CSC hosts Range Day speakers
CSC hosted the Upper Niobrara White Natural Resource District (NRD) Range Day on Jan. 12 in the Student Center Ballroom.
Using funding from C.F. Coffee Gallery, The Bill and Virginia Coffee Family Foundation and the Nebraska Environmental trust, students and local agriculture producers were able to listen to four speakers.
The Panhandle Research Integration fot Discovery Education (P.R.I.D.E.) sponsored doughnuts and coffee that were available before the speakers began.
The presenters were able to speak either in person or over zoom if needed.
Chris Helzer, author of “The Ecology and Management of Prairies in the Central United States” and “Hidden Prairie: Photographing Life in One Square Meter” started off Range Day.
His talk titled “The Good, Bad and Ugly of Weedy Plants” discusses weedy plants versus invasive plants.
Helzer runs a blog on prairie ecology and has published images and essays in NEBRASKAland Magazine and Wildflower Magazine.
Jeff Bradshaw, an entomologist from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) spoke next about Alfalfa Weevils. His presentation “Alfalfa Weevils: positive bugs vs. negative bugs” outlined the problems with alfalfa weevils and ways of controlling them.
Bradshaw has published several works regarding entomology and has received several awards from UNL.
After a lunch in CSC’s Student Center Ballroom, Mike Klosterman, a wildlife biologist working with Pheasants Forever spoke about pollinators in his speech titled “Native Plants to Benefit Pollinators in Rangeland.”
Klosterman is a Farm Bill Biologist working in Sioux, Dawes, Sheridan, Box Butte, Scotts Bluff Banner, Morrill, Garden, Deuel, Cheyenne and Kimball counties.
The last speaker of the day was Don Day Jr., who spoke on current and future weather. Day Weather was created by Day to predict weather in Wyoming, Colorado and western Nebraska.
The company customized weather forecasts for different industries and plays on 80 radio stations.
In between speakers the Upper Niobrara White NRD provided two plant ID quizzes for students and producers to try to guess common plant species.
In between speakers, there were 15 minute breaks, which allowed local agriculture producers to be able to meet with the presenters. Students were also able to meet local producers and speak to the Upper Niobrara White NRD employees.