CHADRON, Neb. – Unmanned aerial vehicles, low stress animal handling and wildfire recovery in the Pine Ridge are just a few of the topics to be addressed during the 2017 Nebraska Section, Society for Range Management annual meeting in Chadron. 

The 2017 meeting, “Ecosystem Services and Management for Multiple Use”, will be held on Wednesday and Thursday, Oct. 18 - 19. Wednesday’s agenda includes presentations which will explore how the Pine Ridge ecosystem has responded after the 2012 and earlier wildfires and how grassland birds respond to different rangeland management strategies. In the morning, several high school students, undergraduate and graduate students will speak about a variety of rangeland management topics. In the afternoon, the Ag Pavilion will be the site of two timely demonstrations. The first demo will explore how unmanned aerial vehicles or drones can be effectively utilized to manage rangeland. The second demo will feature Ryan Sexton, who will show a number of useful, low stress animal handling techniques.

On Thursday, a field tour will explore the challenges of managing multiple uses on rangelands. The US Forest Service will lead the tour which will include several stops highlighting several different management strategies implemented on USFS rangeland.

Additional information about the meeting, which will be held at the Chadron State College Student Center, is available on the Nebraska Section SRM website: www.nesrm.org, or contact Anthony Perlinski, PhD, Assistant Professor, Rangeland Management at Chadron State College,