buckleyi Seedlings
Silas Jenkins – Texas State University
1:55 PM – Juniper’s Effects on Soil and Weathered Bedrock Water Dynamics in Sonora, TX
Pedro Leite – Texas A&M University
2:15 PM – Understanding Water Use by Juniperus ashei at the Individual Tree Level in Response to the Climate Gradient Across the Edwards Plateau and Forest Scale Response to Property-specific Clearing
Ashley Matheny – University of Texas at Austin
2:35 PM – Break
3:05 PM – Long-term Effects of Crown-fires on Oak-juniper Woodlands: Loss of Ashe Juniper and Successful Oak Recruitment
Charlotte Reemts – The Nature Conservancy in Texas
3:25 PM – Long-term Effects of Prescribed Thinning + Fire and White-tailed Deer Exclusion on Woody Species Composition in a Central Texas Woodland
Rebecca Carden – The University of Texas at Austin
3:45 PM – Woody Cover Response to Thinning and Prescribed Burning in Central Texas Savannas
Devin Grobert – Austin Water, Wildland Conservation Division
4:05 PM – Cultivating Clarity: Decoding Wildfire Narratives and Debunking Juniper Myths
Justice Jones – Austin Fire Department
May 8th Happy Hour (4:30 PM – 6 PM) – Atrium
May 9th Morning Session (9 AM – 12:05 PM)
9:00 AM – Symposium Welcome
C. Craig Farquhar – Texas State University
9:05 AM – Private Land Stewardship for a Sustainable and Resilient Hill Country
Rachael Lindsey – Hill Country Conservancy
9:35 AM – Informing Collaborative Endangered Species Conservation in Texas: A Human Dimensions of Wildlife Case Study from the Post-Oak Savannah
Jared Messick and Chris Serenari – Texas State University
9:55 AM – Connecting the Dots – Working at a Landscape Scale, One Ranch at a Time
Rebecca Neill – The Nature Conservancy in Texas
10:15 AM – Break
10:45 AM – A Conservation Conversation – Ashe Juniper and NRCS
Charles Kneuper – USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service
11:05 AM – Documenting Texas’ Landscapes, The Ecological Mapping Systems and Engaging the Public with the TEAM Tool
Amie Treuer-Kuehn – Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
11:25 AM – Ecological Site Descriptions: How Are They Made and How They Are Used
Bryan Christensen – USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service
11:45 AM – Working with Ashe Juniper – Wildlife Tax Valuations and Habitat Management
Shane Kiefer – Plateau Land & Wildlife
Lunch (12:05 PM – 1:15 PM) – Served in Atrium
May 9th Afternoon Session (1:15 PM – 4 PM)
1:15 PM – Promoting Diversity in Juniper-Oak Woodlands
Jim O’Donnell – Austin Water, Wildland Conservation Division
1:35 PM – Practitioner’s Perspective – Bandera Corridor Conservation Bank
Jesse McLean – Bandera Corridor Conservation Bank
1:55 PM – Multifactor Management of Mountain Cedar: Lessons Learned from the Frio River Canyon
Kevin Wessels – H. E. Butt Foundation
2:15 PM – Stewarding the Steward: Shaping Wise Woodland Management Decisions in the Edwards Plateau
Karl Flocke – Texas A&M Forest Service
2:35 PM – Break
2:50 PM – Panel Discussion: Land Management in Ashe Juniper Ecosystems: Integrating Science with Landowner and Stewardship Goals
Moderated by Todd Nightingale (Texas A&M Natural Resources Institute); Panel Members: Elizabeth McGreevy (Project Bedrock), Jared Messick (Texas State University), Blake Murden (Shield Ranch), and Daniel Oppenheimer (Hill Country Alliance)
Download the detailed SYMPOSIUM ITINERARY.