N RANCHING
atural Resources
Conserve, Protect and Lead
Texas Forest Service accomplishes these purposes in managing fi re in Texas by providing services that predict wildfi re risk for landowners from homeowners up to county-level offi cials.
By Gary DiGiuseppe W
HILE DOING RESEARCH FOR THE AGENCY’S 2015 CEN- tennial, the Texas A&M Forest Service (TFS) staff came across numerous instances when
they had been out in front of the rest of the country. “We were fi rst in the nation to use aircraft for detect- ing wildfi res; fi rst in the nation to use radios instead of telephone wires strung between trees,” says Texas State Forester Tom Boggus. “Because of our size and our diversity (of the state),
we have always found a way to get the job done. Ev- erything we do in this agency can be housed under three words: Conserve, Protect and Lead.” Boggus is also director of the agency, which added Texas A&M to its name in 2012 to refl ect its role as part of the state’s system of higher education. Some of TFS’ web-based weather tools are fed into the
Spatial Sciences Laboratory of Texas A&M’s Department of Ecosystem Science and Management, which updates the information daily. Boggus says technology is crucial. They have 550 em-
44 The Cattleman February 2016
ployees to cover the entire width and breadth of Texas. For updates on conditions that could lead to wildfi re or other natural disasters, they rely on a network of more than 70 remote automated weather stations scattered across the state. TFS also depends upon its relationships with the
state’s 1,669 volunteer fi re departments — which let them know when they are making a lot of runs — and with landowners. Following the 2011 fi re season, the agency developed
a partnership with the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association (TSCRA). Boggus says they are “working closely with ranchers who are members of TSCRA, as well as with the TSCRA special rangers, to help us communicate when we have a bad fi re situation somewhere in the state. If we have an incident command post set up in Abilene or San Angelo, or anywhere in West Texas, we are going to bring in a special ranger. They can tell us a lot better how to get to a place and the lay of the land. They are a huge benefi t to us.”
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