TTU Wildlife Research News

department of natural resources management

A Paradigm Shifting Without A Clutch A Six Year Evaluation of Student Engagement and Degree Pride in The Department of Natural Resources Management

Article by BLAKE A. GRISHAM, Department of Natural Resources Management, Texas Tech University CADE COLDREN, Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, Texas Tech University PHILLIP S. GIPSON, Department of Natural Resources Management, Texas Tech University JAMES D. RAY, Consolidated Nuclear Security, LLC, U.S. Department of Energy-National Nuclear Security Administration, Pantex Plant ROBERT STUBBLEFIELD, Llano River Field Station, Texas Tech University at Junction WARREN C. CONWAY, Department of Natural Resources Management, Texas Tech University

Figure 1. Student enrollment in the Department of Natural Resources Management at Texas Tech University. Total undergraduate and graduate students have steadily increased since 2001, with rapid growth experienced between 2016–2020.

The discipline of natural resources management, including wildlife and range management, are young in context of human society. Wildlife biology and range management were not formalized into any comprehensive text until Aldo Leopold’s classic text, Game Management in 1933, and since Dr. Leopold’s publication, each discipline has maintained a small, but passionate and dedicated number of professionals in the United States. Most professionals with degrees or experiences in natural resource management (NRM) are quickly dichotomized to either park rangers or game wardens by the public, with no real understanding as to what we do or how

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The Rumsey Research and Development Fund and the Department of Natural Resources Management, Texas Tech University

Figure 2. Students enrolled in NRM 3407: Wildlife Management Techniques practice setting up and successfully deploying a magnetic drop-net. Magnetic drop-nets are common tools used to capture wildlife, including white-tailed deer and wild turkeys. In this exercise, the instructors demonstrate how to successfully set-up and deploy the net, with emphasis on safety for both humans and the animals targeted. After one demonstration, the students are required to successfully set up and deploy on campus approximately six successful times without a single failure. After the students pass this phase, the net is moved to near-by cooperating private land where the students must successfully set up, capture and successfully release either a white-tailed deer or wild turkeys without harm to themselves or the animals. (Photo courtesy of Blake Grisham, 2019)

we do it. Even family members often label their own children or relatives who are professional wildlife biologists as “tree or animal-huggers” while often erroneously claiming children have grand delusions of becoming the next Jack Hanna, Steve Irwin or Sir David Attenborough. While these claims are mostly driven by a lack of real understanding and perceptions of Hollywood portrayals, misinterpretation of data and even lack of communication, affiliated degrees and careers in wildlife and NRM are legitimate professions that take years of professional training inside and outside of the classroom. Career options for NRM majors are only limited by creativity and passion, and options include traditional roles as biologists, researchers, educators, land managers and law enforcement officers, but also include lawyers, veterinarians, private land consultants and beyond. One commonality among all these career choices is that each requires foundational field and classroom knowledge that starts with the Bachelor of Science degree.

As academicians and professors, with various academic pedigrees and professional ‘tooth length,’ we also work through perception issues from friends and family and university administrators. Granted most of this is centered on perceptions we have ‘cool jobs’ and get to go ‘catch stuff,’ which are highlights of our annual cycles, but our jobs and vocations are centered around three central tenets: research, teaching and service. Some NRM and wildlife professors also have formal extension assignments, and their duties require outreach and service to the public and engaged stakeholders. As with any career, we have job duties we enjoy more than others, and for us, these are usually field, animal and student centric. Faculty are evaluated using academic metrics, and some faculty, and

Figure 3. Students enrolled in NRM: Wildlife Management Techniques take photographs of an adult male Vermillion Flycatcher at the Llano River Field Station. In this exercise, the instructors demonstrate how to successfully set-up and deploy numerous mist nests to capture songbirds, with emphasis on safety for both humans and the animals targeted. After one demonstration, the students are combined into groups of five students and then each group is required to successfully set up and deploy two mist nets 1) before sunrise, 2) in under five minutes per net, and 3) in a location that maximizes safe capture of songbirds. (Photo courtesy of Blake Grisham, 2019)

certainly all administrators, enjoy citing large impact factors on their publications, extramural funding earned or the most recent college today rankings. Although our annual evaluations and programmatic reviews are important, most NRM-related faculty are driven by their ability to make a difference and engage, educate and train students to become knowledgeable professionals, good ambassadors for our programs, and more importantly, outstanding, kind citizens and good humans.

In 2014, an informal survey sent out to Texas Tech NRM alumni, employers, friends and professors indicated employers and graduate advisors want undergraduates who have technical knowledge of principles and practices of wildlife biology and management, skills in writing that require a minimum of review and editing, skills with Geographic Information Systems and affiliated tools, skills in conducting plant/habitat surveys and data collection, plant and wildlife ID skills, wildlife technique skills (aging, sexing, capturing and handling wildlife), field oriented experiences, and a capstone project for graduating seniors. These are not unexpected and are the traditional ‘tools’ of any wildlife or range professional. Interestingly, respondents to this survey emphasized the need for more polished ‘soft skills’ as crucial for post-college success for NRM students. For example, students getting field experience, becoming involved with professional societies, assuming leadership roles, pursuing outreach experiences, gaining written and oral communication skills and experiences, and developing critical thinking skills and networking skills ranked equally important as the above technical skills. However, what many of the respondents did not know, is that we are currently mandated to provide a bachelor’s degree with 120 hours at most. Unlike in decades past where NRM degrees may be 135, 145 or more credit hours, the old minimum number of hours for a four-year degree (120) is now the maximum. This is not irrelevant.

Balancing this approach to developing and mentoring ‘quality’ students with the hard and soft skills that are needed (within the constraints of a 120-hour degree) with demands for increasing productivity and summer 2017. (Photo courtesy of Blake Grisham, 2019) increasing programmatic enrollment has become a common lament for most wildlife academicians in Texas. In 2008, Texas Tech University (hereafter TTU) started the Tier I Initiative with the goal of increasing annual federal research expenditures to more than $50M while simultaneously increasing undergraduate enrollment to 40,000. Twelve years later in fall 2020, TTU announced university enrollment surpassed the 40,000-student goal. Concomitantly, all university colleges, and most departments, experienced growth in student numbers. For example, undergraduate enrollment in the Department of Natural Resources Management (here after DNRM) increased from approximately 135 undergraduates in 2012 (with a 10year average of approximately 120 undergraduates) to approximately 350 undergraduates in 2020 (Figure 1).

Advantages and minor inconveniences associated with exponential student growth exists, especially when the goals of the university administration, colleges and associated departments do not align 100 percent. For example, although TTU’s

Figure 4. Students enrolled in NRM 3407: Wildlife Management Techniques observe Dr. Bob Dittmar perform a necropsy on a culled white-tailed deer in growth has certainly benefited DNRM

through increased revenue via more student classroom credit hours, one major disadvantage of having more students is obtaining the resources to train each effectively and efficiently and still provide those memorable and impactful experiences for our undergraduate students. While it took approximately 50 years for TTU’s enrollment to double and reach 40,000 students, the enrollment in the DNRM doubled in less than 10 years, and the number of faculty have remained static. Combined, this does provide challenges to ensure we deliver the hard and soft skills along with the experiences that our students want and their prospective employers need. We believe we have navigated this qualityquantity-experience trifecta relatively well by reinforcing if not ‘doubling down’ on soft-skills and experiential learning. For example, feedback from end-of-degree evaluations completed by graduating seniors since 2014 indicate DNRM’s above average growth and popularity among potential employers and graduate faculty is attributed to the following criteria:1) engaged, active faculty, 2) handson experience inside and outside the classroom, 3) development of degree pride, and 4) active professional organizations.

We argue that now, during times of rapid student enrollment growth and particularly during the times of Covid, that emphasizing field-based experiential learning opportunities, both formally via classes and informally via collaborative field trips, captures and other experiences, is more important than ever. Abandoning these now is not an option. In fact, we know that the implementation, development and offerings of NRM 1401 (Introduction to Natural Resources Management) and 3407 (Wildlife Management Techniques), both field-based, hands-on wildlife courses, have contributed to DNRM’s growth and subsequent production of students with attractive technical and soft skills. When combined, or at least taken advantage of in one way or another, the classes teach the students technical and soft skills employers find attractive. Challenges with formal field-based courses and student professional societies

Figure 5. Students with the Department of Natural Resources Management pose with a captured mule deer buck as part of a collaborative research program between Texas A&M Kingsville, Texas Tech University, Sul Ross State University and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. (Photo courtesy of Blake Grisham, 2019)

Figure 6. Students with the Department of Natural Resources Management pose with numerous purple martins at Jim Ray’s purple martin colony in Canyon, Texas. Left to Right: Olivia Gray (BS DRM, 2020; Currently MS student at Sul Ross State University), Ayla Ryan (BS DRM, 2018; Currently MS student at Texas Tech University), Meghan Mahurin (BS DRM, 2019; Currently MS student with Texas Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit), Ariana Rivera (Currently a BS student in DNRM and studying the effect of microclimate on purple martin nest survival). (Photo courtesy of Warren Conway, 2019)

Figure 7. Students, faculty and collaborators from Oregon Department Fish and Wildlife pose with three successfully captured greater sandhill cranes at Ladd Marsh Wildlife Area near La Grande, Oregon. Each spring, Dr. Blake Grisham selects four graduate and 10 undergraduate students to make the approximate 1,500-mile trek to Oregon to learn how to successfully and safely capture greater sandhill cranes. The students work with Dr. Grisham and ODFW to capture and deploy satellite transmitters on greater sandhill cranes as part of a long-term research project on the species. To be selected for the trip, students must be in their senior year (for undergraduates), graduates of NRM 1401 and 3407 at the Llano River Field Station, be active members of a student professional organization, and have demonstrated exceptional leadership and professionalism during their tenure in the Department of Natural Resources Management. (Photo courtesy of Blake Grisham, 2019)

are numerous, including, costs, obtaining wildlife and landowner permits, liability and insurance issues, keeping students safe, engaging parents about their child’s safety, financial impacts to students, facilities, food, lodging, and social media miscues. Given the number of challenges, we are often asked “why do it, and why go through that much effort?” The answer is simple, at least for us: the experiences are transformational for students (and selfishly, for us too).

The DNRM model for NRM 1401 and NRM 3407 are the same, albeit in different settings. Our goal is to foster degree pride through opportunities that provide important, lasting memories in settings where the technical knowledge delivery is organic. Each opportunity provides field-based techniques and training in traditional technical skills, with emphasis on developing a sense of accomplishment in students while promoting accountability and reliability in team settings but at different levels of learning. At the core of this model is the Texas Tech Center at Junction, acquired in 1971, which is home to the Llano River Field Station and the Outdoor Learning Center (LRFS). Encompassing more than 400 acres and bisected by the South Llano River, the LRFS is the largest inland field station in Texas. The mission of the LRFS is to encourage, conduct and coordinate basic and applied research projects dealing with water/watersheds, invasive species, range management, natural resources, ecological restoration and environmental education in the Central Texas Hill Country. The LRFS coordinates with DNRM to host NRM 1401 in fall, spring and summer and also hosts NRM 3407 which is an 18-day, intensive, hands-on wildlife techniques course.

NRM 1401 is an introductory, freshmen level class that includes DNRM and non-DNRM majors, as it is a ‘core lab science class’ in the TTU Curriculum. The class hosts three fieldtrips per semester: two on campus and one off-campus at the Texas Tech Center in Junction. The fieldtrips to Junction are overnight, field-based trips, where students are trained in the basics of natural resources management, often in harsh field conditions with more than 95–100 undergraduate students per field trip. An informal survey conducted in the NRM 3407 majors’ class in 2019 indicated 27 of 30 students in the class either transferred to DNRM or solidified their choice in DNRM after taking NRM 1401 at the LRFS. The students in NRM 3407 range from sophomores to seniors, and each student is required to stay at the Junction Center for the duration of the class. This requirement is to promote cultural identity, community buy-in, teamconcept and to help create a program that is much greater than the sum of individual

success. Each in-field or classroom assignment is designed to engage and welcome responsibility, develop integrity and accept accountability—each student, or group of students, must work to take calculated risks, accept challenges and learn from failures. All under the guidance of trained professionals and while working in field conditions with real animals (Figures 2 and 3).

To the best of our knowledge, NRM 3407 at TTU is the only remaining fieldbased wildlife techniques course in Texas, and students not only benefit from the faculty instructors, but numerous guest lecturers from various organizations. This has been a crucial element of the experience for our NRM 3407 students who have an opportunity to engage in a field-based setting with wildlife professionals from different agencies, universities and walks of life. During the last five years, professionals and friends from Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Texas A&M University Wildlife Extension, the U.S. Geological Survey, Consolidated Nuclear Security, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, retired NRCS alumni, and a host of other professionals have volunteered their time to work with our students in the field during this class. Ranging from learning techniques for trapping mesocarnivores, catching birds of prey, performing deer necropsies (Figure 4) and learning how to apply for TPWD positions, these friends and colleagues have provided invaluable experiences to our students which have been impactful, informational and transformational. Beyond the classroom, the students have time to engage with the guest lecturers to learn more about our guests’ careers and lives, which often leads to additional opportunities beyond NRM 3407 for the students (Figure 5–7).

Degrees are only indicators of capabilities; proof of this capability is demonstrated by future performance of our alumni. Strong natural resource management research and graduate programs feed into meaningful experiential opportunities for undergraduate students. In DNRM, our program is also recursive, where strong undergraduate programs also support our strong graduate programs and feed employers and other graduate programs. Our undergraduate students are our best ambassadors, our legacy and perhaps our greatest product and contribution to our science and mission. We have learned the development and maintenance of student engagement and degree pride are like a paradigm shifting without a clutch: the process is slow, tedious and a labor of love but becomes positively unstoppable after third gear.

We dedicate this article to the gentle spirit and memory of Dr. Bob Dittmar, a colleague, friend and one of the best mentors and educators we have had the honor of meeting and learning from. Bob’s annual trek from Kerrville to Junction to do a deer necropsy (in more than 100-degree heat!) and lecture on wildlife diseases to our Texas Tech DNRM students during our NRM 3407 class remains one of the most memorable for all of us. He has inspired a couple generations’ worth of wildlife professionals, and his legacy lives on in many of us.