Society of American Foresters student chapter wins national championship

For the first time in the chapter’s decades-long history, the Stephen F. Austin State University student chapter of the Society of American Foresters clinched the national title of Society of American Foresters Quiz Bowl Champions, defeating 32 collegiate teams from across the U.S. during this year’s national convention held in Portland, Oregon.

“It’s very rewarding to see the early morning practices, as well as the hard work and persistence finally pay off,” said Dr. Rebecca Kidd, assistant professor of forestry at SFA and SAF faculty advisor.

The competition, held annually at the SAF National Convention, is a quiz-based competition challenging student chapters to answer a broad range of technical and academic questions that span the discipline of forest resource management. Kidd said student chapters must sign up months in advance to be organized into a tournament bracket.

“The range of topics includes forest resources, which encompasses wildlife, habitat management, hydrology, soil science, silviculture, ecology, spatial science, agro-forestry, recreation management, policy and economics,” Kidd said.

Christopher Longman, forest management senior and president of the SFA student chapter, said when forming a quiz bowl team, the chapter makes sure to include students from a range of forestry majors offered through the Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture.

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Department of Agriculture receives grant from U.S. Poultry Foundation

Stephen F. Austin State University’s Department of Agriculture received a $3,000 student recruiting grant from the U.S. Poultry Foundation during the 2018 International Poultry Expo held in Atlanta, Georgia.

The grant will assist the SFA Department of Agriculture in hosting its annual College Experience Day, as well as other recruiting initiatives. The department’s College Experience Day draws hundreds of high school students from across the region to engage in hands-on agricultural activities at the university’s 642-acre Walter C. Todd Agricultural Research Center. Among the unique initiatives offered during the event is the opportunity for high school students to tour the SFA Broiler Research Center, which works closely with the poultry industry to discover, evaluate and interpret better methods of poultry production.

The foundation awarded recruiting grants totaling $282,500 to 35 colleges and universities across the United States with either a poultry science department or a poultry studies program. The student recruiting program dates to 1994 when the foundation was established to provide annual recruiting funds to attract students to poultry studies and ultimately into careers in the poultry industry. The grant was made possible, in part, from an endowing foundation gift from Frost, a CPA firm.

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Alumnus receives prestigious forestry award

Stephen F. Austin State University alumnus Eric Gage has been named a Society of American Foresters Fellow, recognizing his more than two decades of contributions to timberland management and service in the field of conservation.

Gage received a Bachelor of Science in forestry from SFA’s Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture in 1992, and since that time has served in a variety of professional leadership roles ranging from division forester with Molpus Timberlands Management to a real estate broker serving individuals and timberland investment management organizations. Gage also served in a number of leadership roles with the Texas Chapter of the Society of American Foresters, including the position of chair from 2013 to 2014.

In addition to his professional leadership, Gage is actively engaged in civic outreach including the Boy Scouts of America and the school advisory board of St. Patrick Catholic School.

“I am especially honored to receive the recognition as a Fellow in SAF,” Gage said. “To be recognized by my fellow foresters is very humbling.”

According to the Society of American Foresters, this prestigious award distinguishes SAF members for long-standing service to forestry at the local, state and national level. Recipients are recognized as ambassadors for the advancement of the profession.

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SFA timbersports team wins second annual Lumberjack Match

Members of the Stephen F. Austin State University timbersports team, the Sylvans, personified the university’s mascot during the second annual Lumberjack Match held at the Ouachita County Fair in Camden, Arkansas.

During the Lumberjack Match, participating universities competed in a range of traditional timbersport events, such as crosscut sawing, bowsawing, log chopping, and axe and knife throwing.

The Sylvans placed first in men’s crosscut sawing; men and women’s bowsawing; Jack and Jill crosscut sawing; single buck crosscut sawing and knife throwing. The team took second and fourth place in women’s crosscut sawing and axe throwing, respectively.

“Our students were professional and did an excellent job representing the university and the Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture,” said Dr. Jeremy Stovall, associate professor of forestry at SFA and Sylvans faculty advisor.

The University of Arkansas at Monticello finished in second place, followed by Louisiana Technical University and Louisiana State University.

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Alumnus, faculty member discovers new earthworm species

Dwelling beneath the soil’s surface are intricate communities of organisms whose very existence is vital to ecological health and well-being. While it is widely understood that these creatures are important, little is known about their direct relationship with plant communities, and far less is known about the sheer number of species that may exist. Dr. George Damoff’s life passion is to change that.

“In a square meter or yard, you can have hundreds of earthworms,” said Damoff ’80, ’87 & ’08, an SFA Division of Environmental Science adjunct faculty member. “In a typical acre of pastureland with good soil, you can have a million earthworms per acre.”

In the past year alone, Damoff has described and published information about two entirely new species — Diplocardia deborahae and Diplocardia hebi. And with the backlog of specimens awaiting dissection in his Dallas-based home lab, that number is likely to dramatically increase.

“This is a species from Oklahoma that is new to science,” Damoff said, holding up a vial containing an earthworm in SFA’s forest soils lab. “In Oklahoma and Texas, I have found nearly two dozen new, unnamed species.”

Although Damoff has discovered a number of other new species, they will not be officially recognized until his descriptions have been peer-reviewed and published in Megadrilogica, a scientific journal solely dedicated to the study of earthworms.

One of the new species now under review was collected on the banks of the Colorado River east of Austin and will be named in honor of Dr. Kenneth Farrish, director of SFA’s Division of Environmental Science and Hiram and Gloria Arnold Distinguished Professor. It was Farrish who introduced Damoff to megadrilology, also known as the study of earthworms.

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